i was in the reptile section of my petstore yesterday getting crickets for my bearded dragon, and I saw these super tiny (like two or three inch) lizards called fire lacertas. i ended up buying one, but I can't for the life of me find ANY information about them on the internet. i've got him in a 10 gallon tank with 75watt heat light and feeding him calcium dusted pinhead crickets, since that's what they said they fed to them at the petshop. i'd really like to know specifics though, to take the best care of him. nothing comes up at all when I google fire lacerta. maybe they go by a different name? any help or ideas are appreciated.

I'm not any good fro doing an ID but if you post up a picture it should help the others.
Also if it is durnial you should probably be thinking of ways to provide UVB light. Granted it will be hard to know what sort of lighting you have until you have an idea of the lizards natural habitat.

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here's a picture of him:

That most certainly looks like a whiptail of some sort (Cnemidophorus sp.) from what I can tell. They're in the Teid family, but don't get nearly as big as tegus. Typically they're found in desert-like habitats, but narrowing down the species would be a good idea (not to mention a hard task). Not to put down your photography skills, but I don't suppose you could get any more pics of him, could you? A proper ID will be difficult using that photo alone. At only 3 inches (that's without the tail I assume?) I'd say they're juveniles. Whiptails are native to the southwestern U.S, Mexico, and I believe parts of South America. It could still potentially be some Old-World species too, but whiptail is definitely the first thing that comes to mind.

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i'll get a better picture of him later today

"It could still potentially be some Old-World species too"

-Matt, I coulda sworn Teiids were new world only. In fact, I think they take the niches of Agamidae in the new world, since Agamidae are absent.

I was totally gonna call teiid all over that as well. Get a good pic of his head, especially one where we can see the size and shape of the head and tympanum (ear).

They are. But until I have the time to sit down and get a more specific ID than just the genus, I'm still leaving other options open. I know the chances of this being something non Teiid are extremely slim, but I don't want to say it's one thing before I'm 100% sure and then have someone come and say it's something else and have them be right

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i went back to the petshop today and they assured me he was a fire lacerta. i brought up the whiptail thing, he said whiptails have longer tails. i just don't know why I can't find any information on fire lacertas. does anyone know ANYTHING about them??

I have no idea what a fire lacerta is, however I did find information on an animal called Lacerta graeca, which may be the species they are relating to, it is the Greek Rock Lizard, and unless I am totally missing it in the picture yours looks nothing like this. I assume that Fire Lacerta is a common name for another lizard or it is mislabled. The lizard that I found is generally found close to water sources, or humid areas, in upland and coastal regions. Animals may be found in shaded parts of rocky areas, scree and light, open woodland. It can also be found on the treelined edges of pastureland. The females lay a single clutch of one to six eggs annually.



The article I found about the life cycle says they require a high humidity habitat, not dessert. My guess is it was either mislabled, or the pet shop is wrong.... who would have thought.

I agree that it is a whiptail of some sort, here is a picture of one kind



judging from your picture the whiptail makes much more sense than a lacerta graeca

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TKE:TT:118

here's a better picture :