Zheltopuzik: life in a terrarium. The yellow-bellied lizard is not a snake! Description and photo of an amazing creature Legless yellow-bellied lizard in the Kuban brief description

This snake belongs to the snake family and therefore cannot be poisonous. The yellow-bellied snake is also called yellow-bellied or yellow-bellied. In Europe there is no larger snake; it can reach a length of two and a half meters. The yellowbelly crawls very quickly, has an elegant body and a relatively long tail. Top part The body is colored plain brown or almost black. On the back of young individuals there is one, and more often two, rows of spots.

dark in color, in some places they merge to form transverse stripes. On the head, dark dots merge into a regular row. A number of small spots are also located on the sides of the snake. Its belly is grayish-white in color with yellow streaks located along the edges of the abdominal scutes.

Habitats

The yellow-bellied snake prefers to settle in dry places, basking in daytime in the open sun rays areas. It is active only during daylight hours. It can hide in bushes, gardens, vineyards and ruins of buildings. In the mountains it is found up to an altitude of 2000 meters, where it hides among the rocks on rocky slopes. The yellow belly takes refuge not only among stones and thickets of bushes, but also in rodent burrows or tree hollows. He climbs branches well, but greater height doesn't climb. Although in general he is not afraid of heights and, if necessary, can jump down from a tree or cliff.

The snake is often found on the shores of water bodies, not because it likes to swim, but due to the presence large quantity food in coastal thickets. Sometimes the yellow-bellied snake crawls under a stack, wall or into an outbuilding.

Hunter and his prey

Possessing sharp vision, fast response and high speed movement, the snake is a successful hunter. The most common prey for snakes is small mammals, lizards and large insects, for example, locusts or their relatives. Destroys birds located on the ground or low on trees and bushes. The yellow-bellied snake has a fairly diverse menu, including lizards, snakes, birds, and rodents.

He even hunts vipers, sometimes receiving bites from them, but, apparently, he does not suffer much from this. Considering the intensity of the yellowbell's hunting, it can be argued that where it lives there are no traces of rodents.

Defensive Aggression

Usually, when confronted with a person, the yellow-bellied snake tries to quickly retreat. But after some time he will definitely return to his original place, especially if his refuge is located there. If there is nowhere to retreat or a person comes close to his shelter, the snake boldly comes to his defense. At the same time, he not only demonstrates his aggressiveness, but also jumps towards the enemy. The wide gaping mouth, loud hissing and bold attack make an impression. A snake can even bite on some vulnerable spot. The bites are quite strong, but they The yellow-bellied snake is essentially a harmless creature, its aggressiveness is forced, and its evil disposition serves as protection from those who encroach on its territory.

The second legless lizard of the spindle family known in Europe and Russia is the yellow-bellied lizard. In origin it is very far from the spindle.

Yellow-bellied lizard

This is very large lizard. The record length for the species is 144 cm (with tail). The tail is approximately twice as long as the body. The head of the yellow belly goes into the body without the slightest hint of a cervical interception. It has a shape characteristic of lizards, uniformly tapering towards the tip of the muzzle. The yellow belly retains rudiments of its hind limbs, which do not play any role in its life. The teeth are very characteristic - powerful, blunt, adapted to crushing. The body of the yellowbell is hard and inflexible, as it is covered with large ribbed scales, under which there are bone plates measuring approximately 5x5 millimeters, forming a bony shell. Because of this feature, the genus that includes the yellowbell is called “shell spindles.” There is a gap between the abdominal and dorsal parts of the bone chain mail, which from the outside looks like a lateral longitudinal fold of skin. It is formed by one or two rows of smaller scales without a bone base. Thanks to these folds, slightly greater body mobility is ensured. In addition, folds allow you to increase the volume of the body when eating or when carrying eggs.

Adult yellowbellies are yellow and brown tones. Small dark spots are sometimes scattered across this background. The underside of the body is lighter. Young yellowbellies look completely different: they are striped. The background color of their body is yellowish-gray, the stripes are dark, transverse, zigzag.

Where does the yellowbell live?

