All lizards grow continuously throughout their lives, however their skin does not grow to accommodate their changing size. It is for this reason that they must shed their skin regularly to allow for proper growth. This process is known as ecdysis.

How often a lizard sheds its kin depends on its age. Lizards that are younger and growing much faster will often shed much more frequently than older lizards. Some lizards, such as healthy iguanas will shed every four to six weeks and may even shed more often during peak growing season. Since shedding reflects normal grown infrequent sheddings (once or twice a year or less) should be a cause for concern.

There are a number of ways to tell if your lizard is about to shed. They will show a number of distinct behavioral and physical changes prior to shedding such as exhibiting a change in appetite or complete refusal of food. (this usually happens immediately before a shed). A change in overall color, usually dulling is most common as well. These creatures may become hostile or more aggressive than usual and may exhibit signs of disapproval when being disturbed or handled in any way. Their eyes have been known to swell up or puff out two to three times their normal size (this only occurs in lizards with moveable eyelids and is done to loosen old skin).

Almost all lizards shed their skin in pieces. After the lizard actually begins the shedding process it should usually take no more than three weeks for all of the old skin to come off. For those few lizards such as the alligator lizard that shed all in one piece such as a snake, the shedding should usually be completed within several hours.

If you are an owner of a lizard or other type of reptile that sheds its skin you may have heard of the term “problem shed”. Perhaps you have heard of it but do not necessarily know what it means or whether it is a cause for concern. A problem shed is incomplete or improper shedding and is known as dysecdysis. This type of shed is not actually the problem rather than being a symptom of the problem. To correct this and prevent it from occurring in the future, you must first find and address the actual issue. The most common cause of dysecdysis is due to improper husbandry or diet. Improper housing, including temperature, humidity, lighting and insufficient cage accessories for rubbing off dead skin can all be causes of this happening. A few other common causes include: a lack of moisture within the environment, diet that is lacking in the necessary nutrients, too much stress, too much handling during the shedding period, or it could be related to some type of illness the creature could be experiencing.

If your lizard is suffering from a problem shed first of all, you should never attempt to pull off or tear loose pieces of skin that aren’t coming off on their own. Doing this can cause damage the partially formed keratinous scales that are growing underneath the old skin and can leave the lizard more susceptible to mites. If the skin doesn’t seem to come off as easily when you gently pull it, never pull on it any harder.

There are a few things that one can do to help a lizard through an incomplete or improper shed and they are as follows: Determine what problem is causing the improper shed and try to correct it immediately, make sure that there are plenty of cage accessories for your lizard to rub up against in its habitat (this helps them shed their skin easily), Set up a high humidity hide for small lizards, place a bowl of water in the enclosure for your lizard to soak in, larger lizards can be soaked in a tub of warm water (approximately 80 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit) for about 10 to 15 minutes then rubbed at the retained skin gently. It is important to always monitor your lizard when it is soaking and to never leave it unattended or let the water go above their shoulders as this could cause it to drown. Wrapping your lizard in a damp towel with a dry towel over it for five minutes and then exposing a small areas and rubbing gently to help remove old skin can also be helpful. These methods may need to be practiced more than once to eliminate the retained skin If your reptile is not showing any signs of improvement after trying these methods it is best to contact your veterinarian. Furthermore, if you think your lizard is having a problem shed, pay special attention to its toes, dorsal crest spikes or fans, dewlaps and tails as retained skin on these areas can constrict tissue and lead to serious complications such as auto-amputation.

It is important to never remove the lizard’s shedded skin from its habitat as lizards consume their skin after shedding it. Lizards consume their skin after shedding for a number of reasons. It provides them with calcium and other nutrients and is a way of grooming themselves. Shedding and consuming their skin is a vital process in a lizard’s survival and growth.

Most lizards are usually equipped with four legs with five toes on each foot. This enables them to run very fast and also makes them able to swim. However, although lizards are able to swim, doing so can put stress on their bodies. Warm water is best suited for a lizard to swim in, considering that they are cold blooded creatures that get their heat from their surroundings. Watching a lizard closely though is a good idea as small lizards such as anoles can get tired very easily from swimming and have even been known to drown in some cases. As a good rule of thumb it is good to make sure that the water never goes past a lizard’s shoulders, no matter what type of lizard it is.

Interestingly enough, known to exist also is a tiny lizard known as the sandfish. This marvelous lizard moves through sand by literally diving under the surface of the ground as if it were swimming. They tuck their legs up next to their bodies and move in an undulatory wave resembling fish through water. Another interesting thing known about these creatures is that they can go slightly faster in tightly packed sand, as long as they vary the frequency of the wave created by the movement of their bodies.

Starting above the surface, these animals dive into the sand within half a second or so and once below the surface of the sand, they no longer use their limbs for propulsion. Rather, they move forward by propagating a traveling wave down their bodies such as a snake would. The large amplitude waves over the entire body are unlike the kinetics of other undulatory swimming organisms mentioned before that are the same size as the sandfish. This creature demonstrates that both burrowing and swimming in complex media such as sand can have intricacy similar to that of movement in air and/or water, and that certain organisms can exploit the solid and fluid-like properties of these particular media to move effectively and efficiently within them. This is astounding!

With a few exceptions all reptiles such as the lizard are cold blooded creatures. The temperature of an animal’s blood (whether an animal is warm blooded or cold blooded) is related to its body temperature.

