Description: Slender glass lizards have yellow to brown bodies with six stripes and they have a middorsal stripe. White specks on the middle of the lizard's scales may sometimes form light stripes. O. attenuatus can attain a total length of 22 inches to 36 iches. The species is closely related to collared lizards. Its tail comprises two-thirds of its body length. Its scales are supported by an osteoderm which makes the body hard and stiff. The species has a pointed snout and a non-distinct head. Males and females are of similar size. Its markings may fade as an individual ages. Unlike snakes, they have eyelids and ears. Slender glass lizards have some difficulty moving across smooth surfaces because they do not have the large belly-plates and related muscles of snakes. The body of a snake is more flexible than that of this species and have different shaped scales.

Habitat: O. attenuatus is found in the midwestern and southeast United States, where it is endemic, in prairies, old fields, or open woodlands, often near water. They can also sometimes be found in longleaf pine forests and human-made debris.

Range: Slender glass lizards range from southern Wisconsin and northern Indiana south into eastern Texas and western Louisiana, and west to southeastern Nebraska and eastern Colorado.

Found in these States: AL | AR | FL | GA | IA | IN | KS | KY | LA | MO | MS | NC | NE | OK | SC | TX | WI

Diet: Slender glass lizards eat a range of insects, such as grasshoppers, crickets and beetles, and will also consume spiders, small rodents, and snails. They have also been known to eat small lizards and small snakes. Unlike snakes, glass lizards do not have flexible jaws, and this limits the size of prey items they can consume. The size of their food can be no larger than the size of their head. They forage underground in burrows. A fold of their skin is able to expand their body when they are breathing, eating a large meal, or when they are carrying eggs.

Reproduction: Mating typically occurs biannually in May and they lay 5 to 15 oval eggs in late June or July. Eggs hatch 50–60 days after being laid and the mother then stays beside them throughout the incubation period. The eggs are laid under objects that can cover them including a log or a board. The eggs hatch after 53 days during August to October. Hatchlings are 3.9–5.1 inches long and are difficult to find. Sexual maturity is attained at three or four years of age.

Status: Although not endangered overall in the United States, it is listed as vulnerable in Iowa and endangered in Wisconsin. O. attenuatus is regarded as vulnerable in Iowa, where it is illegal to even capture them. Its primary threats are loss of habitat, and the fragmentation of what remains, by human development. Insecticides are harmful to the lizard because they can kill the insects that they consume and those insects can be ingested by the lizard. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources recommended steps to conserve the slender glass lizard which are to avoid burning grassland from April to October, remove trees mechanically instead of using chemicals, and limiting insecticide use in areas where they are known to inhabit.

Subspecies: Two in our region
Western Slender Glass Lizard (Ophisaurus attenuatus attenuatus)
Eastern Slender Glass Lizard (Ophisaurus attenuatus longicaudus)

Taxonomy: