Common Wall Lizard

The common wall lizard is a small, fast lizard from mainland Europe. It loves sun and stone, and it has quietly built self sustaining colonies far from home.

You can find it on stone walls in southern England and on limestone outcrops around Cincinnati, Ohio. Most people who ask about it just saw one dart across a wall or a driveway. They are not shopping for a pet.

Podarcis muralis is the scientific name. Field guides also call it the European wall lizard. In parts of Britain it is simply “the wall lizard.”

Around Cincinnati it is the Lazarus lizard. The name honors the Lazarus department store family, whose son released the founding animals in 1951, not the biblical figure.

Its cousin the Italian wall lizard, Podarcis siculus, has separate colonies elsewhere in the United States. The two are often mixed up.

This guide covers identification, wild diet, and behavior. It covers breeding and lifespan too. It also covers the legal and welfare side of a species protected in parts of its native range, and introduced or managed elsewhere.

For the wider group of small lacertids this species belongs to, see our other lizards overview.

Identification and how it compares to the Italian wall lizard

Adults reach a total length of 5.5 to 8 inches (14 to 20 cm), including the tail. The body itself is usually under 3 inches, and an adult weighs about 5.4 grams. Coloring is variable, often brownish or grayish, sometimes with a green tinge along the back.

The belly carries rows of larger rectangular scales. These often run reddish, pink, or orange. Researchers have documented six distinct throat and belly color morphs across the species: three solid morphs (white, orange or red, and yellow) and three combination morphs that mix those colors.

This variation makes color alone an unreliable way to tell individuals apart. A single hillside can hold several morphs at once. The species people confuse it with most in North America is the Italian wall lizard, an introduced lacertid with its own colonies in Ohio, Kansas, and New York.

The table below lines up the two side by side.

The two species do not overlap in Cincinnati, where every wall lizard is Podarcis muralis. Confusion comes from the shared genus and the similar look. Head shape, body build, and known local population history settle most cases better than color alone.

For a closer look at the Italian species, see our Italian wall lizard profile. For the full range of small lacertids in this family, see our roundup of types of lizards.

Behavior and where it lives

Wall lizards are diurnal. They are active during the day and inactive at night. They are also strongly heliothermic, meaning they need direct sunlight to warm up before they can hunt.

They bask on stone, brick, or bare ground for long stretches before foraging. Native habitat runs from Mediterranean rock walls to cooler mixed woodland edges further north. The species tolerates a wide range of climates for a lizard, from Spain and Belgium to Turkey.

Wall lizards get their name honestly. They favor vertical stone and masonry: retaining walls, quarry faces, railway embankments, building foundations, and rock piles. Natural cliffs and scree slopes work just as well.

In its introduced Cincinnati range, the species needs rocky terrain or stone walls on south facing slopes to survive the winter. That is why its distribution is patchy: old retaining walls, rubble piles, and river bluffs, with gaps between. Landscaping stone carrying eggs is one way new pockets appear.

They are territorial baskers. Adult males defend favored basking spots with push up style displays and head bobbing toward rivals. A threatened wall lizard’s first move is to dash for the nearest crevice rather than stand its ground.

Like most lacertids, it can drop its tail if a predator grabs it. That defense is called autotomy, and it trades the tail for an escape. Britain’s native reptiles, including the smaller, live bearing viviparous lizard and the rare sand lizard, share some of the same basking habits but keep to different habitat.

Diet

In the wild, this species is an insectivorous generalist. Indiana’s wildlife agency lists crickets and grasshoppers as the staple, with earthworms taken too. Spiders, beetles, flies, ants, and caterpillars all go down as long as they fit the mouth.

They forage actively during the warmest parts of the day. They move along walls and ground cover, snapping up prey by sight.

Introduced populations feed on whatever comparable prey the local environment offers. Around Cincinnati and in southern England, that means the ordinary garden and urban insect community: ants, small beetles, and spiders living in the same stone and rubble the lizards use for shelter.

