Alligator mississippiensis

American Alligator

Before the Smith Preserve area was purchased by the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, a large alligator lived in the pond that had been used for irrigation when the land was a citrus grove. Sometime during the clearing of the invasives from the pond, the alligator disappeared. It is assumed that it left the area via the canal along the north property line.

In 2010, a young alligator was brought to the Conservancy wildlife hospital because it was missing an eye. It was cared for and let go in the filter marsh. The location was chosen because there were no competing alligators and the habitat provided everything a young alligator would need. Food would include small insects, snails, crustaceans, worms, fish, amphibians, and reptiles. As it grew, it would be able to eat turtles, birds, and other larger animals.

Since its release, the alligator has not been observed, but the pond is quite large and there are plenty of hiding places.

Alligators are native only to the United States and China and live in freshwater and brackish environments. Because they construct gator holes in wetlands, they are considered an important species that helps maintain ecological diversity. Alligators mature at about 1.8 m and mate in late spring. Females build a nest of vegetation where decomposition of vegetation provides the heat needed to incubate the eggs. The sex of the offspring is determined by the temperature of the nest. The mother defends her nest and young from predators.

 

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Agama agama

Red Headed Rock Agama

On March 28, 2018, Vanessa Booher, a Conservancy of Southwest Florida Biologist, spotted this red headed rock agama basking in the sun on the sidewalk adjacent to Smith Preserve and the parking spaces at the northern end of the Conservancy campus. This was the first reported sighting of this species at the Conservancy. (The photographs are courtesy of Vanessa Booher.)

When startled, the lizard climbed through the preserve fence and up a sable palm. It later returned to bask on the sidewalk. As the day heated up, the lizard's colors became more vivid as shown below.

How this lizard got to the Preserve is unknown. It may have been a released pet. The species is not native to Florida; it is native to sub-Saharan Africa.

Adults range in length from 13 to 30 cm. Males are typically longer than females. Individuals have a white underside, brown back limbs, and the tail has a light stripe down the middle with 6 or 7 dark patches along the side of that stripe. Females, adolescents and subordinate males have olive green heads, while the dominant male has a red head, blue body and yellow tail. This lizard is a male.

Usually, red headed rock agama live in social groups with a lead male, ~6 females, and subordinate males. Only the dominant male (cock) is allowed to mate with females.

Communication among the group is done by changing body postures and colors. A male bobs its head at other males to challenge them or at a female to impress her into mating.

Fertile females lay 5 to 7 eggs in a hole she digs with her snout and claws in sandy, wet soil. By day, the eggs are left uncovered. At night, she covers them with vegetation. Temperature determines the sex of the eggs. Warmer temperatures create males eggs.

The species is well-suited to arid conditions. Individuals are active throughout the day, hunting food. They are insectivores, with favorite foods including ants, grasshoppers, beetles, and termites. But they may also eat small mammals, reptiles, and fruit, seeds, eggs, flowers and grasses. A red headed rock agama catches prey with its sticky, mucous-coated tongue. Their predators are likely snakes.

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Ophisaurus ventralis

Glass Lizard

The genus Ophisaurus means "snake lizard". This is an appropriate name because this legless lizard with its very long tail resembles a snake. Unlike snakes, it has movable eyelids and external ear openings. It has very smooth skin with shiny scales reinforced by bones (osteoderms) that make its body hard and brittle.

The common name "glass lizard" refers to its tail. When a predator grabs the lizard, Ophisaurus ventralis drops its tail. Once dropped, the tail can break into several pieces, resembling what happens when glass is dropped. The tail sections continue moving and distract the predator, allowing the lizard to escape. Overtime, the lizard regenerates a new tail. The reason a glass lizard can drop its tail is there are weakened areas within or between vertebrae that easily break apart.

Glass lizards are the largest lizards in Florida. In Florida, there are four very similar looking species, all belonging to the same genus. Ophisaurus ventralis, which is endemic to the southeastern United States, is the most common glass lizard encountered in Florida and it is one of the largest. Adults can be 102 cm long.

This species has other distinctive characteristics besides size. The neck is marked by a series of mostly vertical white marks. Older specimens have numerous longitudinal dark lines and they may be greenish above and yellow below. This is the only species that has a greenish appearance.

 

Most of the day, glass lizards burrow through soil and piles of leaves looking for food (insects, spiders, snails, other small reptiles, and young rodents).

Once mated, the female lays her eggs at the base of grass clumps or under ground debris.

The photographs shown here show one of the lizards in the scrub area of the Smith Preserve.

All of the photographs of this glass lizard were taken by Jim Bigelow, Conservancy of Southwest Florida volunteer.

 

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Anolis equestris

Cuban Knight Anole

On May 22, 2018, adjacent to Smith Preserve Way, this anole was spotted and photographed by Melinda Shulman, a Biologist with the Division of Science at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida.

