Eastern Glass Lizard
(Ophisarius ventralis) 

Identification: Can be distinguished from a snake as it has movable eyelids and external ear openings. Juveniles are khaki in color and have a dark stripe on each side of the back. Adults often display white markings on the neck, but lack the dark stripe down their back seen in other glass lizards. Glass lizards have a groove along their sides, and the Eastern glass lizard lacks dark stripes or coloration below this groove. This is the only glass lizard that may appear green or bluish as an adult.  

Size: 18-24”  (46-61cm) length 

Diet: Insects, spiders, snails, birds’ eggs, and small snakes and lizards

Habitat: Prefers wet meadows, grasslands, and pine flatwoods, and also may occur in the hardwood hammocks of southern Florida

Comments: Glass lizards have stiff bodies, and readily lose their tails, which are said to break off like a piece of glass. Their skin is stiff due to a small bone—the osteodum—found in every scale of their body. In fact, their bodies are so stiff that without the lateral groove along their bodies, these lizards would have difficulty moving, or even breathing!  The Eastern glass lizard is a diurnal lizard, most active in the early morning. They are excellent burrowers, and can be found at depths of a foot (30cm) underground.

Anne Grace

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