Examples of Nocturnal Reptiles

Insomniacs and budding herpetologists may seek the denizens of the night deserts, either in a natural habitat or a carefully modulated artificial environment. There are scaly night creatures that make excellent pets and others that are best observed in nature. And then there are those that, even if you could find one, would be wildly unsuitable for the home hobbyist. Science is revealing the nocturnal habits of reptiles long extinct, while pet lovers are taming more accessible contemporary lizards.

  1. Geckos, Pets to Keep You Up at Night

    • Leopard Geckos, natives of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, like to hang out under a rock during the day and come out to hunt for dinner at night. They are very popular pets because they require little maintenance, are not fragile, don't need a lot of space and don't create a mess and do not smell. Their beautiful camouflage markings make it worthwhile to stay up at night to watch them moving around in their tank. Crested Geckos, from New Caledonia, are even easier to keep but more fragile. They can lose their tails easily and do not grow them back. Crested Geckos like to eat fruit-based powders that can be purchased at pet-supply stores and mixed with water. Owners do not need to worry about bugs or other messy diets to deal with. They tame quickly, although their tendency to lose their tails makes handling them slightly risky. According to the American Museum of Natural History, they were once thought to be extinct until large colonies of them were discovered living on an island off Australia. The are now raised domestically as pets.

    Sandstone Night Lizard

    • The Sandstone Night Lizard hails from Anza-Borrea State Park near San Diego. It is best left there. It lives in sandstone and mudstone and is protected by both the state and federal government. According to California Reptiles &Amp;hibians, a collection of articles on California herpetology posted on the Internet, the Sandstone Night Lizard has been spotted eating gecko eggs, but its principal diet is thought to be ants, beetles, bees and other small invertebrates. Its color is creamy to yellow with brown spots on its body and stripes on its tail and it grows to be less than three inches long. True to its name, the Sandstone Night Lizard sleeps under slabs of sandstone during the day and comes out to forage and move around at night.

    Dinosaurs

    • Dinosaurs may have been very, very early nocturnal reptiles. At least one dinosaur, an archosaur that lived 250 million years ago, seems to have had excellent night vision. Research biologists at Rockefeller University analyzed an artificially created gene for light-sensing pigment, using models based on the dinosaur's direct descendants: alligators, chickens and others. The molecules the scientists recreated were able to sense light at lower levels than most reptiles today. Their findings point to the real possibility that some dinosaurs were owls, not larks, roaming around at night and dining by starlight.