Editing Sand lizard (section)

==Behavior==
=== General activity ===
Sand lizards spend extended periods of the day after emerging on long basking sessions. They occasionally take breaks to forage for resources. They also spend a considerable amount of time simply doing normal activity in areas under concealed vegetation. Under poor weather conditions, sand lizards emerge from resting locations later and bask less often throughout the day. Sand lizards most frequently [[Sunning (behaviour)|bask]] on logs. This is most likely due to its absorption and slow release of heat radiation as well as providing a vantage point to spot potential predators and prey. They very rarely share basking sites with other lizards. Male sand lizards especially avoid sharing basking sites with each other, and are only found occasionally sharing with females. They avoid basking on open sand or soil and prefer to use vegetation if they bask on the ground. They thermoregulate themselves by moving between areas of high and low insolation.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last1=House|first1=S. M.|last2=Taylor|first2=P. J.|last3=Spellerberg|first3=I. F.|date=1979-01-01|title=Patterns of daily behaviour in two lizard species Lacerta agilis L. and Lacerta vivipara Jacquin|url=https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00545244|journal=Oecologia|language=en|volume=44|issue=3|pages=396–402|doi=10.1007/BF00545244|pmid=28310296 |bibcode=1979Oecol..44..396H |s2cid=22058312 |issn=1432-1939|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

=== Mate selection ===
In general, female [[mate choice]] in organisms is more selective than male mate choice. This is due to the fact that females generally have to invest more time and resources into offspring than males, who are under less selective pressures due to their low parental investment.<ref name=":2" />

Generally females will simply reject male attempts at mating outside of their receptive mating period, doing so through a unique head bobbing behavior. However, during their period of receptivity, females have been known to not discriminate against different males and do not reject them besides when they are outside of this period.<ref name=":2" />

Male sand lizards have been shown to highly prefer larger females when selecting mates, but they are still willing to mate with smaller females if the opportunity presents itself. It was observed that some males that were too small for the large females they attempted to court had troubles gripping females with their jaws during copulation due to their small size. This may be one constricting factor in their choice of mate.<ref name=":2" />