By Jeremy Carroll
If you take a walk in the rainforest of the Amazon for any given period of time while surveying the trees around you, you may find a jewel of the forest running along the bark catching insects and chasing each other around. This little lizard is known as the Collard Tree Runner (Plica plica). Plica are a member of a family of South American lizards known as Tropidurids. They are a little lizard with a lot of personality and are very intelligent. They are not seen much in the hobby and some zoos do keep them in their collections but they are often an overlooked species. Years ago, you could find these little lizards for about 25 dollars a pop and they bred just as easily. They can be compared in appearance to the Collared Lizard (Crotaphytus sp.) from the American Southwest and the Blue Spiny Lizard (Sceloporus cyanogenys).
Natural History
These lizards are in the genus Plica which is composed of 8 recognized species none of them not getting much bigger than a foot in length. The most common one that is seen in captivity is Plica plica. This species is differentiated from others in the group by the number of spines on the head and body (Harding). They are found in South America including the countries of Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, and Suriname. They spend most of their time running up and down trees chasing each other and insect prey. This species is sexually dimorphic in size with males getting about a foot long from head to tail and females about 8 inches give or take. Males also have noticeable femoral pores. In the terrarium, they are fun to watch run around and interact with one another though males can be territorial to the point that the larger of the group will injure the others.
In Captivity
Plica plica are a species that you do not often see in herp circles. My pair was one that I came across online from the late Ken Foose. A week later they were in the herp room. A small group of 1.2 in a large, zoo med type enclosure will be ok but go bigger and taller if possible. Bigger groups of 2.3 in a large enclosure would be something to see and will work as long as they have plenty of places to hide. The males can get aggressive to other males during territorial disputes and to females during the breeding season, sometimes stressing them to the point of death. If you do go this route, make sure each animal has enough space to get away if needed.
These animals are fast so be prepared to get a workout if one escapes on you! Make sure to give them lots of tree limbs and pieces of bark to climb around on. Give them a lizard highway that has branches going both vertically and horizontally. Most of the time the animals will likely be hanging out on the horizontal branches. Try to stay away from thinner branches because they can be hard on the animals’ feet and might not give as much grip as larger branches would. These are not chameleons or geckos therefore their feet and legs are more geared towards running than gripping so they seem to have a hard time on smaller, more slender branches.. They also like to hide under bark so give them some hides on the ground and hides that are suspended off the ground if possible. They don’t spend much time on the ground but these, like all animals, should be given options to decide what they want to do and where.
The only time you may see Plica grounded is when they are chasing food or if the females are laying eggs. You may also notice them on the ground if the temperatures are not to their liking. I put a layer of leaves and any cuttings from the plants on the ground because they not only provide a good egg laying medium for the females, but they also decompose and nourish the plants that are growing in the enclosure. Right now there are just Areca palms that seem to be thriving in my enclosure despite being jumped on and trampled upon by the animals. The look of the leaves that have fallen from the plants looks natural as well and returns nourishment to the soil. When they are feeding, the Plica may grab some of the leaves and swallow them. If husbandry parameters are good these should be passed without a problem.
These lizards like a nice warm basking spot of about 100 degrees. Anything warmer than that and they try to avoid it. They do like some sun so use a bulb like a 5.0 UV bulb to make sure these animals get their adequate amounts of UV. With that being said, they do like to have some shade since they live on the trunks of trees where they might not receive a lot of UV penetration so making sure they have a spot to go to get away is important. They will thermoregulate as they please if adequate places are given for them to do so.
I feed the adults three times a week with adequate size crickets, mealworms, and superworms and dust every other feeding with a calcium supplement and once a month with herptivite. They are eating machines and will eat as many insects that wander in front of them as they can. Pinkies have been offered but they showed no interest and just held onto them for a second before spitting them out. After the female lays eggs, I up the supplementation a bit just to make sure the females don’t get hypocalcemia. It has been noticed that hatchlings are prone to deficiency so make sure they get adequate amounts of calcium. Usually it happens soon after they come out of the egg and are just starting to eat. As far as water goes a dish is provided but, for these guys, it is a learned behavior and most of the time they drink when being misted right before the lights go out. I try to keep the humidity levels at about 70% with misting and keep them hydrated.
Reproduction
Breeding these animals is a fairly easy endeavor. There is not a big demand for Plica but they can sometimes be found for sale on classifieds around the herp community. They are a fun and interesting little lizard. They reach sexual maturity at about 2 years old but one should wait for the females to be a little bigger just to make sure they can handle egg laying. Egg laying is stressful to the female and can even shorten the life of the animal so making sure the female is ready before attempting this is vital with all reptiles and amphibians. The males can be relentless in pursuing the females and as soon as she drops one clutch he will go and try to breed with her again. The females lay about 2 clutches of eggs a season which typically starts in the spring. Females lay about 3, maybe 4, eggs in a clutch and usually in the substrate usually under a log or piece of bark. They sometimes dig some false holes before digging the actual one but once she starts she will be laying them for a good part of the day.
When the female does lay, you will notice that she will have a collapsed midsection which is usually a good sign that a gravid female has laid her eggs. Gestation period for the eggs is about 30 days and after laying the eggs take roughly 100 days for them to hatch at a temperature of 82 degrees Fahrenheit in an incubation medium of vermiculite at a ratio of 1:2 (vermiculite to water). Towards the end of incubation try not to bother the eggs much because when the eggs are disturbed the hatchlings tend to burst out of the egg. When this happens as opposed to hatching on their own the hatchlings are weaker and do not do as well. When they hatch they are about 4 inches and start off well on small crickets, mealworms, and fruit flies. Be ready to have lots of small bugs available for them. They grow fast so feed them daily. When they are about a year old you can cut back on how often you are offering food.
Conclusion
These little jewels of the amazon are cool little lizards that are rewarding to watch and a joy to keep. If you are looking for something that is not as commonly kept, you may want to look into these guys. They are intelligent as well, learning who their keeper is and running to them during feeding time. Watching them run along the branches of the enclosures and live their lives is not a bad way to spend the day. Some other keepers out there are keeping these as well so you may have a good chance of finding some captive bred animals which is the better way to go to avoid health issues. Thanks to Robert Mendyk for giving this a once over and the folks at Herpetoculture Magazine for the opportunity.
References:
Harding, Luke & Tapley, Benjamin & Gill, Iri & Kane, Daniel & Servini, Francesca & Januszczak, Inez & Capon-Doyle, Joseph-Smiley & Michaels, Christopher. (2017). Captive Husbandry and Breeding of the Tree-runner lizard (Plica plica) at ZSL London Zoo. Herpetological Bulletin. 138. 1.
