A Lizard just appeared in my house! (In Illinois, in October!)

[sunberst]

okay. i am a little shaken up & just thrown off about this.

i got the little watering can that is kept underneath my kitchen sink, filled it with water & was about to do my daily watering of my plants.

i first went to the bonsai tree that is sitting on my kitchen table, the bonsai tree that has been sitting there for atleast 3 months. i was about to water it and i noticed this little lizard peeking out from the rocky, grassy stuff that surround the base of the trunk of the bonsai tree. at first i thought it was a joke- that my mom or dbf put a little plastic lizard in there (they know i love lizards), but then it moved it's head and jumped at me!!!

it landed on my kitcen placemat & jumped (very quick little guy). i didnt know what to do and it all happened so fast, i threw my williams & sonoma catalog on top of him. not hard because i didnt want to kill him, but i was hoping it would buy me a few secs so i could figure something else out. well he was so quick he jumped on the floor (a good 2 1/2" foot jump). my dog saw it and i had to grab her and throw her back so she wouldnt eat him or something. i then grabbed my dog's food bowl (because it has a hollow bottom) and threw the bowl on top of it to trap it. well it just got part of his tail & severed it. the lizard was trapped underneath the bowl, but his tail was laying on my kitchen tile wiggling around!!!

i called dbf in hysterics. i want the little guy to live but i dont know what to do with him. so he instructed me to get a piece of sturdy paper and carefully slip it under the bowl, then lift the paper and bowl up and place it in something. i got my old bearded dragon's mesh cage out of the basement. so right now he is alive (minus part of his tail) and in the mesh cage.

i was pretty distraught. i use to keep lizards. i had a bearded dragon, a leopard gecko, a leopard lizard... and i love reptiles. but this whole ordeal really caught me off guard. i was very sleepy, in my pajamas, watering plants & then boom there is a lizard.

now this may not be a big deal for a lot of you. a lot of you who live places where lizards & geckos are commonplace. but i live in illinois. and it is october.

to my knowledge, lizards dont live in illinois. i could be so wrong, but in my 24 years of living i have never seen a wild lizard in my backyard.

so how did he get here??? was he in the bonsai all this time??? i sit and eat dinner every night at the table. i move that bonsai to the sink to soak it weekly. how could he be living in there all this time and me not know it?

i havent purchased anything odd that might have carried a lizard into my home. the only thing i can think of is that my mom gave me some roses & i brought those home tonight and they were in the kitchen, too. could the lizard be from the roses? my mom says no because those roses came from the fridge case at the grocery store so it couldnt have survived the cold. and he would have had to jump out of the roses & off the counter and some how get up on the table where the bonsai was.

does anyone have any idea on how this could have happened? i feel so bad that i threw a magazine at it, but i am telling you, you just dont expect to see a lizard sitting on your placemat! atleast not here!

not sure if he is going to live with all the stress that just happened... and i dont know how he survived and made it here from wherever he is from.

[MKSquared]

This is just too precious. Wow. You're really stressed out over this little guy, aren't you?

[sunberst]

Originally posted by MKSquared
You're really stressed out over this little guy, aren't you? yes. :(

i really like lizards, that is the hard part. i called my mom and she was just like why don't you kill it? :mad: but i am a little freaked out that one just appears on my kitchen table. and i am not sure if he will live considering all that has happened to him. and i doubt he just walked in from my backyard!

[MKSquared]

I love lizards too. :D Don't stress about whether he'll live or not - you're doing the best you can for him right now, and that's all you CAN do. I wonder how he got there, though. Maybe he escaped from a classroom somewhere?

[colleency]

Can wild lizards survive in captivity?

I'm sure you'll do the best you can for him. Poor things. (both of you are stressed!)

[kima]

Don't kill the lizard!!!!!!

I am sorry but that is such a funny story-I too would freak out!

My DD adores lizards-she wants to be a herpotologist!
Please keep us updated. It must have been on the bonsai tree1 I'll ask Kim if she has any ideas.

[kima]

Wow, that's pretty exciting. I work in a pet store and am regularily surprized by escapies so I know what it's like. In the past month alone I've found a green treefrog, corn snake and even a sugar glider (flying squirrel) in the store.
If you describe the little guy for me I am sure I can identify it and tell you where he came from, that might help to solve the mystery. The main kind of lizards that come in to our homes are house geckoes and anoles.
Also don't worry a bit about him dropping his tail it wasn't your fault and he'll grow it back! Various lizards and snakes have an easily detatchable tail so that in case of emergency (like a bird grabbing thier tail) they can drop it. Some sensitive lizards will even drop their tails when frightened - the tail switches around (looks like a worm in death throws) and distracts the would be predator.
The best thing you can do is keep his cage in a quiet area of the house, give him some crickets, a water bowl, a branch and a plant pot or plant that he can hide in and feel safe. I'm sure he'll do great though - he's lucky you found him!

[beacooker]

I love lizards, too, which is a good thing, because in Florida they are all over the place. Finding lizards and frogs in my house is a regular event. I usually try to catch them and let them out, just because I don't want my cats to get them. But if I could, I would be happy to have them living in the house with me.

So...have you picked out a name for him yet?

[gabbyh]

What a great thread!

I must tell you all my husband and I are on a "rescue a lizard" campaign...we've already recued one from the clothing racks in Sears, and I found one in the bathroom at work, not to mention the tons that we've captured in the house and moved outside...I love them!
We have a whole family of albino geckos living on our front porch, and they all have names!
The poor thing probably came into your house in some vegetation...and don't worry, they eat very little:D

~Gail

[sunberst]

thanks guys!

right now he is in a HUGE mesh cage. i am at work right now, but when i get home i am going to transport him to a smaller cage and give him some sand and rocks to hide in. i am thinking of just putting the bonsai tree in the cage with him, afterall that may very well be his home! he can crawl on the tree and hide in it.

i will take a picture with my camera tonight and post for you guys.

my mom said he probably won't survive, but i am trying to stay positive. she also said maybe it came out of an egg that was on the bonsai. i doubt this because i have always thought that female lizards keep the fertilized egg inside them until the lizard is just ready to hatch, then she drops the egg and it hatches. this is to keep the egg warm inside her body. i do not know if this is true for all types of lizards. ???

okay, i did a little googling, and found out that there are a few lizards that live in illinois (i had no idea). there are 7. they are: Six-Lined Racerunner, Collared Lizard (introduced), Five-Lined Skink, Broad-Headed Skink, Slender Glass Lizard, Fence Lizard & Ground Skink. i looked at their pictures, and the one i have looks nothing like these. the lizards listed above are more "moist/wet/slimey/snake" looking. while mine is very dry-skinned & a light brown color. very cute.

[badunnin]

Originally posted by colleency
Can wild lizards survive in captivity?


Yep - we've got 2 in my house. Huge suckers. They weren't hatched in captivity.

[cindyluwho]

Oh, the poor little thing...lizards seem to be pretty sensitive creatures. Do you know what it eats? Perhaps you could post on a herpetology web board and see if anyone knows what kind it is.

[sunberst]

dbf just called and i was further explaining to him how this lizard doesnt look anywhere near like the ones in illinois (which look more like salamanders) and i said "it looks more like a desert lizard"... then he said VEGAS!

we were in las vegas last week, is it possible it hitched a ride in my suitcase and has been living in my home for a week and just happened to find it's way up on the table to hide out in the bonsai?

if so, how did he get though security? ;)

[lhall]

LOL! Too funny, if indeed, it did come from Vegas.

Leigh

[MKSquared]

Well, he certainly has a name now, doesn't he? Vegas, baby! :) I could see him as a little stowaway.