Cold blooded creatures such as the lizard take on the temperature of their surroundings. In other words, they are hot when their environment is hot and cold when their environment is cold. In hot environments, cold blooded animals can have blood that is much warmer than warm blooded animals. Cold blooded animals are also much more active in warm environments and are very sluggish in cold environments. This is because their muscle activity depends on chemical reactions which run quickly when it is and slowly when it is cold. Cold blooded creatures such as the lizard can covert much more of its food into body mass compared to warm blooded animals.

Whereas many warm blooded animals sweat or pant to lose heat by water evaporation and can cool off by moving into a shaded area or getting wet, cold blooded animals such as the lizard often like to bask in the sun to warm up and increase their metabolism. While basking, these reptiles will be found lying perpendicular to the direction of the sun to maximize the amount of sunlight that falls onto their skin. In addition to this they will expand their rib cage to increase their surface area and will darken their skin to absorb even more heat.

When a lizard is too hot it will like parallel to the sun’s rays, go into a shady area, open its mouth up wide and lighten its skin color or burrow into the cool sand. Most reptiles such as the lizard have been known to hibernate occasionally during the cold winter months. Whereas warm blooded animals are able to remain active, seek food and defend themselves in a wide range of outdoor temperatures, cold blooded animals such as the lizard lack this ability and are only able to do so when they are warm enough. A cold blooded animal’s level of activity depends upon the temperature of its surroundings. A lizard will increase its body temperature before hunting and it is better able to escape from predators when it is warm. These creatures also need to be warm and active in order to find a mate and reproduce.

Do not be fooled however, being cold blooded does have its advantages as well. For instance, cold blooded animals require much less energy to survive than warm blooded animals do. Mammals and birds (warm blooded creatures) require much more food and energy than do cold blooded animals of the same weight. This is because in warm blooded animals, heat loss from their bodies is proportional to the surface area of their bodies, while the heat created by their bodies is proportional to the surface area of their bodies, the heat created by their bodies is proportional to their mass.

Furthermore, the ratio of a body’s surface area to its mass is less the larger the anima is. What this means is that larger, warm blooded animals are able to generate more heat than they lose and more easily able to keep their body temperatures stable. This in turn also makes it easier form them to stay warmer by being larger. This also means that if a warm blooded animal is toop small it will lose its heat faster than it can produce it. Since cold blooded animals don’t need to burn as much food to maintain a constant body temperature, they are more energy efficient and can survive longer periods of time without food than warm blooded creatures can. Many cold blooded creatures will try to keep their body temperatures as low as possible when food is scarce.

Cold blooded creatures also have the advantage of being less prone to infections than warm blooded animals. This lies in the fact that being a warm blooded body provides a warm environment for viruses, bacteria and parasites to reside. As a general rule, mammals and birds since they are warm blooded, are usually prone to more problems with infections and such than reptiles, whose constantly changing body temperature make life more difficult for bacteria, etc. to survive in.

Mammals do however; still have a stronger immune system than cold blooded animals. A reptile’s immune system is more efficient when the animal is warmer, however since bacteria are known to most likely grow slower in lower temperatures, reptiles will sometimes lower their body temperatures when they have an infection.

Whether a lizard is nocturnal or diurnal really just depends on the species. Some lizards are nocturnal where others are diurnal. For example, bearded dragons are diurnal which means that they awaken during the day whereas lizards such as the leopard gecko prefer to be awake at night and sleep more during the day, making them nocturnal.

Furthermore, diurnal lizards follow a human sleep pattern and are active and eat during the day, while sleeping at night. Nocturnal lizards are active during the night and will sleep during the day time and hunt for its food all night.

Lizards are reptiles. This classification of creatures arose over 300,000,000 years ago having evolved from a salamander-like ancestor. They represent a completion of the transition from life in water to a fully terrestrial lifestyle although some reptiles have returned to water. Waterproof skin and a water resistant egg means that these creatures can live in places and in ways that amphibians are unable to. There are over 8,700 currently recognized species of reptiles, with a large majority actually belonging to the group Squamata which lizards are included in along with snakes and worm like amphisbaenians.

These reptiles range in size from tiny geckos to giant komodo dragons. Reptiles also exhibit some remarkable adaptations. The tails of lizards serve many different purposes. The fat Gila monster of the Sonoran desert in North America uses its plump tail to store energy in the form of fat. Whereas African chameleons use their tail as a fifth limb to wrap around branches. The green iguana has been known to use its tail as a weapon to whip and protect itself from predators. Many lizards have also been known to shed their tail in order to escape from a predator.

There are quite a few differences between reptiles and amphibians. For instance the word reptiles means to creep. These creatures are known to creep both on land and in water. However they do not require water to keep their skin from drying out as amphibians do. This group of animals are equipped with scales or modified scales, are known to breathe air through their lungs and reproduce by laying eggs. Most reptiles spend most of their time on land and lay their amniotic eggs there or keep them inside of their body until they are ready to hatch. These amniotic eggs are protected with a hard, leathery covering.

The word amphibian means to live a double life, which is exactly what amphibians do. Starting off residing in the water as creatures who have gills and later develop lungs as they age, these creatures are cold blooded vertebrates that were the first animals to leave the sea and venture onto land. They breathe water through their gills until they develop their lungs later on in life whereas reptiles are born resembling miniature adult reptiles that have lungs from the get go. Amphibians are usually required to stay near water to prevent their smooth skin from drying out. Differing from reptiles such as the lizard, these creatures have a soft gel that surrounds the eggs they lay and can usually be found in water or around damp places. Lots of amphibian’s defense against predators includes a type of toxic skin that releases secretions, and many amphibians also bite. These creatures do not have claws or nails as reptiles such as the lizard do.