This is a wild, non pet trade species in the United States, so there is no captive feeding schedule to give here. Zoos and licensed research colonies that keep the species feed a varied rotation of appropriately sized feeder insects dusted with calcium. That matches the natural diet rather than substituting processed food.

For how this compares with diet needs across the wider lizard world, see our guide to what lizards eat.

Breeding

Breeding season runs through spring and into summer. In Britain eggs are laid from May to July and hatch into September. Warmer southern populations start earlier, and females often lay several clutches over one season.

Each clutch holds up to about 8 eggs, depending on the female’s size and condition. The eggs are small and soft shelled. They absorb moisture from the soil as they develop and swell noticeably before hatching.

Eggs go into rock crevices, sandy soil, or loose litter near the female’s home range, not guarded. Incubation runs several weeks, depending on soil temperature. Hatchlings are fully independent the moment they emerge, with no parental care.

Sexual maturity typically arrives at around one to two years of age. That is faster than the multi year maturation seen in some larger lizard families. Introduced populations, including the Cincinnati colony, show what a small founding group can do.

Between 6 and 10 lizards were released in 1951. Genetic work later found a sharp bottleneck, with simulations pointing to only about three effective founders. That handful built a population now measured in the tens of thousands.

Lifespan and size

The maximum recorded longevity for the species is 10 years, according to the AnAge longevity database. Most wild individuals die well before that. Mortality is driven mainly by predation, harsh winters at the edge of the range, and vehicle strikes in urban colonies.

Adults weigh about 5.4 grams. See our broader lizard lifespan guide for how this compares across lizard families.

Adults reach a total length of 5.5 to 8 inches (14 to 20 cm), including the tail. Most individuals run toward the smaller end. Hatchlings emerge only around an inch and a half to two inches long.

They grow quickly through their first active season. In favorable climates, they reach a size close to sexual maturity within about a year.

Health

This is a wild, unmanaged species across nearly all of their range. They are not monitored for individual health the way a pet reptile would be. The main documented threats are predation by birds, small mammals, and snakes, plus tail loss from failed attacks.

Parasite loads typical of wild lacertids also take a toll, and British authorities note the species could carry reptile paramyxovirus to native lizards. So does winter mortality near the cold edge of the species’ tolerance, including introduced colonies in the American Midwest.

Anyone who finds an injured or clearly sick wall lizard should contact a wildlife rehabilitator or a reptile veterinarian. Do not attempt home treatment. Wild caught reptiles can carry pathogens such as Salmonella, which pose a risk to people too.

Our lizard health guide covers general warning signs across species.

Enclosure

The common wall lizard is not sold or kept as a general pet in the United States. There is no standard home enclosure setup to recommend. Legal keepers, in practice, mean accredited zoos, universities, and permitted research or education programs, not private hobbyists.

Their housing mimics the wild, rocky, sun exposed habitat. That means a well ventilated enclosure with a solid basking surface such as flat stone, and a strong UVB source alongside a basking lamp. The lamp replicates direct Mediterranean or Midwestern summer sun.

Heating and lighting

Daytime basking temperature runs roughly 90 to 95°F, with cooler retreat areas in the mid 70s°F. Secure crevices or rock stacks for cover matter too, since these lizards spend a large share of their day exactly there.

In its native range, a belt across central Europe from northern Spain and France east to Greece and the Balkans, the species is widespread and often locally abundant. It does not typically receive formal habitat protection there, beyond general wildlife law. Its situation differs where it has been deliberately introduced far outside that range, which is the more relevant story for most US and UK readers.

Legal status, introduced range, and cost

There is no legitimate pet trade cost to report for the common wall lizard in the United States. It is not a species offered for sale as a pet. Any figure claiming a purchase price for a “pet wall lizard” in the US almost always refers to a different, unrelated animal.

