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Whiptails (Cnemidophorus tigris)

by Kathy Pierce

Submitted by Donald L. Blanchard

Note:   The following is a letter I received via email from a lady in California, in response to an article I wrote for the CBN on Colorado Lizards.

I thought I might share some of the observations I have made over the last 10 years -- first with a mated pair of Cnemidophorus tigris [Western Whiptails --dlb], and after they died, a single male of the same species. All were wild caught -- not by me -- and were adults when I acquired them. The original pair were smaller individuals, about 4 1/4" s-v [snout-vent length], and had a gray background, fading from dark at the head, to light, and then darkening down the tail. The second, Piglet, had a more pink background and was somewhat larger, measuring a little more than 5" s-v. I attribute the difference in color more to population locality than anything, although I don't know exactly where any of them were caught. The pair were caught somewhere in southern California, while Piglet came from Arizona. I do have pictures of the individuals, if you're interested.

All of them were housed in a 10-gallon tank, with a substrate of sand and an undertank heater from Zoo Med. The furniture consisted of several rocks of various sizes for them to climb on, a corner water bowl that looked like a rock, and a few marbles scattered about for effect. Their hide consisted of a plastic "log" about 8" x 3 1/2", with openings at either "cut" end, a small "branch" opening on one side, and a hole in the top. I would occasionally wet the bottom of the substrate at the opposite end from the heat by pouring a small amount of water into the sand. I also sprayed their cage a couple of times a week. Lighting was provided by a full-spectrum fluorescent light suspended a few inches above the cage. This light was on a timer that approximated a day period of 14 hours daylight, 10 hours night. I never varied the timing of the light. All were fed a diet of crickets and mealworms, dusted with Rep-Cal. They chased their crickets with amazing enthusiasm and energy. I also observed each of them at one time or another successfully digging in the sand for mealworms. All individuals liked to dig in the sand. They did this A LOT. Once when I changed the sand in the cage for the pair, I had only damp sand available, and I put that in. They spent some time tunneling out pathways and dens in the damp sand -- although when the sand dried out, everything collapsed. I would assume that they dig such burrows in the wild -- in something a bit more structurally sound, but I have not observed this for myself.

Most of the time they spent in the confines of the log, coming out for a brief period at dawn to dig in the sand for mealworms. This was when light started coming in through the windows, and just before the timer turned on their light. In the evening, when I would drop crickets into the log through the hole in the top, they would come out for the chase, then retire to the log after they had eaten their fill. The pair would sometimes remain out in the evening, lying on the log or wandering around searching for something to eat, but this was only occasionally. The single male did not. All individuals "closed the door" with sand after they went into the log, something I note you observed with sexlineatus.

The female of the pair became incredibly tame, climbing onto my hand when I placed it palm up in the cage, and would perch on my shoulder for long periods. She would snap at mosquitoes flying around me and appeared to be quite successful with this. She would readily take food from my fingers, whether she was in the cage, or in my hand. The male was more nervous, but would tolerate being picked up, and would also perch on my shoulder, although he wouldn't eat while outside the cage. Once she jumped into the cricket enclosure from my shoulder, while I was feeding the other lizards in my collection. She was so excited, she snapped at everything in sight, but never managed to catch one cricket! It reminded me of hunters' "buck fever".

Piglet, the single male, never became tame. He always panicked whenever I tried to pick him up, but he did become calm enough that he didn't panic whenever the cage top was lifted. He became used to my presence, and would occasionally stand up and look out of the hole in the top of the log when I was working in his cage -- sort of a "Kilroy" impersonation. He shared the cage quite amicably with a "crested tree swift" (I never did find out their Latin name), who tended to disappear into the sand for days on end.

The pair mated while I had them, but the female never laid eggs. The male was very enthusiastic, actually, attempting to mate with her quite frequently both in and out of season. I don't know why she never laid eggs -- maybe he wasn't her type. The pair lived approximately 2 years and 3 months. Both were healthy and robust throughout that time. The female's precosiousness proved fatal, as she jumped off my shoulder into the cage of my Callopistes maculatus in pursuit of a cricket, and was bitten by the much larger lizard. I guess he thought she was dinner. A hasty trip to the vet, and emergency stitchery seemed to do the trick -- the hole was about 1cm in diameter -- but she succumbed to an internal infection about a month later. The male's health deteriorated quite rapidly after that -- he stopped eating and drinking and died a few weeks later. My vet had no idea what was wrong with him, except that he was very dehydrated. I have no idea if it was connected with the death of the female, but I found the timing to be interesting.

Piglet lived considerably longer, and makes me wonder about the longevity of this species. I acquired him on 5/24/92, according to my records, and he was a mature individual at that time. He died yesterday [Dec. 2, 1997], a period of just a little over 5 years and 6 months. He must have been at least 6 years old. He appeared healthy and robust until the week before he died. He suffered from what I would characterize as "grand mal" seizures over the last week of his life, with muscle tremors constantly in between. My vet thinks the problems were caused by too much calcium, so he might have lived longer. I've seen conflicting reports on the benefits and problems with dusting food with calcium supplements, so I'll just have to keep muddling along as best I can, until someone does a real study.

If you've learned anything further about care or behavior of this species, I would love to know. I'd like to get another whiptail eventually, and I'm still casting about for information. I wish you success with your whiptails. They're fascinating little creatures!

Kathy Pierce,
< Kathy.pierce@exwe01.exch.eds.com>
December 3, 1997
(Reprinted with permission)