The Slender Glass Lizard has a pointed snout, narrow head, and a long cylindrical body. It is usually between 18 and 24 inches long, but some glass lizards may be as long as 36 inches. Glass lizards have no legs, so some people think they are snakes: but they aren't! Unlike snakes, glass lizards have movable eyelids and external ears openings. Its body is a tan or bronze color with a black stripe running down the middle of the back from the head to the tail. It has a groove on either side of the body with lighter stripes above and below that. The belly is white or pale yellow, and the sides of the head often have brown spots. The glass lizard has smooth scales and a very fragile tail that often breaks off when the lizard gets caught in something or is struggling. Like glass, it will shatter into many pieces. Luckily, the tail grows back in about 1 month.

Glass lizards are found in dry grassland, fields, and wooded areas. In the USA, it is seen both in the central states and the southeast. The grass lizard is active from April to October, especially on warm sunny days. It eats almost any small animal including beetles, crickets, grasshoppers, snails and worms. These lizards will burrow underground in loose, sandy soil during the winter.

These lizards mate in the spring, usually in May or June. The female lays groups of 5 to 15 eggs in late June and wraps her tail around them, keeping them safe until they hatch in August. Nests are built beneath logs, in sawdust piles, or in rotten tree stumps.