Yellowtail is a southern lizard. In Europe it is found only in Balkan Peninsula and in Crimea; widespread in Asia Minor and the Middle East, Central Asia and southern Kazakhstan. In Russia it is known from the Krasnodar and Stavropol territories, Kalmykia and Dagestan.

In the areas of its distribution, the yellowbell uses a variety of open habitats: steppes and semi-deserts, mountain slopes, sparse forests, vineyards and abandoned fields. Found at altitudes up to 2300 meters. He is active during the day, and often catches your eye - crawls onto the roads, climbs into buildings. In contrast to the shade- and moisture-loving spindle, the yellowbell prefers dry and sunny biotopes. But he willingly enters shallow water and can stay in the water for a long time, although he practically cannot swim. At night and on hot afternoons, the yellowbell hides in thickets of bushes, under objects lying on the ground, in piles of stones. In some places, yellowbellies are a common and frequently encountered lizard.

Despite the relatively low flexibility of the body, the yellowbell can crawl at a fairly high speed. At the same time, it intensively wriggles in waves with a large amplitude, and, after covering several meters, it stops for a short time. Then another powerful jerk, and again a short pause. Such crawling is noticeably different from the smooth and uniform movement of snakes. The yellow belly has to move a lot - within a day it covers an area with a radius of about 200 meters.

What do yellowbellies eat?

The yellow-bellied lizard is one of the few lizards specialized in feeding on certain “products”. Powerful jaws and developed blunt teeth are adapted to crushing the outer shells of animals, primarily mollusks. Both in nature and in captivity, yellowbellies prefer this particular prey. If the spindle chooses naked slugs or cleverly pulls snails out of their shells, then the yellow-bellied one simply bites through their “houses” like a nutcracker. Even such large mollusks with thick shells as the grape snail are defenseless against the yellowbelly. He actively searches for his prey. Having noticed her, he can creep up very slowly and then, from a distance of several centimeters, rush at her with lightning speed with a wide open mouth, which seems to cover the victim from above. He not only crushes snails with his jaws, but also, holding them in his mouth, presses them against nearby stones. Swallowed shells and their fragments are digested in the yellowbell's stomach. Just like snails, the yellowbell also bites through large hard insects - beetles, orthoptera. On occasion, he will eat a bird's egg, a chick, a mouse-like rodent, a toad, a lizard, and even a snake. It tries to crush the captured prey, quickly spinning around its axis, so that the victim is crushed on the ground. Like the spindles, two yellow-bellied ones, having grabbed one prey from both ends, can, rotating in different directions, tear it apart “brotherly”. Unlike the spindle, the yellow belly includes in its diet plant foods, for example, apricot carrion, vizhnrad berries. The omnivorous yellowbell even eats carrion - a rare food for reptiles; in nature, they observed how yellowbellies tried to swallow the corpses of pikas and magpies.

Reproduction of yellowbellies

About social and mating behavior Almost nothing is known about the yellowbell. In captivity, lizards of this species are peaceful towards each other and towards snakes kept together with them. Males are much more common in nature than females. Perhaps females are less active and spend more time in shelters.

The yellowbell has powerful jaws, but it rarely uses them for defense. Taken in hand, he tries to free himself with the help of vigorous writhing and rotation around his axis. The enemy can also be doused with excrement.

These lizards reproduce by laying eggs. In clutch 6-10 large eggs in an elastic white shell; their length is 3-4 centimeters, width 1.5-2 centimeters. There was a case where a female protected her clutch by coiling around it, as some snakes do. Young yellowbellies, about 10 centimeters long, hatch after a month and a half. It remains a mystery why adults are common and frequently encountered animals in their habitats, while their juveniles are extremely rarely seen. This may be due to as yet unknown features of the biology of young yellowbellies.

Like the spindle, when molting, the yellowtail moves dead layers of skin towards the tail.

Large size and bony “chain mail” protect adult animals from most natural predators. They are attacked by some birds, as well as foxes and dogs. In yellowtails, it does not regenerate. In nature, you can find a lot of individuals with signs of injury and torn off ends of their tails. In some populations, the proportion of such disabled people reaches 50 percent. Obviously, the main culprits of these injuries are predators that grab lizards by the long tails when they crawl into shelters in which they do not fit entirely, and the defenseless tail remains outside. Hedgehogs are especially dangerous in this regard - they cannot cope with a large and strong lizard, but they can easily tear off or bite off a piece of its tail. Perhaps the yellowtail's tail freezes during sudden frosts. It is also possible that yellowbellies themselves can inflict injuries on each other in fights or during mating.

Injured and tailless lizards do not differ from healthy ones either in behavior or in the nature of activity.

Many of these lizards are destroyed by man in his eternal struggle with snakes. They are also caught for keeping in captivity (yellowbellies live well in terrariums and enclosures under open air). But humans inflict no less damage on them indirectly: yellowbellies die on the roads, fall into various holes, ditches, and structures from which they cannot get out.

The yellowbell is a legless lizard that is often mistaken for a snake. Long body a reptile that grows up to 100 cm in length, and its characteristic manner of movement can indeed be misleading. But if you look closely, next to the creature’s anus you can see tiny growths on the sides - these are the rudiments of the hind limbs.

The yellowbell is often confused with a snake, as this lizard has no limbs.

Structural features and lifestyle

A distinctive feature of the yellow-bellied lizard is that this lizard has no legs, although it has rudimentary processes in the anal area. Outwardly, it looks more like a snake, which has a long, wriggling body. An adult grows up to one meter, although some representatives of this species can reach 1.5 m in length. There are ear openings on the tetrahedral head, which indicate that the yellowbell is not a snake.

The skin of a lizard consists of scales, the particles of which fit tightly to each other. On both sides of the body there are skin folds. As for the color, it is always monochromatic, although it can be olive, red-brown or yellowish-brown in color. Juveniles under two years of age have stripes on their bodies that may look like zigzags. Their color is always gray-yellow. In addition, all reptiles of this species have an abdomen that is slightly lighter than the main color of the scales.

The yellow-bellied lizard goes into hibernation every autumn and awakens only in early spring. In summer, during the daytime, the reptile prefers to rest, choosing a sunny place on the rocks, but early morning or after dusk she goes hunting.

Like other representatives of reptiles, the yellowbell molts, but sheds its skin in small pieces. Like his relatives, he knows how to throw off his tail, which he does in any danger. After some time, the tail grows back, but is shorter and slightly curved.

IN natural environment The yellow-bellied diet includes:

• insects;
• invertebrates;
• small vertebrates;
• some fruits;
• bird eggs.

If a yellowbelly catches large prey, it chews it thoroughly and only then swallows it, unlike a snake, which does this right away. After the food is eaten, the folds of skin on its sides are smoothed out.

Reproduction process

Lizards always mate after hibernation when they emerge from suspended animation. Typically, this period lasts from March to May. There are no gender differences in this species of reptile, so only specialists can determine the gender after conducting a series of studies. Because of this, it is extremely difficult to propagate yellowbellies at home.

In the first month of summer, the female lays eggs; on average, she can lay 6-10 eggs. The shape of the eggs is oval, the size is about 2 cm in transverse diameter, 4 cm in longitudinal diameter. The lizard usually immediately tries to hide them in the foliage, while carefully watching them and guarding them until the young emerge. This period lasts from 35 to 60 days.

The optimal temperature for embryo development is +30 °C. When born, the cubs are up to 12 cm long, excluding the tail. Puberty occurs in the fourth year of life. As a rule, the individual has already grown to 0.5 m by this time. Average duration The lifespan of yellowbellies in the natural environment reaches 30-35 years.

Habitats

Yellowbellies have an extremely limited geographic distribution. They can be found in South-West and Central Asia. In addition, they are localized in Europe, but only in its eastern part. Depending on their habitat, they are divided into the western species (these yellowbellies are much longer and larger than their relatives from the East) and the eastern one, whose representatives look normal.

These reptiles can live in different places. Some choose steppes and semi-deserts as their homes, others prefer to settle on high mountains and river valleys, and still others even dig minks in fertile lands where rice, grapes or cotton are grown. By the way, the yellow belly can easily exist in water - in it it often hides from all kinds of enemies.

The yellowtail can exist both in water and on land.

At home, such lizards are kept alone and united only during the mating season. For an adult reptile you will need a horizontal terrarium, its parameters should be:

• length - from 100 cm;
• width - from 60 cm;
• height - 50 cm.

To create ideal conditions, it is necessary to lay river sand mixed with fine gravel at the bottom of the tank. In addition, a drinking bowl and a separate container with water are installed in the terrarium so that the reptile can swim in it if desired.

Yellow Tummy loves bright light and needs ultraviolet rays, so you will need to install special lamps. But you shouldn’t place them too close to the tank, otherwise your legless pet will get burns. Temperature also important for your pet. During the daytime, the air should warm up to +30 °C, and at night it should drop to +20 °C. As for humidity, it is better to keep it at 60%. In addition, it is necessary to build special shelters in the terrarium. Suitable for this:

• small driftwood;
• clay and ceramic elements;
• medium sized stones;
• tree bark.

As for feeding, the diet of yellowbellies must include live food in the form of insects; you can feed them mice, snails, earthworms, and bird eggs. It is allowed to periodically feed pets with fruit and vegetable slices, mixing them with curd mass or boiled eggs.

In addition, you need to regularly add mineral supplements in the form of bone meal, you can also use calcium glycerophosphate, but it must be served with soft food.

At the end of autumn, it is necessary to create conditions for the yellowbelly in which it could hibernate. This can be done by gradually reducing the air temperature to +5 °C. It is also necessary to stop feeding your pet exactly two weeks before anabiosis.

Legless lizard brings a lot of benefits. She destroys many small pests that cause harm agriculture, destroying the plantings. Don't be afraid of her: Unlike the snake, the yellowbell is non-venomous. He is a completely harmless reptile.

What is a legless yellowbell - a snake, a lizard or some other reptile?

In fact, this animal is a member of the genus Pseudopus (Armored spindles) of the Anguidae family.

Structure

This lizard has no forelimbs. The hind legs are represented by two rudimentary processes near the anus. It resembles a snake due to the absence of legs and the method of movement by bending the body.

The largest individuals can reach a length of one and a half meters. The average size body one meter. The muzzle tapers towards the nose. The reptile's head is tetrahedral, which immediately distinguishes it from snakes. Another difference between the yellow belly is the ear openings. Pseudopus apodus can also blink.

The skin consists of scales that fit smoothly to each other. Beneath them are bone plates called osteoderms. There are folds of skin along both sides along the entire body. The yellow belly has no chest.

The color of adult lizards is uniform: olive, yellowish-brown, red-brown. Young reptiles up to three years old are distinguished by the presence of stripes throughout the body, reminiscent of the Roman numeral “Ⅴ”, zigzags or arcs. In this case, the main skin is gray-yellow tones. The abdomen of lizards of any age is lighter than the body and tail.

Reproduction

The mating period begins after emerging from winter anabiosis - from March to May. Only specialists through behavioral research, hormonal levels and other subtle characteristics can determine whether an individual is a female or a male.

At the beginning of summer, the yellow-bellied lizard lays from six to twelve oval-shaped eggs, which have approximately two centimeters in transverse diameter and four centimeters in longitudinal diameter.

The reptile buries the clutch in the leaves and guards it for thirty to sixty-five days, turning the eggs over and cleaning them from dirt. Comfortable temperature for embryo development - 30⁰C.

The young are born up to twelve centimeters long, excluding the tail.

The yellowtail reaches sexual maturity at four years. At this point, the size of the body increases three times from birth. The total lifespan can be thirty years.

Lifestyle

At the end of autumn, with the first cold weather, the legless yellow-bellied lizard hibernates until spring. In the warm season most basking in the sun during the day. And in the morning and at dusk he goes hunting.

Like many reptiles, the yellowbelly molts. But unlike snakes, which shed their skin in the form of a stocking, Pseudopus apodus does this in pieces.

Like other species of lizards, it can throw off its tail in times of danger. It is separated reflexively as a result of muscle contraction with a smooth fracture surface. The new tail grows shorter and crooked.

In nature it feeds on mollusks and insects. In some cases, it can eat a small vertebrate animal, chewing it instead of swallowing it whole, like a snake. When eaten large production folds on the body are smoothed out. It also includes ripe juicy fruits and bird eggs in its diet.

Habitats

The geography of distribution of the reptile is limited to the South-Western and Central Asia and southeastern Europe. A legless lizard can be found on the shore:

• Adriatic, Black (Crimea) and Caspian Seas,
• in Transcaucasia,
• in Russia and Kazakhstan,
• in Turkey,
• Israel,
• Iran,
• Syria,
• Iraq.

Based on their habitat, they are divided into western and eastern yellowbellies, which differ in length. Pseudopus apodus, discovered in Bulgaria, bigger size than his brethren from the East.

The biotopes of this reptile are quite diverse. It can be found in steppes, semi-deserts, on hills, forest edges, in bush thickets, in mountains at an altitude of up to 2.3 km above sea level, in deciduous forests and river valleys. It is also possible to live on cultivated lands: fields with rice and cotton, vineyards.

The yellow belly is not afraid of water either - in it it can hide from enemies.

It can use bushes and reeds, piles of stones, and burrows of other animals as a dwelling. It crawls away from the shelter in search of food within three hundred meters.

Yellowtail in captivity

One individual requires a terrarium, an aquarium or a horizontal aquaterrarium. Minimum dimensions from one hundred centimeters in length, sixty in width and fifty in height.

Coarse sand mixed with gravel is poured onto the bottom of the terrarium. There must be a drinking bowl and a container of water in which the yellow belly can swim.

Like other reptiles, the legless lizard needs good lighting for ten to twelve hours and. The lamps are installed at a safe distance so that the animal does not get burned. The air during the day should be heated to 30⁰C, at night the temperature drops to 20⁰C. Humidity should be moderate, about 60%.

In addition to the pool, the terrarium needs various shelters:

• driftwood,
• clay pots,
• stones,
• bark.

The diet should consist of insects (excluding ordinary flies and cockroaches, which can be poisoned), slugs, small mice, grape snails, chicks, bird eggs, earthworms. It is sometimes acceptable to give mixtures of vegetables and fruits with cottage cheese and a boiled egg. Used as a mineral supplement bone meal and calcium glycerophosphate. They are added to soft foods.

IN winter time it is necessary to provide the animal with conditions for hibernation, gradually reducing the temperature to five degrees Celsius. To prepare for suspended animation, the yellowbell is not fed for about a week. After this, the temperature is maintained at 12-14⁰C for adaptation.

Myths about the legless lizard

Some believe that yellowbellies eat venomous snakes. However, this is absolutely not true. Lizards maintain neutrality with vipers and other snakes. Therefore, representatives of Pseudopus apodus are far from being a mongoose or a secretary bird. Although boa constrictors and eirenis may well be food for a legless reptile.

Another myth is the yellow belly poisonous snake or not? This animal does not contain poison in its teeth; they are not sharp enough to quickly kill the victim. In addition, the lizard cannot coil itself like a snake to suffocate its prey. Therefore, in most cases, Pseudopus apodus is quite safe for humans and only in exceptional cases can it attempt to bite him.

From the end of the 13th century. the fortress was one of the outposts of Genoa in Crimea. Intensified from the second half of the 14th century. Mangup Principality (Theodoro) at the beginning of the 15th century. turned into a serious competitor to the Genoese. In the fall of 1433, the Mangup prince Alexei, having secured the support of the Crimean Khan, apparently assisted the residents of Chembalo and surrounding villages in preparing an uprising against the Genoese. The Italian colonists were expelled, and the fortress passed to the Theodorites. To return Chembalo, the help of the metropolis was required. In March 1434, a squadron of 20 ships left Genoa, carrying a six-thousand-strong armed detachment under the command of Carlo Lomellino. On June 4 (13), the squadron reached Chembalo.

The next day, having cut the chain blocking the entrance to Balaklava Bay, the Genoese approached the walls of the fortress and besieged it, but they failed to take the fortified city even after a fierce battle. On June 6 (15), Chembalo came under fire from naval guns. Part of the fortress wall and one of the towers were destroyed by cannonballs, and the Genoese burst into the city.

