I want to write a reptile character for my stories and I want her to have personality traits akin to those of real reptiles (mostly lizards). This might be too vague a question but could you give me some tips on what kind of personality traits reptiles usually have?
So, having owned pet reptiles for a couple of decades AND having written a few reptilian characters myself, I think I can give a couple of pointers.
Reptiles are observant and calculating. Because they have much slower metabolisms than mammals, they have to think through their actions much more to make sure they aren’t wasteful, so a reptile spends a great deal of its time watching the world and thinking through little details to ensure that when it does use its energy, it uses it wisely.
When reptiles do act, they fully commit to it. It’s actually really fun to see a reptile eat or leap, because they throw their entire body into it. A lizard munching on greens or crickets looks so damn enthusiastic about it, it’s adorable. So when a reptile character decides to make a choice and do something, they put their full effort into it. They make sure their actions count.
Reptile socialization is very subtle, at least from a mammalian perspective. The two recurring bits of social behavior I know in various reptile species are 1. waving your arm in a slow, circular motion to show you mean no harm and 2. sitting on top of each other. Yes, really. When reptiles are comfortable with each other, they use each other as furniture (and allow themselves to be used as furniture). Aggressive actions include head bobbing, hissing, and tail rattling. I think reptiles are also masters of one of the more intimate human behaviors: sharing a comfortable silence.
Reptiles are masters of the meaningful glance. My bearded dragon was great at giving a skeptical stare - he could make me feel like a silly dumbass with just a tilt of his head.
