Do Lizards Lay Eggs? Reptile Birthing Facts You Didn't Know

House lizard eggs are smaller in size than wild lizards.

Female lizards will choose males that are physically fit so that their babies are healthy. This will also avoid parasites in babies.

Lizards are members of Squamata reptiles, with more than 6000 species found across most oceanic chains of islands and all continents except Antarctica. Lizards are carnivores, and they sit and wait for their prey. Small lizard species eat insects, and larger ones can feed on water buffaloes and other small animals. Most lizards are active in the day and some at night like geckos. Lizards are territorial, and males often fight with each other to establish one. Most lizards are active in the day and some at night like geckos. Lizards come in all sizes, ranging from small geckos and chameleons to huge species like Komodo dragons. Lizards usually have short necks with elevated heads, a round torso, long tails, and four limbs. Like many mammals and all snakes, the vomeronasal organ (olfactory system) of all lizards detects pheromones. Lizards also use the sense of touch, sight, and hearing. Some adaptations of lizards against predators are detaching their tails, reflex bleeding, venom, and camouflage.

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What do lizard eggs look like?

Lizards' eggs have leathery shells for water exchange or calcified shells for retaining water.

The earliest vertebrates laid eggs, however, over million years species began to evolve and give live birth. Several reptiles lay eggs while many others give live birth. Egg-laying members are called oviparous species. For example, many fish species lay eggs that are externally fertilized. Other egg-laying animals like lizards, birds, and snakes lay internally fertilized eggs. Monitor lizards, iguanas, and geckos lay eggs, you will not find any Solomon island lizard and shingle-back lizard, and blue tongue lizard laying eggs. In most species, the nutrition required for a healthy baby is present in the egg yolk

How many eggs does a lizard lay?

Lizards lay eggs in batches with a maximum of 20 eggs in one batch.

Female lizard lays her eggs in caves warm holes, under the sand, leaves, and seashores away from predators. Female lizards will lay their fertilized eggs in batches with anywhere between 1-20 eggs in one batch. The number of eggs depends on the lizard species. A water dragon will lay anywhere between 6-18 eggs in one batch. The Eastern bearded dragon will lay 5-17 eggs in a batch and the blue tongue lizard lays 10-20 eggs per batch.

The egg-laying process came before live births. The egg-laying species went through many physiological changes to give live birth. With this change, the hard outer shell was also lost. Other improvements were seen for better survival like the supply of the required amount of water and oxygen for the developing baby.

How often do lizards lay eggs?

Female lizards will lay up to three eggs per breeding season.

Females do incubate the lizard egg and there is no care given to the baby lizards as well. Lizards' eggs hatch after around four to eight weeks. Lizards that give live birth produce young ones after 10 weeks. Lizards also lack mammary glands to feed their babies. Only a few young ones survive as there is less care from parents and more predators. Some species are egg-laying and live birth givers. This is known as bimodal reproduction but this is exceptionally rare. Only three species can do this and two are in Australia. A research group of the University of Sydney is studying this phenomenon in three-toed skin to understand how live birth evolved recently. Although these species reproduce differently, research has shown that these animals are in a single lizard species. The skink eggs go through incubation for 35 days before hatching.

How to identify lizard eggs?

The lizard egg is small and white, it will have pink veins when the baby lizard is about to hatch.

During the mating season, female lizards go through a cycle wherein the male lizards will fertilize the eggs. To attract males, females will produce a scent that travels a great distance. Like snake eggs, lizard eggs are leathery for absorption of water. Lizards' eggs are smaller than snakes' eggs. Lizard eggs measure less than an inch. If the lizard egg is infertile then it gets very soft like a water balloon and looks shriveled. Lizard eggs can shrivel and die if the incubation substrate is low. You can examine a lizard egg under bright light. However, turning or flipping can be fatal to the baby because embryos are attached to one side of the eggshell. Small-sized lizards will lay small eggs and larger ones lay eggs that measure more than an inch. However, it can be difficult to tell a snake and lizard egg apart from each other, especially if they are of the same size. The sex of babies is decided by either sex chromosomes or temperature.

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