Medical cautery units as a permanent and non-invasive method of marking lizards

The identification of previously captured individuals is essential for a wide variety of ecological and behavioural studies. A lot of different methods are used for marking lizards, however they have many drawbacks. In presented study we used heat-branding method, using pen-like medical cautery units, previously employed to successfully mark other lizard species and snakes. The technique is permanent, read- able and harmless for lizards, as well quick and easy. In 2009 we marked 111 indi- viduals of sand lizard, Lacerta agilis . Next year we caught 88 lizards, 17 of them were re-captured. Among these re-captured lizards, five were caught after 26.8 (± 16.3) days (means in the same year) and 12 after 308.8 (± 64.3) days (means in the next year). Recaptured individuals were still unambiguously recognisable.