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Squamata · TeiidaeEntry 19,945 of 21,572
Ocellated Whiptail Lizard, Teius oculatus

Reptilia · Squamata

Teius oculatusd'Orbigny & Bibron, 1837

Ocellated Whiptail Lizard

Photograph by Martin Coronel Varela, CC BY, via iNaturalist

A ground-dwelling, day-active, omnivorous lizard from the Neotropic region, reaching 120 mm snout to vent.

Also called Large-spotted Four-toed Tegu.

Reptilia › Squamata › Teiidae › Teius

Grows to
120mm
greatest recorded
Eats
Omnivorous
Active
Diurnal
Lives
Terrestrial
Body length across Teiidae

Longer than 60% of all species in Teiidae anyone has measured.

60% of 170 species are smaller40% larger
52.4 mmthe whole family, smallest to largest614 mm

The bar is the rank itself: its length is the share of the family this animal exceeds. The chart below is the family’s real spread, on a logarithmic scale because body length here runs from 52.4 to 614 mm. The solid rule is this animal. Every bar is a count of real species, and nothing on this figure is estimated.

What is known

39 sourced facts, each taken from a named scientific dataset. How to read these.

Cited from a dataset unless a row is marked otherwise.

Standing in the world

Still living
Extant
Conservation status
Least Concern
Status assessed · the year the Red List last looked
2014

The animal itself

Limbs
Four legs
Venomous
No
Fangs
None
Body temperature when active · measured in the wild
38.6°C101 °F

mean body temperature of active individuals in nature

Body temp in the wild · mean, when active
38.6°C

body temperature of active animals in nature

Size

Length snout to vent · greatest recorded
120mm4.75 in

max 120 mm SVL (Feldman et al. 2016)

Length snout to vent · adult female mean
98.4mm3.75 in
Largest female · snout to vent
98.4mm3.75 in

snout-vent length; the source column mixes this with straight carapace length

Hatchling length · snout to vent
37.4mm1.5 in
Largest juvenile · snout to vent
37.4mm1.5 in
Body mass · greatestcomputed
52.39g1.8 oz

computed from length by a family-level allometric equation, not weighed

Body mass · adult female, meanmeasured
13.87g0.49 oz
Body mass at hatchingmeasured
1.4g0.05 oz

How it lives

Diet
Omnivorous

Arthropods (e.g., Acosta et al. 2020, Williams et al. 2022)/ omnivorous (Cacciali et al. 2016)

How it hunts
Active foraging

Active foraging

Active
Diurnal

heliothermic, Cano and Leynaud 2010

Where it lives
Terrestrial

(implied in Martori and Aun 1993), terrestrial (Williams et al. 2022)

Habitat
Forest, Grassland, Shrubland
Biome
Temperate Grasslands, Savannas & Shrublands
Active season · months of the year
8.5months
Region
Neotropic
Mainland or island
Mainland
Range size
1,753,393km²

Breeding

Reproduction
Oviparous
Average clutch
4.85eggs
Eggs or young per clutch
2–8eggs

3-8, mean 5.2 (Cappellari et al. 2011), 2-8 (Truntau et al. 2016, Williams et al. 2022)

Mean clutch
4.5–5.2eggs
Clutches a year
1per year
First breeds at
11–12months

Naming and history

Suborder
Sauria
Infraorder
Laterata
Subspecies
No
Described by
D'Orbigny & Bibron
Moved to another genus · since it was first described
Yes
Described in
1837
Type locality
Chile

Keeping one

19 in × 19 in × 12 in(48 × 48 × 30 cm)

Minimum length × width × height, for one animal. Bigger is always better.

The standard sizes ground-dwelling species at 4 × 4 × 2.5 times snout-vent length.

Mindestanforderungen an die Haltung von Reptilien (Sachverständigengutachten), German Federal Ministry for Nutrition, Agriculture and Forestry, Animal Welfare Division, 10 January 1997. The standard states these floor areas are recommendations rather than binding limits.

From this animal’s own snout-vent length of 4.75 in (120 mm), at 4 × 4 × 2.5 times it, following the German federal welfare standard — how this is worked out.

Active animals measured in the wild averaged 101 °F (38.6 °C).

Mean body temperature of active individuals measured in nature. A measurement of the animal, not a setting for a thermostat.

Feeding

A prey item should be no wider than the space between the animal's eyes.

Widely used across reptile husbandry references. The stated reason is that the gap approximates the width of the throat, so wider prey is associated with impaction. This is established practice, not a measurement.

7kJ per day

Worked out for an animal of 52 g, the heaviest recorded for Ocellated Whiptail Lizard — so it is the top of the range, not a figure for a particular animal. Weigh yours and the number will be lower.

An upper estimate, not a feeding target, and not veterinary advice. The equation covers only what an animal burns staying alive, so a growing, gravid or recovering animal needs more — and it was measured on wild animals, which move far more than one in an enclosure. Body condition and a vet who knows the species are what a feeding decision should rest on. Where this comes from.

What nobody knows

These are not gaps in our research. No scientific dataset records them for this species — and saying so is information you cannot get from a reference that simply leaves a field out.

  • — Length snout to vent · adult male mean
  • — Length snout to vent · adult mean
  • — Length nose to tail · greatest recorded
  • — Female length · mean, nose to tail
  • — Length nose to tail · adult male mean
  • — Length nose to tail · adult mean
  • — Largest male · snout to vent
  • — Largest female · shell length
  • — Largest male · shell length
  • — Hatchling length · nose to tail
  • — Largest juvenile · shell length
  • — Egg length
  • — Egg width
  • — Body mass · a typical adult
  • — Longest recorded life
  • — Preferred body temperature · chosen in a laboratory gradient
  • — Eats arthropods
  • — Eats vertebrates
  • — Eats plant matter
  • — How the young develop
  • — Gestation or incubation
  • — Clutches in a year
  • — Hatchling length · smallest recorded
  • — Hatchling length · largest recorded
  • — Age at first breeding · female
  • — Mature from · youngest recorded
  • — Mature by · oldest recorded
  • — Size at maturity · smallest recorded
  • — Size at maturity · largest recorded
  • — Colour on the back
  • — Pattern on the back
  • — Pupil
  • — Sex decided by
  • — Population trend
  • — Red List criteria
  • — Density · lowest recorded
  • — Density · highest recorded
  • — Home range · largest recorded
  • — Active in
  • — Lowest it lives · above sea level
  • — Highest it lives · above sea level

Others in Teiidae

Take this data

Everything on this page is available as data under CC BY 4.0 — use it freely, credit it, no permission needed.

This species as JSON · the whole dataset

Cite this page

The Reptile & Amphibian Encyclopedia (2026). Teius oculatus. Retrieved 2026-09-08, from https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/teius-oculatus

@misc{teius_oculatus_2026,
  title  = {Teius oculatus},
  author = {{The Reptile & Amphibian Encyclopedia}},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/teius-oculatus}
}

Sources

  1. Meiri, S. (2024). SquamBase — a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography. Public domain (CC0).
  2. Oskyrko, O. et al. (2024). ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data. Used under CC BY 4.0.
  3. Catalogue of Life (dataset 3LR), used under CC BY.