Sand Lizard

The sand lizard (Lacerta agilis) is a small, sturdy lizard that loves warm, sandy places, where it basks in the sun and lays its eggs in the sand. It lives across much of Europe and Asia, but in the United Kingdom it is one of the rarest reptiles and is protected by law.

Scientific Classification & Quick Facts

Common name	Sand lizard
Scientific name	Lacerta agilis
Kingdom	Animalia
Phylum	Chordata
Class	Squamata
Family	Lacertidae
Genus	Lacerta
Conservation status	Least Concern
Type	Reptile; small, sturdy lizard
Diet	Earthworms, insects, flowers and sweet fruit
Habitat	Sandy heaths, dunes and grassland
Native range	Europe east to Mongolia
Colours	Pale brown with dark markings; males turn green
Special feature	Eggs buried in sand and warmed by the sun

Britain’s Three Native Lizards

Only three kinds of lizard are native to Britain: the sand lizard, the common lizard and the slow worm. The slow worm has no legs and looks like a small snake, but it is really a lizard. The sand lizard is the rarest of the three, because the sandy heaths and dunes it depends on have been shrinking for more than a century.

What It Looks Like

Sand lizards are stocky lizards with short legs, a fairly large head and a thick tail. Adults are usually about 16 to 20 cm (6 to 8 inches) long, including the tail. Their backs are brown or gray-brown with rows of dark spots, often with a small white or cream center, like little eyes.

In spring, during the breeding season, the males change color. Their sides turn a bright, vivid green, which helps them attract females and warn off rival males. Females stay brown all year, which helps camouflage them while they bask.

Different Forms Across Its Range

Because sand lizards live across such a huge area, scientists divide them into several subspecies that look a little different. In western forms, such as L. a. agilis and L. a. argus, the males are usually green only on their sides and only in the breeding season, and some animals have reddish-brown backs with few markings. In some eastern forms, such as L. a. exigua, males can stay green for much of the year.

Where Sand Lizards Live

Sand lizards are found from France and southern Scandinavia across central and eastern Europe, through the Caucasus and northeastern Turkey, and on into Central Asia, reaching as far east as Mongolia and western China. They are absent from most of Spain, Portugal and Italy.

In Britain they have a very patchy range. Most live on the lowland heaths of Dorset, Hampshire and Surrey, with others in the coastal sand dunes of Merseyside in northwest England. Conservation groups have also returned them to places where they had died out, including parts of Wales, Devon, Cornwall and southeast England.

They need open, sunny places with patches of bare sand for egg laying, mixed with heather, grass or other low plants where they can hide.

Behavior

Sand lizards are cold-blooded, so they rely on the sun to warm up. On sunny mornings you might spot one basking on a patch of sand or at the edge of a heather clump. They are shy and quick: at the slightest disturbance, they dash back into cover.

They dig short burrows in the sand, or use burrows made by other animals, as shelters at night and in bad weather. From about September or October until March or April, they hibernate underground in burrows or under roots, logs or piles of debris. Males usually wake up first in spring.

In the breeding season, males fight over females. Two rivals open their mouths wide, arch their backs and then charge and wrestle until one gives up. The bigger, stronger male usually wins. Males and females may mate with more than one partner in a season.

Breeding and Young

Mating happens in spring, when the males are at their greenest. In late May or June, the female digs a hole in warm, loose sand and lays a clutch of eggs, usually around 5 to 14. She then covers them up and leaves. Neither parent cares for the eggs or the young; the warmth of the sun-heated sand incubates the eggs.

The eggs hatch after about two months, usually in August or September, depending on the weather. The tiny hatchlings look after themselves from the very first day, hunting small insects and trying to avoid predators such as birds, snakes and foxes.

In Britain, the sand lizard is the only native lizard that lays eggs. The common lizard and the slow worm both give birth to live young.

What Sand Lizards Eat

Sand lizards are mostly insectivores. They hunt grasshoppers, crickets, beetles, flies, caterpillars, spiders, worms and other small invertebrates. Now and then they may also nibble on soft fruit or flowers.

Threats and Protection

The biggest threat to sand lizards is loss of habitat. Heaths and dunes have been built on, planted with trees, or overgrown with scrub. Wildfires on heathland can also kill many lizards at once.

In the UK, sand lizards are fully protected by law. It is illegal to catch, harm or disturb them or to damage the places where they live without a special license. They are also protected across the European Union. Conservation charities manage heaths for them by clearing scrub and creating bare sand patches, and zoos and specialist groups breed sand lizards in captivity to release them into restored habitats.

Can Sand Lizards Be Kept as Pets?

Wild sand lizards must never be taken from the wild. In some countries, captive-bred sand lizards are kept by experienced reptile keepers, but this often needs paperwork to prove the animals were legally bred, and the rules differ from place to place. They are not a good choice for a beginner.

Keepers usually find that sand lizards do best in large outdoor enclosures that copy their natural home, with plants, logs, flat stones for basking, sandy areas for egg laying and a safe place to hibernate in winter. Indoors they need a spacious terrarium with deep sand that is partly damp and partly dry, a warm basking spot, UVB lighting, hiding places, fresh water and a varied diet of live insects dusted with calcium. Males should be kept apart, as they fight.

Sand lizard FAQs