Inspired by Birding/Birdwatching Discussion Topic . Thread for anything herp related! To start things off these are my favorite herps of each month from 2024: January I walked up on my lifer mudsnake crossing a trail in Shark Valley. [Eastern Mudsnake from Everglades National Park] [Image 1-2-2…

Don’t worry, we were looking down on it, and were out of striking range.

Sorry I didn’t read the whole thread. I have a question to the specialists. Currently I see a lot of young geckos (mainly Tarentola mauritanica), some with missing tail. [0B7C03C1-6690-4554-BD98-70A3A3B76A35_1_105_c] Of course I know that lizards and apparently also geckos can break off their tai…

[image] susanne-kasimir: Can this substitute also break off or do the animals only have one chance in life? Correct, the replacement is basically just cartilage, as I understand it. And it cannot be broken off by the lizard.

A regenerated tail cannot be broken off by the lizard, but apparently can sometimes be broken again. See this observation. Also, apparently lizards can sometimes lose their tail multiple times, but usually to do so they have to lose the tail further toward the base where they still control autotom…

[image] tiwane: Correct, the replacement is basically just cartilage, as I understand it. And it cannot be broken off by the lizard. [image] petezani: A regenerated tail cannot be broken off by the lizard, but apparently can sometimes be broken again. Thanks to both! So the young one a…

Yes, in fact, any geckos like this only have one or a few vertebrae that can break (so-called autotomizable vertebrae) in a way they control. These special vertebrae in geckos are all near the base of the tail like this and the rest can’t be broken in the same way (some other lizard groups have man…

Thanks for asking! This can go in “what did you learn today” threads, for me!

Not a gecko, but sometimes tails can grow back in weird ways .

Herps/Herping Discussion Topic

Nature Talk

jjwsphotography October 2, 2025, 5:29am 181

Thanks!!

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