The Cuban Knight Anole is the largest anole in the Dactyloidae family. Native to Cuba, the species has been introduced into South Florida.

Individuals can reach over 33 cm in length. The tail is longer than the head and body. As can be seen in the first photograph, the body color is bright green with a yellow stripe on the side of the head and another on the shoulder. The dewlap is pinkish-white.

These anoles are arboreal and spend most of the time high in trees, but come to the ground to get from one tree to another. They are diurnal and very territorial. When confronted (as shown in this second photograph), they face their perceived enemy, sit high on all four legs, and may gape menacingly.

When young, they eat mostly insects. As adults, they eat invertebrates, fruit, and sometimes small birds and reptiles.

On January 23, 2020, as science volunteers worked north of Smith Preserve Way, the anole below, hanging from a Serenoa repens (Saw Palmetto) leaf, was spotted by volunteer Terry Troutman. With its fantastic camouflaged colors, it was quite difficult to see until it moved. The lizard was docile and allowed the webmaster to take the photographs below without showing any aggressive or defensive behavior.

 

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Anolis sagrei

Brown Anole

Anolis sagrei is a non-native lizard that first appeared in the Florida Keys in the 1890s. It is originally from Cuba and the Bahamas. Brown anoles are highly invasive and not only out-compete the native anole, Anolis carolinensis (Green Anole), but consume them. Brown anoles live in the bottom of trees and shrubs. They consume insects, other lizards, lizard eggs, small fish, and their own molted skin and detached tails. Eating the molted skin replenishes supplies of calcium.

These anoles are slender and slightly larger than green anoles. Males are larger than females. The brown anole snout is short compared to that of the green. Brown anoles can change color, but only from light brown to dark brown. They are never green. As shown above in the second photograph, mature males have a crest-like ridge running down the back. Males also have a yellow or reddish-orange dewlap with a yellow-white edge as shown in the photograph at right and below.

 

The size of the dewlap can be an honest indicator of male bite force, jumping ability, and body size or condition, and hence functions as an honest sign of a male's competitive ability. ((Vanhooydonck et al. 2005a, 2005b, Irschick et al. 2006; Henningsen and Irschick 2012; Curlis et al. 2017)

If provoked, a brown anole may react by detaching its tail, biting, urinating, and defecating. Predators include rats, snakes, birds.

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Eumeces inexpectatus

Southeastern Five-Lined Skink

In mid February 2018, five year old Ursula Bartozek and her father Ian, Science Coordinator and Biologist at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, captured this secretive, native skink in the Smith Preserve. These photographs were taken by the webmaster, and the Bartozeks later released the skink back where it was found.

Southeastern five-lined skinks have five narrow stripes along their bodies that become lighter as they age. The middle stripe is narrower than the others. Dark areas between stripes are black in young and become brown as the skink ages. Young skinks of this species have a bright blue or purplish tail. Stripes are bright reddish-orange near the head. Adults lose the blue tail color. The skink shown here is an adult.

This species is common in wooded areas of the southeastern United States, where individuals are found under or in ground litter, logs, or piles of wood. These skinks are most active during the day time and are ground-dwelling. They feed on large insects like grasshoppers.

Females lay eggs in clutches of 6 to 12. Females brood the eggs and protect them from predators.

The maximum length of adults is 8.5 inches (21.6 cm).

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Cnemidophorus sexlineatus

Six-Lined Racerunner

Cnemidophorus sexlineatus is a native, slender-bodied member of Family Teiidae (Whiptail Lizards). Its tail is nearly twice the length of its body. As shown in these photographs taken in the Preserve scrub, a six-lined racerunner is dark brown with six yellow stripes extending down its body from head to tail. Females have white bellies and males have pale blue bellies and throats. All individuals in these photographs are thought to be males.

Like other species of whiptail lizards, Cnemidophorus sexlineatus are active during the day. These lizards have a voracious appetite for grasshoppers, crickets, spiders, ants, flies, small moths, and caterpillars.

To capture prey and escape predators, six-lined racerunners move very quickly, reaching speeds up to 29 km/h (18 mph). In the Smith Preserve, their major predators are snakes.

Racerunners use burrows during the night, on cool days, for egg laying, and for escape. They either dig the burrows or use burrows dug by other animals. To dig, they use their front legs to remove soil. The burrows can extend 20 to 25 cm and have two openings. When the lizard is inside, one of the openings is closed from the inside. The first two photographs below show a racerunner quickly digging a hole for safety. The very last photograph shows him standing beside his completed burrow.

Below is another six-lined racerunner, seen on March 15, 2016.

