Thursday 25 January 2018

How long do reptiles live?

Not very much is known about the longevity of most reptile species in the wild but there is plenty of information on reptiles kept in captivity. Certainly Blue-tongue, Water-dragon and other similarly sized lizards have been kept in captivity for 20 to 30 years.
The smaller species are not so long lived, but some Geckos have been reported to live in captivity for around 10 years.

Snakes are remarkably long lived in captivity ans some have been kept up to 20 years. In the wild they are unlikely to live as long. A less assured food supply, greater risk of predation and other hazards would reduce their life expectancy significantly. Some species are known to only live for one or two years in the wild.

A curious feature of reptiles is that no matter how long they live, they continually replace their teeth. This is in contrast to mammals, which lose their teeth when they get old.

No comments:

Post a Comment