A combined retrospective and prospective study collected data on 473 venipuncture events (VE) from the ventral tail vein of 22 species of lizard. The VE’s included 373 needle-only (typically blood collections) and 100 intravenous catheterizations (IVC). For each VE an attempt was made to document patient species, age, sex, weight, needle/catheter size, if sedation was used, lateral or ventral approach, if medications were administered, and if any changes to the tail were observed following. For IVC, additional information was collected including whether a tail splint was used, duration of IVC, and if a pulse was observed. For needle-only VEs, there was a 1.3% complication rate. Most notably in Jackson’s chameleons (50%), panther chameleons (9.1%), and veiled chameleons (4.3%). For IVC, there was a 13.1% complication rate. Complication rate for IVC was highest in chameleons (50% in panther chameleons and 40% in veiled chameleons), but also significant in bearded dragons (12%) which were the most common species in the study (346 of 473 VE). Complications included a color change, paresis/paralysis, and distal tail necrosis.