Colorful, beautiful, and active, Jewelled Curly-tail Lizards can make entertaining pets. Their interesting antics and lovely appearances are quite pleasing both to their keepers and people who observe these lizards in the wild. Jewelled Curly-tail Lizards are adaptable and can be found in habitats ranging from open forests to sandy beach areas, though they are usually not seen above altitudes of 1,850 feet. When they are disturbed or frightened, they will whip their tails about or curl them up. Jewelled Curly-tail Lizards are terrestrial and many males are territorial, so males should not be kept together. They feed on insects, and are usually active during the day. Jewelled Curly-tail Lizards tend to be quick and can be hard to hold, but are often entertaining to watch because of their high activity level. The Jewelled Curly-tail Lizard can grow to about ten inches (25 centimeters) in length. These lovely lizards have reddish tails and their bodies tend to be brightly colored with red, black, blue, yellow, green, or orange shades. They have a mostly black background color dorsally, and they have a black mask. Coloration is variable and no two lizards are exactly the same. The scales over the backs of Jewelled Curly-tail Lizards are large, keeled, and overlapping. A small dorsal crest is present. The tails of these lizards are usually longer than the lizard's total body length. Jewelled Curly-Tail Lizards are also called Masked Curly-tail Lizards. They are native to northern areas of Haiti. There are several subspecies of Jewelled Curly-tail Lizard. The nominant subspecies was first noted in 1862 by Cope. |