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Indotyphlops braminus

Brahminy Blind Snake

On March 4, 2022, this little snake was found under a decomposing Sabal Palmetto (Cabbage Palm) tree that had fallen just south of the pond in Smith Preserve. Once it was located, it quickly dug itself in the moist debris to escape. Brahminy blind snakes are nonvenomous snakes indigenous to Africa and Asia.

The species has been introduced to many other parts of the world, including Florida. The species was first reported in Miami, Florida in the 1970s.

Adults are 11.2 to 16.5 cm. For scale for this particular individual, the webmaster's thumb nail is show in these photographs. Both the head and tail are blunt. The snake looks like a worm, but it is not segmented like a worm.

Instead it has scales like other snakes, and as the third photograph shows, it has a tongue. Diet includes ants, insect larvae, and other small invertebrates. All Brahminy blind snakes are females. This is the only parthenogenetic snake species known. "Parthenogenesis" means reproduction from an ovum (egg) without fertilization. The snakes are oviporous (ie. producing young by means of eggs that are hatched after they are laid by the parent). The snake lays 2 to 7 tiny eggs.

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Pseudemys nelsoni

Florida Red-bellied Turtle

 

Pseudemys nelsoni is a native turtle that can grow to 20.3 to 37.5 cm in length. Adult females are typically larger than adult males. Besides size differences, males can be distinguished by their longer nails and longer stout tails.

As its name "Florida Red-bellied Turtle" implies, the turtle plastron (belly shell) is usually orange or red. The carapace (dorsal shell) is round, domed with a yellowish edge, and has one large, dark red band across each scute (scale). In older specimens like the one in this photograph, mosses and algae cover the shell, making it difficult to see the red color. The turtle's head is black with narrow yellow stripes.

Pseudemys nelsoni are found in nearly any type of fresh or brackish aquatic habitat. The adult diet is mostly plants. These turtles spend much of the day basking on logs.

After mating, females lay 12 to 30 eggs in late spring and early summer and are known to nest in alligator nests or away from the water.

Florida red-bellied turtles are exported for consumption and the pet trade.

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Pseudemys sp.

Cooter / Slider

 

When photographed, this melanistic Pseudemys sp. was sunning itself on a log in the filter marsh. Melanism is the development of dark-colored pigments in the skin. In this individual, the dark skin and shell obscure its markings, making the species difficult to identify.

Like other members of Family Emydidae (Pond and Marsh Turtles), Pseudemys sp. has a prominent bridge connecting the dorsal and ventral shells. The limbs are adapted for swimming and its toes are webbed. Long nails on the front feet indicate that this individual is a male. A male courts a female by swimming backward while using the nails to stroke her face.

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Terrapene carolina bauri

Florida Box Turtle

The Florida Box Turtle lives on the peninsula of Florida in both wooded and grassy areas, often near streams and ponds. As with other box turtles, this species has a narrow, high-domed shell that is hinged. The hinge allows a turtle to tightly close its shell for protection.

Box turtles are terrestrial members of Family Emydidae (American pond turtle family), not members of Family Testudinidae (tortoise family).

The first two photographs shown here are of two individuals found dead in the Preserve. It is likely that they were attacked and eaten by raccoons. The first photograph shows the carapace (top shell) and some of the remaining scales that covered the carapace. The second photograph shows scales that had fallen off the carapace of the second victim.

The Florida Box Turtle shell is sometimes marked with a pattern of bright radiating yellow stripes, but the color can also be solid yellow to solid black. The head is marked with lines. This subspecies of Terrapene carolina has three toes on each of the hind feet. This distinguishes bauri from other subspecies.

Sharp claws and a sharp beak are used to catch and eat food. In the wild, diet consists of insects, worms, snails, roots, fish, frogs, berries, fungi, and carrion. The young are primarily carnivorous, while adults are mostly herbivorous, but they do not eat green leaves.

Males are larger than females and the plastron (ventral portion of the shell) is concave. Hind leg claws are short, thick and curved. The tail is thicker and longer than that of a female. Eyes are red.

Females have longer and straighter rear claws, and the posterior lobe of the plastron is flat or slightly convex. Females have yellow eyes.

Nest temperature determines the sex of the offspring. Cooler nests (22˚ to 27˚C) produce males. Warmer nests (28˚C and higher) produce females.

The third photograph, courtesy of Ian Bartoszek, shows a young, live box turtle. Turtles reach sexual maturity in five years. They are believed to live over 100 years in the wild.

On the morning of April 1, 2015, the photograph below was taken of a mature male as it shuffled over the sand in the Smith Preserve scrub.

Below, this male was in the hammock area of the Preserve on November 5, 2015

 

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Gopherus polyphemus

Gopher Tortoise

Below are photographs of two young tortoises in the Preserve. The very young one at left is only about 2 inches (5.08 cm) long. Compare its size to the fallen pinecone. Click here to link to the gopher tortoise web page to read details about this species.

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