Help caring for? Italian wall lizards

[robbrown]

Hi folks,
I am hoping that somebody here can either help directly or direct me to a source of information on how to care for 2 Italian wall lizards. these came into my care when they got imported into the UK in march 09 during the hibernation period in some very large potted shrubs we imported from Italy. the 1st one we found 31st march 09 was a juvenile with at the time a body length of only 6cm and half its tale missing, this has since grown back fully and it has grown to nearly the same size as the second one which was found running round the nursery about a week later, and appears to be a mature male judging by its bright green coloration.
they now reside at home in 2 tank vivaria as I felt the smaller of the 2 to my eye was losing out on basking time etc by the bigger one chasing it all the time.
the tanks are laided out on several levels with a mixture of media turf, peat , sand and stone + branches. I have been feeding them with a mixture of small hoppers, crickets and meal-worms + some wild caught food like woodlice earwigs, and spiders.
What I am most worried about is how to get them into hibernation this autumn, but any information would be very gratefully received including confirmation of the identification. I am going to try and attach some images of my 2 little friends

[barb1]

Hi Rob,

Lucky you, what a find. I keep Lacerta Lizards but not actually Wall Lizards so am not the best person to ask. Hopefully someone else will be able to give you the right info.

It sounds as if you are doing all the right things. They must have a heat lamp and UV. The food sounds fine, wild caught food is great, crickets and mealworms have to be dusted with vits. and calcium (from retile shop). They may both be males if one is getting chased and attacked. As regards hibernation, you could keep them awake all winter if you intend to keep them as pets, or hibernate them in a frost fee shed, or keep them in an outdoor vivara and let them hibernate naturally. If you hibernate them, they will have to be run down, so they hibernate on an empty stomach.

All the best.

Barb.

[robbrown]

Hi Barb,
thanks for the quick reply.
I have been adding vits to the food i have been feeding to the live food. both tanks have 1/2 bottom area heat pads, UV fluresent tubes and heat lamps. for free lizards they have cost me a small fortune setting them up in happy homes about £350-00 in all the equipment

I have been trying to post images of them but I cannt seem to be able to manage to do so. can you help
TIA yours Robert

[robbrown]

[/img]
still trying to post images of my 2 lizards so I can confirm my identification. this one should show the 1 we call little lizard the day after I found it as you can see its tail is a little shortened but not freshly damaged, it has since fully regrown. the body is only 6cm long at this point.

[robv]

Hi Rob,

I keep both Podarcis sicula (Italian Wall Lizard) and Podarcis muralis nigriventris (Roman Wall Lizard). You will find that they can live quite happily in the UK climate. My lizards are all outside and hibernate naturally in their enclosures. If you want ideas on constructing outdoor enclosures there is some good information on the forum section here.

If you have P.sicula you will need to keep males seperate as eventually one will kill the other. P.sicula are a funny species and can only be kept in pairs - even one male and two females will result in one of the females being killed. In the wild both sexes are highly territorial and hence in captivity they can be a bit touchy around each other!

P.muralis are not too bad with each other - although you would need a few females to stop the males attacking each other.

I don't have any baby sicula this year - but others on this board may have.

Best of luck with them,

Rob

[mark68]

I keep muralis and have kept sicula. I couldn't agree more with the advice given here so far. Your care seems very good but get them outside if you can ! There will be no need to replace the UV tube next year, they will get some wild food and they will need no expensive electricity to heat them.

By the way you DON'T need heat mats for this species, in fact it will do more harm than good. I suggest you permanently unplug them. Any shop that told you you needed them either are ignorant about reptiles or are ripping you off.

If you send me the pics I can identify them for you. MY e-mail address is [e-mail]

[barb1]

Hi Rob,

It can be difficult to upload your pics on here. It has to be done through a web site, if you have one! So if you can't do that, as Mark says send them to him on his e-mail address.

All the best,

Barb.

[mark68]

you don't need to own your own website. You can upload them onto photobucket or similar websites.

[mark68]

Thanks for the pics you sent. Really nice. Heres one I can post for you.



I think its a Podarcis sicula commonly known as an Italian wall lizard.

[mark68]

Another lovely picture

[robbrown]

Many thanks Mark,
both for the identiefication and posting a couple of the images I sent you.
I will try to get the images you suggest for sexing them, any ideas on how to do in a non stressfull way especially the underside shots.
I moderate a web site called Treknature.com user name robbrown to which I can upload images, how do I upload them from there?
thanks again yours Robert