# Do lizards fart?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lizards-fart/975432>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 23, 2022, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lizards-fart/975432 "2022-11-23T12:06:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 15\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2022, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lizards-fart/975432/1 "2022-11-23T12:06:22Z")

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And do all animals with a digestive tube pass gas?

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**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2022, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lizards-fart/975432/2 "2022-11-23T12:35:33Z")

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I seem to recall my beardies would fart. Checking youtube, there’s plenty of videos that show them farting. [In some of them, they happen to be in water at the time](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Vk_h77fKnU&themeRefresh=1).\* The bubbles suggest that the noise is actually gas and not simply the noise of the waste material coming out.

\*SFW, but it is a video of a lizard relieving itself and farting.

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**Author:** ![EnolaStraight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@EnolaStraight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EnolaStraight)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2022, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lizards-fart/975432/3 "2022-11-23T13:57:04Z")

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I see your bearded dragon and raise you an iguana!  
[​ Iguana Fart - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOwvmZSVrNU)

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**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2022, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lizards-fart/975432/4 "2022-11-23T15:07:09Z")

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Mammals do, reptiles do, fish do …

> **[How herring 'farts' almost caused Russia and Sweden to come to blows -...](https://www.flipscience.ph/plants-and-animals/herring-frt/)**
>
> In the '80s and '90s, tensions between Russia and Sweden almost came to a boil - and it was all because of Baltic herring 'farts'. Read on:

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**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2022, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lizards-fart/975432/5 "2022-11-23T15:51:41Z")

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I love this question and everything about it.

Semi Related Note

**Colibri** (may his memory be for a blessing) informed me that yawning came rather early in the history of life on this planet. Even lobsters yawn. This answered a question that had nagged me for years- Did the dinosaurs yawn?

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**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2022, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lizards-fart/975432/6 "2022-11-23T17:07:14Z")

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[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/1laTayXH5as/maxresdefault.jpg "Killer Whale farts") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1laTayXH5as)

[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/5mEePulli3c/maxresdefault.jpg "Whale Farts") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mEePulli3c)

[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/DdMcayWEnkk/hqdefault.jpg "Whale fart") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdMcayWEnkk)

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**Author:** ![Wolf333](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf333/32/3460_2.png) [@Wolf333](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolf333)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2022, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lizards-fart/975432/7 "2022-11-23T17:26:38Z")

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I shit you not, Mark Wahlberg’s “Good Vibrations” started playing when I opened that article.

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**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2022, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lizards-fart/975432/8 "2022-11-23T18:13:59Z")

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Thank you. As a suggestion, I made my spouse play 20 Questions for both nouns in the title, then guess my inquiry.

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**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2022, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lizards-fart/975432/9 "2022-11-23T19:35:01Z")

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Shockingly, I have learned that at least two species of Corydoras catfish (both of which live in my aquarium) pass gas.

[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/HT2Mv3ANgdk/hqdefault.jpg "Corydoras panda's fart") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HT2Mv3ANgdk)

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**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2022, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lizards-fart/975432/10 "2022-11-23T19:39:24Z")

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I can assure you from personal experience that snakes fart. The bigger the snake, the bigger the … well, you know.

The ball python FB groups I’m in (yes, there are dozens literally devoted to a single species) are littered with “What the hell was THAT?!?” posts, followed by amused comments clarifying.

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**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2022, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lizards-fart/975432/11 "2022-11-23T21:45:24Z")

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A lizard aside:

As a kid, I watched fence lizards zip around the patio. When they stopped, they would do their push up thing. My dad always told me it was a way to let other lizards know to stay out their territory.

Cut to being an adult out hiking. I stopped by this monstrous flat slab of rock… with a lone lizard on it. At that moment, another lizard ran out on the rock and they were doing push ups.

OK, dad, I thought, let’s see if your theory is true. Holy hell, those two went at it like it was a titanic battle out of a DC comic. It was crazy to see the ferocity of their fight.

Not sure if they farted, though.

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**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2022, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lizards-fart/975432/12 "2022-11-23T22:01:49Z")

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> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#):
>
> As a kid, I watched fence lizards zip around the patio. When they stopped, they would do their push up thing. My dad always told me it was a way to let other lizards know to stay out their territory.

I used to live where we had lizards everywhere and I’ve seen that behavior. I’ve always imagined the lizard saying, “Do you even lift, bro?!”

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**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2022, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lizards-fart/975432/13 "2022-11-23T22:49:51Z")

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Silent lizard farts are the deadliest.

But so what about worms? Do worms fart?

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**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2022, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lizards-fart/975432/14 "2022-11-23T23:20:31Z")

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What’s invisible and smells like crickets?

Lizard farts!

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**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2022, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-lizards-fart/975432/15 "2022-11-24T14:55:50Z")

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> [@purplehorseshoe](#):
>
> The ball python FB groups I’m in (yes, there are dozens literally devoted to a single species) are littered with “What the hell was THAT?!?” posts, followed by amused comments clarifying.

That just took me on a trip down memory lane. When I read that, I remember an old message board for Kingsnakes. Turns out it’s still around and still had my old posts from nearly 20 years ago (though mine were in the bearded dragon and water dragon areas). I found a bunch of old posts made by the person I gave one of my lizards too.

> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#):
>
> smells like crickets?

barf.  
I used to buy crickets a thousand at a time. They smelled pretty bad.
