Wildlife Weekend :: Leapin' Lizards!

I was cleaning up the living room this weekend and saw a little pair of eyes peeking out from the sliding glass door track. A little lizard was stuck in the house - a brown anole to be specific. I figured I'd shoo him outside before he dried out and died or became a victim of our cats, but when I went to grab him, he didn't run. The poor little anole was already starting to dry out. I reached down and picked him up and he bit me.



Brown anoles have two methods of self-protection when handled - they'll bite you or poop on you. This one chose to bite me. We used to wear these lizards as earrings when I was a kid. If you really wanted to disturb your teacher, you'd hang one from your tongue or lip when you walked back into the classroom.



This little guy was thin and not running so I wasn't sure he'd make it. He was already missing part of his tail, and I'm sure my cats were responsible for that. I put him on the patio and sprinkled some water in his mouth and on his back. Finally I put him outside next to a plate of water.

When I just checked on him later that night he was gone. Let's hope he's living out his little lizard life somewhere now. I suppose I should have snuffed him out when I first saw him since brown anoles are a highly-invasive species and are wiping out the native green anoles. Poor little invasive lizards - they don't know they're bad news, but they do know how to bite.