The species does have a well documented introduction history in three separate places. Each place has a different legal and management picture.

In Cincinnati, a boy named George Rau brought 6 to 10 wall lizards home from a family holiday at Lake Garda, Italy, in 1951. He released them at the family home on Torrence Court in Hyde Park. The colony spread from there into northern Kentucky and southwest Ohio, and it has since expanded into southeast Indiana.

Ohio now lists the European wall lizard in its Revised Code as a protected reptile species, an unusual status for an introduced animal. Collecting one there is not a free for all.

Indiana wildlife officials first documented the species at Falls of the Ohio State Park, in Clark County, in 2004. An eradication effort ran from 2005 through 2007 and appeared successful, with no confirmed sightings after 2010. A separate colony of an estimated 20 to 35 wall lizards turned up in Lawrenceburg, Indiana in July 2023.

Further sightings followed soon after in nearby Aurora and Rising Sun, along the Ohio River. Indiana’s Department of Natural Resources calls the species not native to North America and not generally dangerous to people. It is monitoring the extent of the new colonization while weighing management options.

Reported densities in some established parts of the Cincinnati metro area reach as high as roughly 1,500 lizards per acre. Herpetologists worry dense wall lizard colonies could compete with native lizards, such as five lined skinks, for food and shelter. Researchers say more study is needed to confirm the scale of that impact.

In Britain, the species was first recorded in 1899 and possibly earlier. Around 30 colonies now exist across the southern half of Great Britain.

The best known are at Ventnor on the Isle of Wight, Boscombe Cliffs, and Portland. They came from deliberate releases over more than a century, many illegal, plus escaped pets.

British colonies live on south facing walled gardens, old buildings, cliffs, quarries, and rocky headlands. Their impact on native lizards is listed as unknown.

Competition and disease transfer are the main worries. The common wall lizard is not considered globally threatened in its native European range.

Individual countries and regions can still regulate handling or collection of wild native reptiles under general wildlife protection law. Anyone encountering one, native or introduced, should check local rules before handling, collecting, or relocating it. Never assume a wild reptile is unregulated just because it looks common.

The most important welfare point for readers in any of these regions is simple: do not release a wall lizard, or any non native reptile, into the wild. Every introduced population on this page traces back to a small number of deliberate or accidental releases. Each one has gone on to reshape a local ecosystem in ways still being studied decades later.

If you find a wall lizard you believe escaped or was released nearby, report it to your state wildlife agency or a local herpetological society. Do not try to handle or relocate it yourself.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the common wall lizard the same as the Lazarus lizard people see in Cincinnati?

Yes. Cincinnati’s Lazarus lizard is Podarcis muralis, named for the Lazarus department store family whose son released the founders in 1951. The Italian wall lizard is a different species with colonies in Kansas and New York, not Cincinnati.

Can you legally keep a common wall lizard as a pet in the United States?

It is not sold through the normal pet trade. Taking a wild individual from an introduced colony, such as the ones near Cincinnati, still falls under state wildlife and invasive species rules. Check with your state wildlife agency first.

How did wall lizards end up in Cincinnati and southern England?

Cincinnati’s colony began with 6 to 10 lizards from Lake Garda, Italy, released in Hyde Park in 1951. Britain’s roughly 30 colonies come from many separate releases and escapes since at least 1899. Ventnor on the Isle of Wight holds one of the oldest and largest.

What do wall lizards eat in the wild?

Mostly small invertebrates: crickets, grasshoppers, spiders, beetles, ants, flies, and caterpillars, all sized to fit their mouth. Earthworms are taken too when they turn up in the open.

How long do wall lizards live?

The maximum recorded longevity is 10 years. Predation, harsh winters at the edge of their range, and, in urban colonies, vehicle strikes mean most never get close to that.

Are wall lizards dangerous or venomous?

No. They have no venom and pose no direct danger to people. Like other wild reptiles, they can carry Salmonella, so wash your hands after handling one.