The largest artillery piece of the Second World War

The largest weapon of the Second World War was the Dora railway gun (caliber 800 mm) used by German troops during the siege of Sevastopol during the Great Patriotic War.

Delivered in 1942 near Bakhchisarai in 100 wagons. The gun barrel was about 50 m and weighed 400 tons (the whole gun was 1350 tons).

The first shot was fired on June 5, 1942 at 5:35 am. Distance to target 25 km the projectile covered in 44.8 sec. A total of 48 were released. armor-piercing shells weighing 7 tons each and 5 high-explosive ones. One of the first to leave the world's deepest crater with a diameter of 32 m. In general, near Sevastopol in 1941–1942. most noted massive application German artillery for the whole second world war. Up to 37 guns were concentrated on each kilometer of the front, and up to 74–100 guns in the direction of the main attacks.

Longest title

The longest title among the nobles who owned lands in Crimea was apparently held by Prince Grigory Alexandrovich Potemkin-Tavrichesky. His full title as follows: His Serene Highness Prince Potemkin-Tauride, President of the State Military Collegium, Field Marshal General, Great Hetman of the Cossack, Ekaterinoslav and Black Sea troops, Commander-in-Chief of the Ekaterinoslav Army, regular light cavalry, Black Sea Fleet and other land and sea military forces; Senator, Ekaterinoslav, Tauride and Kharkov Governor-General; Her Imperial Majesty troops inspector general, adjutant general, actual chamberlain, life guards Preobrazhensky regiment lieutenant colonel, cavalry corps chief; Orders of Andrei Nevsky, St. George, Prince Equal to the Apostles Vladimir, St. Anne, Prussian Black Eagle, Danish Elephant, Swedish Seraphim, Polish White Eagle, St. Stanislaus Cavalier.

The first Crimean mud bath

The first mud bath was a department of the Simferopol military hospital, founded in 1837 (located in Saki). After the establishment of Soviet power in Crimea, a sanatorium of the People's Commissariat of Defense was created on the basis of a military mud bath in 1922 (later the Saki sanatorium of the USSR Ministry of Defense).

The first scientific substantiation of the healing factors of Crimea

The first scientific substantiation of the medicinal factors of Crimea was made by the famous Russian doctor S. P. Botkin (1832–1889).

Residents and guests of the South Coast are familiar with the Botkin Trail in Livadia and the street of the same name in Yalta, named after the stay of the famous Russian doctor Sergei Petrovich Botkin in Crimea.

His first acquaintance with Crimea took place in 1855 during Crimean War. Yesterday's student, who graduated with honors from Moscow University, he voluntarily joined the detachment of doctors formed by N. I. Pirogov. The young doctor practiced in military hospitals and typhoid barracks in Simferopol and Bakhchisarai.

A memorial plaque was installed on the building of one of the buildings of the Crimean Medical Institute, immortalizing the stay of N. I. Pirogov, S. P. Botkin and the first sisters of mercy in Simferopol.

In 1870, S. P. Botkin received the title of academician and was the first of the Russian doctors to be appointed life physician royal family. His duty was to accompany the members of the imperial family every summer. One of the first to discover exceptional climatic conditions South Bank, especially beneficial for tuberculosis patients. He considered the best zone in the area of ​​Ereklik and Livadia. According to the recommendations of S.P. Botkin, a sanatorium for the empress was built in Ereklik. Nowadays the complex of the anti-tuberculosis sanatorium “Mountain Health Resort” is located here. On his initiative, a medical building was founded on Polikurovsky Hill, now occupied by the Research Institute of Climatology and Climatotherapy named after. I. M. Sechenov. One of the buildings is now called Botkinsky.

An outstanding doctor wrote: “As a hospital station, Crimea, in my opinion, has a great future Over time, it will take a place significantly higher than Montre.”

First use of bacteriological weapons

The first is true known application bacteriological weapons dates back to 1347, and it happened in Crimea. A plague epidemic broke out in the camp of the Tatars who were besieging Kafa (now Feodosiya). The besiegers decided not to bury the corpses of the dead - but began to throw them into the city with the help of catapults. The Genoese who fled the city brought the plague to Europe — and an epidemic began that killed about 75 million people.