Long-tailed Grass Lizard

Long-tailed Grass Skink

Takydromas sexlineatus

Description

Long-tailed Grass Lizards are diurnal lizards native to Southeast Asia. The most distinguishing characteristic of Long-tailed Grass Lizards, as the name suggests, are their extraordinarily long tails. On most grass lizards, the tail appears disproportionately long, often three times the STV (snout to vent) length or more. Long-tailed Grass Lizards’ bodies are almost always laterally striped with the stripes ranging from light brown to black interspersed with white, with the tail a uniformly brown hue. Often the grass lizards body is iridescent with green and blue hues being the most pronounced. Long-tails are naturally thin (like the blades of wild grass), but healthy animals have tight skin with no folds along the flanks. Fully grown they can reach lengths of nearly 10 inches (up to 25 centimeters). With proper care in captivity these lizards can live upwards of 5 years.

Natural Habitat

Also as the name suggests, Long-tailed Grass Lizards are found in areas abundant with low-lying vegetation and grasses. They do climb and, counter intuitively, have been found high in trees. That being said, the grass lizards do the majority of their foraging in grasses and near the ground. In their native habitat they spend the majority of their time foraging for small insects in grasses and on the ground. They use their stream-lined body to glide through the foliage and “spear” their prey.

Artificial Habitat

Long-tailed Grass Lizards do best in a horizontally oriented enclosure with a lot of small leafed or bladed foliage. We have found that shredded paper loosely piled in one side of the enclosure provides adequate hiding/climbing/foraging space and can easily be replaced when it becomes soiled. A more aesthetically pleasing enclosure could incorporate many thin sticks piled in a pick-up sticks fashion. Long bladed grasses can also be used but should be replaced frequently as dying grass tends to compact, eliminating foraging and exercising space. Subtrate can be bare, newspaper, soil, bark, mulch or any combination of bioactive ground cover. Optimum humidity levels are 60-70%, but daily misting will usually maintain adequate moisture levels.

In the wild Long-tailed Grass Lizards obtain most of their water requirements from dew or light rains. Water can be provided by misting the sides of the enclosure and/or the habitat décor (if shredded paper is used care should be taken to not saturate it). We have noticed in enclosures with more than one lizard that water is often licked from another lizards’ body. A water dish can also be provided, but should be low to the ground and very shallow (less than 1” of water is recommended).

Diet

In captivity, Long Tailed Grass Lizards eat small insects such as crickets, flightless varieties of flies, small mealworms, waxworms, butterworms and other grub-like insects. As with most captive lizard species food items should be dusted with a vitamin and mineral supplement to ensure adequate nutrition. Arthropods collected from wild grasses by using a small bird or fish net can also be offered—just be sure to avoid areas possibly contaminated with pesticides/insecticides.

Caveats

Because these lizards are very active and relatively small, feeding and watering should be regular to avoid desiccation. Ideally they would be offered water daily and food items no less than four times a week. Also, like most lizards, long-tails have the ability to autotomize their tails, so care should be taken when handling them.