Sagebrush lizard
A small, slender, high-country lizard, the fence lizard's cousin, whose males flash blue belly and throat patches in a push-up display.
Sagebrush lizard at a glance
Sceloporus graciosus SAGE-brush LIZ-erd; Sceloporus graciosus is skel-oh-POR-us gray-see-OH-sus
- Type
- Reptile · lizard
- Diet
- Insectivore
- Size
- About 2 to 3.5 inches long from nose to the base of the tail, close to the length of a AA battery, one of the smaller lizards in these parks.
- Lifespan
- Typically reaches breeding age within its first or second year; overall wild lifespan is not well documented.
- Conservation
- Least concern
Eats ants, beetles, grasshoppers, flies, spiders and other small arachnids
It hunts by sight from a low perch on a rock, log, or shrub base, darting out to snatch insects and small arachnids that pass by. Where its range overlaps the western fence lizard's, the two compete for the same prey.
Should you worry?
This lizard is completely harmless. It has no venom and no real defense beyond running, and it bolts for a crevice, rock pile, or burrow the moment it feels threatened. The only real risk is to the lizard, so watch from a few feet away and let it keep its cover.
Crater Lake’s own list of confirmed reptiles has exactly two names on it. One is the short-horned lizard. The other is the sagebrush lizard, a small gray-brown animal barely longer than a AA battery, tucked into the dry, rocky ground around the rim where sagebrush and scattered pines give way to bare pumice. At a park built entirely out of one enormous volcanic collapse, this little lizard is most of the reptile life the place has.
Look closer at a male in spring and the plain gray turns out to be a disguise. Flip him over, or catch him mid-display, and there are bright blue patches running down his throat and along his belly, the same kind of colors his close cousin the western fence lizard shows off. He does slow, deliberate push-ups on a rock to flash them, holding his body up and dropping it again, aimed at a female nearby or a rival male he wants gone. It is the whole conversation, color and posture, no sound at all.
He does not linger for an audience, though. The species is built to vanish, bolting for the nearest crack in the rock or clump of sagebrush the moment anything looms too close, human or otherwise. If you spot one at Lava Beds or Crater Lake basking on a warm rock, stay still and low. That is usually the only way to see the push-ups before he’s gone.
Did you know?
- Crater Lake's own reptile page lists only two confirmed reptile species in the entire park: the sagebrush lizard and the short-horned lizard.
- NPS Lava Beds groups it with the western fence lizard as the two lizards commonly seen there on warm summer days.
- Its range runs from about 500 feet in elevation to roughly two miles up, one of the widest elevation spans of any lizard in the region.
Common questions
Are sagebrush lizards dangerous?
No. They have no venom and no bite worth worrying about, and they run for cover the instant they feel threatened. Watch from a few feet away.
How can you tell a sagebrush lizard from a fence lizard?
They look a lot alike and are close cousins, but the sagebrush lizard is smaller and more slender, and the two often live in the same warm rocky spots.
Why do male sagebrush lizards do push-ups?
A push-up shows off the bright blue patches on his throat and belly, telling females he's interested and telling other males to back off.
Where do sagebrush lizards live?
In dry, open country from sagebrush flats to piñon-juniper woodland and dry conifer forest across the western United States, including at Lava Beds and Crater Lake.