Today when I got home from work, Martin had a surprise for me... a tiny, one-inch long baby alligator lizard!
Martin found it just outside our sliding glass doors by the walkway to the pool. It was just looking around, but in danger of being stepped on by people on their way to the laundry room. He got it into a jar, and put some leaves in to give it some shelter (and a few aphids in case it wanted a snack!). Then he poked holes in the lid, and waited for me to come home.
I LOVE lizards, and this was one of the most exquisite things I have ever seen! I admired it for several minutes, then we took it out to my garden and let it go next to my big lemon balm bush. But it didn't leave right away, instead it ran out of the jar and onto my hand. After a minute, it continued walking up my arm, looking at me. We finally realized it was going to stay on my arm, so Martin took a leaf and gently guided it off onto the dirt. It stayed for a bit and looked around, then finally it disappeared under the bush. I used to have lots of lizards in my community garden plot, but I have never seen one here at my home garden, so this was a special thing for me. I believe they bring good luck and prosperity. A garden with lizards is a healthy garden.
This isn't the lizard I met, but it's about the same size and coloring:
What a lovely end to my week! Definitely a gift to treasure...
Aw, lucky duck! I love places that have lizards ... they're the equivalent of our squirrels, I guess. So cute. :)
ReplyDeleteI know, lizards are adorable!! But not as destructive as squirrels can be (at least here).
DeleteSo cute!
ReplyDeleteI know, I hated to let it go!
DeleteHow lovely! I was touched he caught aphids for it! Reminds me of how I had to catch ants to feed our pet jumping spider!
ReplyDeleteWasn't that sweet??? And HOW did you catch ants, that must have been such a trip!!!
DeleteTotally cool! We have a lot of skink lizards here but I'm not sure about alligator lizards. Oh yeah, we have real gators here too. They're just a bit south of where I live.
ReplyDeleteSkinks are neat! But I think I'll pass on the gators, thank you very much! ;-)
DeleteAw, it's so cute! What a nice gift. :)
ReplyDeleteYes, it was! :-)
DeleteAww.... how adorable! I had to do a double take though because when I saw your post on my Dashboard, I first read it as:
ReplyDelete"Today when I got home from work, Martin had a surprise for me... a tiny, one-inch long baby alligator."
:D
ROFLMAO!!! Yeah, I would have done a double take, too, if he HAD caught a baby alligator!!!
DeleteBeautiful coloring and a thoughtful gift! You'd love Costa Rica, it is full of reptiles! We have a family of geckos that scurry about our house, eating spiders and ants. We also have a bright green iguana in our yard that frequents our mandarin tree and banana patch. They're beautiful creatures.
ReplyDeleteHow lovely! Geckos are so much fun to watch. I wouldn't mind lizards all around my house, as long as they stayed outside -- otherwise my cats would eat them! :-(
DeleteI used to have a pet iguana years ago; her name was Jewel of the Nile, but I called her Jewel for short. She used to ride on the front of my sweatshirt until she got too big. The cats weren't a problem for her, as once she was big enough, she terrorized them with her tail! ;-)