There are various kinds of lizards. Some of them are small, and some of them are big. Small to medium-sized lizards live with us whereas big lizards live in the wild. A small lizard, medium-sized lizard and big lizard have one common enemy, i.e. snake.
But can a lizard kill a snake? A tiny lizard cannot kill big snakes, but big lizards can kill snakes. In fact, they do it quite often. Big lizards eat various kinds of small snakes. Big lizards have a potent bite, and since they are carnivores, they show interest in eating snakes.
The snake’s poison can be dangerous for the lizard, but lizard doesn’t seem to be bothered by that. While fighting the snake, the lizard can kill the snake, and after that, the lizard may die due to snake bite.
Big Lizards Actively Hunts Snakes
Big lizards like monitor lizards can actively look for a snake. These lizards are very aggressive, and they will actively chase the snake and will attack them to eat them. The lizards can go to any length to eat the snake.
Hungry lizards are more aggressive, and they will eat whatever they can, and snakes are no exception. They can get inside a snake hole and can try to eat its babies. They can smell very well, and they can sense if there is prey nearby.
After giving birth, female snakes become very aggressive and can attack anybody who tries to harm their eggs and babies. Still, the monitor lizards take these risks and get inside the place and battles against the mother snake. Snake’s size and the poison is their best defense in this condition.
The monitor lizards don’t mind even though the snakes have poison. The snakes keep on biting, but the monitor lizard eats the baby snake. Apart from the baby snake, the monitor lizard can even eat the female mother snake. The size of the snake will determine whether the monitor lizard will eat the female snake or not.
A big lizard can eat lots of baby snakes at once. So the competition is tough, and if a baby snake wants to survive in the wild, then it must know what to avoid and what to chase.
Big Lizards Fight Snakes Quite Often
In the wild big lizard-like monitor lizards come across snakes when the lizard tries to eat the food the snake has killed, and they start fighting. Big lizards like monitor lizards have heavy, powerful tails that they use against these snakes. A sudden attack from the heavy tail can startle the snake.
A big lizard can do severe damage to the snake that’s why snakes avoid fighting with big lizards, but in the wild avoidance may not work all the time and during that time, the snake has to fight the monitor lizards. There are other big lizards, and one of them is the Komodo dragon.
The Komodo dragon is the heaviest lizard. After catching a snake, a Komodo dragon will shake the snake violently breaking the snake’s chances of attacking the lizard. They do it repeatedly, and it severely harms the snake. The Komodo dragon is well aware of that, so they do it intentionally. So whenever the snakes try to bite them, they shake them violently by catching one side of the body.
Not All Lizards Attacks Snake
There are many medium-sized lizards, and they can fight against snakes, but they avoid them. They are well aware of what a snake can do. Even though most of the lizards are carnivores, still they don’t want to attack a snake. Many big snakes can take down medium-sized lizards and eat them.
When a medium-sized lizard sees a snake, it becomes aware, and they either run away or attack the snake for protecting itself, for example, a snake can eat small lizard-like chameleon, so a chameleon tries to avoid them but when cornered the chameleon can attack the snakes to defend itself.
You can clearly understand the difference here. Whether the snake is going to eat the lizard or the lizard is going to eat the snake is determined where they belong in the food chain.
Do Lizards Keep Snakes Away?
It depends upon the lizard’s species. Snakes eat some lizards whereas some lizards eat snakes. So if there are big lizards like monitor lizards then medium to small-sized snakes will avoid going in that area. The snake will not completely stop going over there but will definitely avoid that place.
It is because snakes are also scared of those things that can be dangerous for them, and big lizards can be dangerous for the snake. If by any chance the snake confronts the lizard and somehow manages to survive then from the next time the snake will not go in that area.
In the wild snakes avoids those places where there is a gathering of big lizards. Even big snakes can be in trouble if they try to go through those areas. Big lizards are aggressive, and when they are in a group, they can severely damage the snake. Some big snake-like King cobra can eat monitor lizards, but even they avoid those places where there are lots of monitor lizards.
Lizards Eat Snake Eggs
Lizard is opportunistic creatures, and they will eat whatever they can. They eat various kinds of eggs, and snakes eggs are one of them. While laying eggs, snakes usually hide in a place where they will not be disturbed by any predator or even fellow snakes, but these lizards have a well-developed sense of smell, and they can smell it.
Lizards like monitor lizards will even fight against snakes that are bigger than their size to get their eggs. After giving birth mother snakes becomes exhausted, and they need food and rest. During this time, snakes are vulnerable.
Although mother snakes become very aggressive after laying eggs, their lack of energy can be a problem when fighting against fierce creatures like lizards. The mother snakes try it’s best to defend their eggs, but unfortunately, the lizards will get at least one or two eggs.
Snakes can move quite fast, but unfortunately, that speed is not enough to escape lizard attack. Although a lizard may look slow, in reality, they can run very fast when they are hunting and when they feel threatened.
They attack suddenly, and it’s difficult to escape that attack. An attack comes when the prey is not expecting, and that catches them by surprise. The snake cannot escape once it’s caught inside the powerful jaw of a big lizard.
Big Lizards Can Fight Against Python
Pythons are big and powerful constrictor, yet these big lizards fight with them. It’s a battle to the death. There is no guarantee that the big lizard will win. Some pythons are huge, and if they start constricting, then it can become very dangerous for the lizard.
Lizards claws and jaws may not be enough when fighting against these powerful snakes. Then again, there have been many instances where the lizard managed to eat the python eggs. After laying eggs, the pythons get exhausted and during this time, the lizards attack which increases the chances of success.
Conclusion
Lizards eat various kinds of things, and when they are hungry, they will track and eat snakes. A snake is fast, but lizard has unique strategies to fight against it. The lizard’s powerful bite and deadly claw are too much for most snakes, but pythons are more resilient to it.
Lizard also eats snake eggs. After giving birth, a snake weakens, and a lizard exploits the opportunity and eats its eggs. The snake can be very aggressive during this time, but protecting all the eggs, especially when they are exhausted can be very challenging. The aggressive nature of the lizard mixed with deadly claws and jaws makes them a formidable opponent.
Welcome to my blog. I have been doing pest control for years since my house, garden and pets were always attacked by various kinds of pests and as a result I had to know proper pest control techniques that works. In this blog I share all the tips and tricks that I know and I hope you’ll find it helpful.