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Common sagebrush lizard

Sceloporus graciosus · Lizards · Reptiles

Common sagebrush lizard (Sceloporus graciosus): Small (up to about 15 cm total length), gray to brown, usually with blotches or crossbars and a pale dorsolateral stripe on each side. Scales small, slightly rough with short spines; no distinct blue patches on the throat sides (throat may be blue-mottled). 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 sagebrush lizard basking on tree bark
Adobe Stock · Standard License (asset 519432398)
Scientific name
Sceloporus graciosus
Family
Phrynosomatidae
In North America
Native
Range
Washington, Idaho, Montana and North Dakota south to northern Baja California, northern Arizona and northwestern New Mexico, east into western Nebraska; about 150-3,200 m. Not in Canada.
Biology

How to identify it

Small (up to about 15 cm total length), gray to brown, usually with blotches or crossbars and a pale dorsolateral stripe on each side. [1][2][3]

Scales small, slightly rough with short spines; no distinct blue patches on the throat sides (throat may be blue-mottled). [1][2][3]

Males: dark blue patch on each side of the belly and blue-mottled or streaked throat; females whitish below with faint or absent blue. [1][2][3]

Versus western fence lizard: smaller, less prickly scales, no yellow on the back of the thighs, and pale stripes rather than a checkered pattern. [1][2][3]

Compared with the western fence lizard: Larger, prickly scales with longer spines, yellow or orange on the rear of the thighs, and a checkered or V-shaped pattern. [1][2][3]

Species it is confused with

Check these before deciding what you are looking at. If you are not certain what it is, do not shoot.

Field notes

  • Identification Confirm a common sagebrush lizard before you act. Compared with the western fence lizard: Larger, prickly scales with longer spines, yellow or orange on the rear of the thighs, and a checkered or V-shaped pattern.[1][2][3]
Field knowledge

Where it lives

Sagebrush and other shrublands (manzanita, ceanothus), pinyon-juniper and open ponderosa pine or Douglas-fir woodland. [1][2][3]

Needs open ground with some low bushes. [1][2][3]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Ground dweller that perches on rocks, logs and snags; uses rodent burrows, shrubs and logs for cover. [1][2][3]

Active about March-April to September-October; inactive in cold winter weather. [1][2][3]

Eats beetles, flies, ants, caterpillars, spiders, ticks and mites. [1][2][3]

Eggs laid May-July; most adult females in Colorado and Utah produce two clutches a year. [1][2][3]

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

Washington, Idaho, Montana and North Dakota south to northern Baja California, northern Arizona and northwestern New Mexico, east into western Nebraska; about 150-3,200 m. Not in Canada.

Biology

Sources

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

  1. NatureServe · reviewed 2026-09-30

    NatureServe

  2. Montana Natural Heritage Program / Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks · reviewed 2026-09-30

    Montana Natural Heritage Program / Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks

  3. USDA Forest Service · reviewed 2026-09-30

    USDA Forest Service