Friday Creature Feature - Glass Lizard

It's not a snake! It's a legless lizard. They differ from snakes in the following ways: they have moveable eyelids, external ear openings, and inflexible jaws. Adults can grow to more than three feet in length.

Glass lizards get their name from the ability to break off all or part of their tail when seized by a predator. The tail makes up more than half of their total length, so the predator is easily distracted by the squirming tail while the lizard escapes. The tail regrows over a period of months or years.

Eastern glass lizards (Ophisaurus ventralis) are found throughout the southeastern U.S. in a variety of habitats. Florida is home to four different species of glass lizards.

They spend most of their lives burrowing through soil and piles of leaves in search of food. They eat a wide variety of insects, spiders, and other invertebrates, as well as small reptiles.

In early summer, the female lays several eggs in a protected spot, which she then guards until the eggs hatch later in the summer.