September is an exciting month for sand lizards. Females laid their eggs in May and June which they buried in the warm sand. These eggs have been incubating throughout the summer, and now they are ready to hatch!
Young sand lizards do not receive parental care, but they can be spotted hunting for invertebrates in pairs or small groups of fellow juveniles. They will feed up as much as possible during September and October before hibernating. Unfortunately the tiny juveniles can be vulnerable to predation from adult male sand lizards as well as a number of other predators including birds, mammals and reptiles.
Females will sometimes lay a second clutch later in the summer, and given the rate of global warming, we may well see this behaviour increase. Individuals that hatch later in the year may also hibernate later; this is because they need to spend as much time feeding as possible before hibernating to improve their chances of surviving their first winter.
Remember to record any reptile, amphibian or egg sightings to our FREE Dragon Finder App.
