Range: Europe and parts of Russia

Habitat: Temperate forests 

Natural Diet: Small insects, occasional mice

Diet at Rain Forest: Small insects, crickets

Size: 18-28"

RainForest Facts: Looking remarkably like a snake, the legless lizard has unique features that help the trained eye distinguish it from the snake.  All legless lizards posses ear openings, snakes have none.  The tongue of the lizard is not long and forked like a snake.   Legless lizards can close their eyes, snakes do not posses eyelids.  The United States has it's own versions of legless lizards, most occurring in the eastern United States, the legless lizards in the U.S. are often called glass lizards due to their ability to seemingly break like glass.  The actual fact is the lizard is dropping it's tail to escape a predator.

Attention Indiana Jones fans! A little known movie fact from Raider's of the lost Ark.  Virtually all of the "snakes" in the movie scenes were actually legless lizards!

Status in Wild: Numbers are rapidly declining due to over collection as well as loss of habitat. 

 Determining actual numbers of wild legless lizards are very difficult due to the fossorial behavior of the animal.