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Common chuckwalla

Sauromalus ater · Lizards · Reptiles

Common chuckwalla (Sauromalus ater): Large, flattened, dark-bodied lizard with loose skin folds on the neck and sides, small granular scales, and a blunt, broad-based tail. Adult males mainly dark (marked gray, red or yellow) with a pale yellow tail; females retain juvenile crossbands. This profile does not establish whether taking it is legal anywhere.

Check rules for a place and date

Certified rules currently represented in Hunt: coverage in development. This is coverage, not a legal answer.

Common chuckwalla — verified North Ground species photograph
North Ground · All rights reserved
Scientific name
Sauromalus ater
Family
Iguanidae
In North America
Native
Range
Southern Nevada, southern Utah, southeastern California and western Arizona south to southern Baja California and west-central Sonora, Mexico.
Biology

How to identify it

Large, flattened, dark-bodied lizard with loose skin folds on the neck and sides, small granular scales, and a blunt, broad-based tail. [1][2]

Adult males mainly dark (marked gray, red or yellow) with a pale yellow tail; females retain juvenile crossbands. [1][2]

Young are crossbanded brown and gray-brown on body and tail. [1][2]

Largest native iguanid in the US: adult snout-vent length usually 14-20 cm; lacks head horns and expanded toe tips. [1][2]

Compared with the gila monster: Dorsal scales are large and beadlike and lack femoral pores; chuckwalla has small granular scales and femoral pores. [1][2]

Field notes

  • Identification Confirm a common chuckwalla before you act. Compared with the gila monster: Dorsal scales are large and beadlike and lack femoral pores; chuckwalla has small granular scales and femoral pores.[1][2]
Field knowledge

Where it lives

Rocky desert: lava flows, hillsides and outcrops, typically with creosote bush. [1][2]

Shelters in rock crevices. [1][2]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Basks on rocks by day; inactive in cold or extreme heat, but can be active most of the year in mild winters. [1][2]

Herbivore: browses leaves, buds, flowers and fruit; occasionally insects. [1][2]

Retreats into rock crevices, puffing up with air to wedge in (BLM Red Rock Canyon leaflet). [1][2]

Lays 5-16 eggs underground, about June-August; life expectancy about 15 years. [1][2]

Regulatory handoff

Limited legal take

Legal take of this species exists only under narrow conditions — a quota, a draw, a permit, a small area, or animals released or held on private land — set by the authorities below. Nowhere else is a legal opportunity implied, and Hunt shows one only where a certified rule establishes it.

Where legal take is listed

Being listed is not an open season. Seasons, zones, licences, methods and limits decide whether this animal may be taken on a given day and place — check Hunt or the authority before you go. Listings read 2026-09-30.

Geospatial intelligence

Where it is found

Southern Nevada, southern Utah, southeastern California and western Arizona south to southern Baja California and west-central Sonora, Mexico.

Biology

Sources

Every claim above is attributed to one of these published sources.

  1. NatureServe · reviewed 2026-09-30

    NatureServe

  2. Bureau of Land Management · reviewed 2026-09-30

    Bureau of Land Management