The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1904-03-04
AS PETS.
,ome Experiences With Pine Tree Va
riety OF This Reptile.

,ome Experiences With Pine Tree Va
riety OF This Reptile.
Scientific American: If there is any
thing we need to teach more than an
other, it Is that numerous insects and
reptiles which are held by many persons
to be poisonous are perfectly harmless.
This Is especially SO of the pine tree liz
ard, or, as it Is often called, the fence
lizard. 1t is true that the lizard has teeth,
but they are almost too small to be seen,
the finely serrated jaws feeling JUST like
the rough lips of a bass. Moreover.
these litsle saur!ans seldom attempt to
bite, and mako interesting pets.
I have a box two feet long, one foot
high and six inches wide. the sides being
Of glass and the bottom covered with
white sand to a depth Of two inches. With
this on my study table I have a good
opportunity for watching the five interest
Ing inmates as they eat and sleep. TWO
are males and three are females. easily
distinguished by their welcome. Their
color seems to be Influenced by the condi-
lions OF the atmosphere. After a rain.
Or when they first come out of their hid
ing places in the morning, many Of them
are very dark. BY holding them In the
hand q short time the color changes very
perceptibly.
When my pets are ready to so to bed
they dive into the sand. where they re-
main covered up until morning. Then
here and there a head hobs up, and grad
daily the saurians either stretch out on
the san or prop themselves upon their
torelegs in a most comical manner. They
soon become alert, and show how keen
their appetites are If flies, crickets, grass
hoppers or katydids are thrown to them.
Frequently, when one has seized a par
.cularly fat grasshopper, another will at
Tempt to take it away. They are also
| Pnr1 nf rnoohnc In,t cora rrthIno for
aard-shelled beetles. They Will not seize
an insect unless 1t is moving, and one
often knows when the attack Is to be
made. as the lizard opens It's mouth just
l little way before %springing upon Its
prey. 1t uses its tongue with the same
agility as does the frog or toad, and
yorges h large insect pretty much the
same way as q snake swallows q toad.
In burrowing in the sane they make
yeveral strokes with the right or left fore
loot, changing from one to the other; but
when this dirt is to be worked out OF the
way, they use their hind feet with alter
nate strokes with great rapid.ty. The fe-
male in this way evidently digs into the
ground, where she deposits a dozen or
more white eggs, which she leaves for the
warm earth to hatch.
] know of nothing else so easily tanned.
When caught in the hand they seldom at
tempt to escape. Placed on ones cloth
ng they often sit in the same position
Tor a long time. Knowing this popularity,
decorated my little son with nineteen
lizards, just to prove to some ~skeptlcal
people that L was willing to back my as
~5ertions with n demonstration Yet ono
observer who witnessed 1t declared that 1t
was risky, and that he knew a. man who
mad lost a finger from the venomous bite
of a fence lizard. A teamster who was
aot afraid to handle a snake could not
DC persuaded to touch a lizard. although
they both saw a finger thrust into a little
saurian's mouth. Ignorance is hard 10
Danish. but it easily drives ava the
ruth.
They are not only harmless, but bene-
fetal. Lying on the fences which sur
round the field Of growing crops, they de-
your many insects as these attempt to
anter the fields, thus Denefiting the farm
ers. who have no appreciation Of their
'alue.