Reptiles of Mesa Verde National Park
The 6 reptiles you can find at Mesa Verde National Park, like the Common collared lizard — sizes, diets, and whether you should worry.
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Reptile Common collared lizard
Crotaphytus collaris
A bright, big-headed lizard with two black neck bands that can sprint on its back legs like a tiny dinosaur across the slickrock at Arches and Canyonlands.
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Reptile Greater short-horned lizard
Phrynosoma hernandesi
A flat, spiky, dirt-colored lizard, sometimes called a horned toad, that can squirt blood from its eyes at a coyote and gives birth to live young.
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Reptile Plateau fence lizard
Sceloporus tristichus
A gray-brown lizard with blue belly patches on the males, sharing sunny rock at Mesa Verde and Black Canyon with the flashier collared lizard.
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Reptile Prairie rattlesnake
Crotalus viridis
A gray-green pit viper with a buzzing rattle, the only venomous reptile at several of the parks it shares with prairie dogs and badgers.
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Reptile Sagebrush lizard
Sceloporus graciosus
A small, slender, high-country lizard, the fence lizard's cousin, whose males flash blue belly and throat patches in a push-up display.
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Reptile Western terrestrial garter snake
Thamnophis elegans
A slim, striped snake found from stream banks to talus slopes across ten of these parks, and the most commonly seen reptile in several of them.