Oh my gosh!!!

Do you not get the point a lizard is not goin to die by putting it on his back when you put it on its back for 10 seconds the lifes not in danger but if you hold somebody under water for 3 minutes....well yeah thats called murder

Now spike he hangs up side down for hour's at a time but I do'nt know what effect that you may have on him by doing it for him

Indeed, jerryhovies... If a lizard chooses to hang upside down, there's no problem ofcourse... But if you force it onto it's back I could imagine that it there's a possibility that the animal would not like it...

And the (plexi)glass idea on comment-page 1 is perfect to solve this problem in an animalfriendly way...

I'm sure the owner of this animal actually didn't mean any harm, and after all of this comment by people who (apparently) have a lot of knowledge about the physical details of these animals, I think he'd think twice before doing this again...

The lizard must obviously not care that he is upside down. If he did he would move around trying to flip over. My leopard gecko, and bearded dragon are impossible to flip on there back (I know because they have fallen several times) and they turn right back over. If that lizard didn't mind being like that, then he would try to get out which he isn't doing.

Ok, let's all stop and think about this logically for just one minute. Listen to what you're saying. Save your hyperbole for situations that warrant it. Also, let us all consider the much less demanding reptilian metabolism. The requirement for oxygen is much smaller than for their mammalian counterparts. Certainly a quick flip for a snapshot isn't going to harm your lizards. I've seen this same pseudoscience espoused on some silly Canadian site about water dragons. Actually, this might very well be the same author warning us about "flipping our lizards" (man, that sounds dirty). Instead of blindly buying in to these warnings, let's all use our noggins. Think of examples from your own herp experiences. How many of you have seen a gecko clinging contently to the underside of a branch. Are these animals dropping dead to the ground of respiratory distress? What about the water dragon's curious habit of sinking to the bottoms of their water basins for minutes at a time? Are they suffocating themselves in some sort of weird lizard suicide? Ever seen a big Rhacodactylus or tree monitor in a head-down position on a tree trunk? There are countless other examples. I'm sure you all can think of your own. Ok, before I get flamed to death, here's my bottom line: Do I think we all should flip our lizards onto their backs for hours on end to see what happens? No. Certainly that would be detrimental to their health. Do I think it is harmful to flip them over for a quick snapshot? Not a chance. Think people, think. Let's not blindly accept any and every nugget of "science" we're fed.

Thank you croc! Finally....someone who can understand exactly what im saying. Its so hard to capture a reptiles beautiful glisten of many different colors as it is you dont need plexi glass in the way, and i would never do that to a lizard that was ill all my blue belly lizards are in an out door pen breeding and staying healthy so you see my intentions are never to harm an animal but to capture its beauty instead!!!

srry im sure you all want to topic dead by now but its a simple matter to just hold the lizard up infront of you to take a picture of its underside, it doesnt have to be upside down or on glass, and i imagine that the lizard would rather not be upside down