Summer Lizard Rescue

Our youngest boy's first lizard rescue. Our place is crawling with baby lizards right now - buckets and the like are major hazards. This one was rescued from our outdoor bath tub.

The Tale & Tail of a Lizard Catch

The intrepid hunter stalks her prey.

Caught by loveliness.

An ejected tail gifted to a friend.

And held close to his heart.

Exquisite Lizard Catch

Last week when cleaning up in the shed, I found a tiny lizard corpse in the bottom of a bucket in storage. Over the weekend, while working in the garden, I came across a bucket next to the redwood planter with three lizards very much alive. I felt like Mr. McGregor stumbling upon the sleeping bunnies in The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies, "One. Two. Three. Three leetle lizards." Though I had no intention of skinning them to make a coat or sell the pelts for tobacco.

The big one with her right front arm on the head of the littlest (note missing tail. Eaten by the other lizards in a fit of Donner hunger?) was the most spirited, catapulting her body half way up the bucket. I tipped the bucket over and she bolted sheltering under the carpet of oak leaves.

The other two stayed in the bucket longer. The smallest with the missing tail was the last to leave. She steadily walked to the edge of the bucket and exited slowly. She stopped ten inches away from my crouched body.

She turned her right eye to place me. We watched each other in silence for about five minutes. I reached out and touched her unflinching body still dusted with dirt from the bucket. Alive and free.

Exquisite Lizard Corpse

Found in an old pot in our garden tool shack. Dessicated. Tiny. About three inches long including tail. Tragic yet beautiful.

Tiny Lizard Catch

One of many of the surprisingly small lizards parading through our yard. Caught. Observed. Released.

Baby Lizard Catch

Our grounds are alive with little lizards. This specimen is larger than the standard little 'un scurrying about. Captured and held by all.

Lizard at Rest

Found dead by my oldest son.

And laid to rest with proper respect.

Rescued Fence Post Lizard

Lizards are everywhere around our house right now. This one narrowly missed being killed by our dog Trudy who pounced on it and got most of the tail. The poor lizard tried to hide in the rock wall but was still woefully exposed. I was able to keep the dog at bay while I rescued the lizard and put it in this tree. She just stayed resting in my hand while I was able to snap this picture of her dazzling belly. A second later she was zipping up into the upper limbs to regroup.

Lizard

Eric caught another fence post lizard. I love that eye, the bright blue throat and those flaky scales.

Captured while Eric conducts business...muting the phone only briefly to ask, "Do you want to hold it?"

Catches in the Yard

Black-bellied slender salamander.

Fence post lizard. Caught by Eric, release by our oldest son.

The downtown skyline. Photo captured by our oldest son.

Baby Skink...Rather Black-bellied Slender Salamander

February is a busy month in a California native garden. Early winter and late fall is the time to plant new starts, sow seeds and pull weeds. I've been adhering to my fifteen minutes a day garden regimen in an attempt not to be overwhelmed by what cries to be done. In my daily sojourn, I found a baby skink/black-bellied slender salamander.

So amazing. So small...about five inches in length. When I found it peeking shyly through the Live Oak leaves, I thought it was a worm. I called to my sons, placed its small cold body on my hand and noticed the tiny legs. When they circled around my hand, the skink/salamander wiggled lethargically. My youngest son was eager to hold it. I placed it gently on his hand. He held it for a moment. It moved. My son jumped about three feet. And the skink/salamander...she took flight.

Update: Ramshackle reader Jeff left the comment: "I think this is a black-bellied slender salamander...tho' looks like a skink (juvies have a impressive blue tail)...". I checked out www.californiaherps.com, and the habitat and description match up. Thanks for the heads up, Jeff. The updates are included in the original post.

Lizard Catch and Release

I finally got around to ripping out what remained of the summer garden last night. It was too dark to document that but while I was working the soil I found this small fence post lizard trying to escape the hoe.


She was a real beauty. I wish I could've gotten a better picture of her.

Lizard Skeleton

A testament to our hot dry weather.

Youngin's First Lizard Catch

The kitchen door slams.  Fast footsteps.  My oldest son rushes in.  "Mom, I just caught my first lizard."  

"Wow!  That's great!" I say filled with the thrill of a "first" of a young life that will experience many more.  

My son extends his hand to show a tiny lizard barely an inch and a half.  His enthusiasm bubbles over.  I peer over his small outstretched hand.  

My heart sinks.  The lizard sits frozen.  Eyes shut.  I swallow; breathe in.  The conversation I fear dangles in front of me.  Death doesn't scare me.  Or rather, I'm not afraid to talk about it with my son.  We've had that conversation before and will again.  What I fear is one small dead lizard as the casualty of a first lizard catch; the harsh lesson that our achievements can come at a drastic cost.  

What am I going to do?  

I lean forward and clasp it's tiny tail in my index finger and thumb.  And like the fabled Lazarus rising from the dead, the impossibly small lizard kicks it's legs like crazy.  I watch it's sides pulse with life.  My heart races with gratitude. 

My son practices catch and release of his first lizard after finding that it can hang upside down.

Then he retells the story of the great catch.

Baby Lizard Caught in the House

Yesterday I saw this baby lizard in our bedroom as I was reattaching some lines to the back of the stereo. Then in the afternoon I saw him again sunning himself in a small patch of sun on the floor in the late afternoon. But both times he scurried under the bookshelf that holds the stereo.


This morning I got my chance to catch him when I found him on the laundry pile next to the bed. Although this one could probably be easily tamed since it's so young we followed the catch and release program in place here at Camp Ramshackle.


He left us a little souvenir.

Big Lizard

Alright, really it's a monitor not a lizard. Lizard Boy makes an appearance at my son's preschool each year. His visit is always greatly anticipated.

My youngest son happened to be chasing lizards outside the school when we bumped into Lizard Boy and his reptilian crew on their way out. Perhaps Lizard Boy sensed a kindred spirit in my youngest son. He stopped in his tracks and treated us to a private show.

Frilled Necked Lizard

Lizard Boy 2.0?

Lizard Skin Found While Chipping

While using the chipper on Sunday, I found this lizard skin entangled in one of the dried out plants. It had probably used the branches to scrape it's skin off. It's front legs are intact and if you look closely you can see it's eye. Click on the image to get a bigger version.


Here is what I saw as I was breaking the plant up to stuff into the hopper.


Then I noticed this larger section on the tarp I use to keep the dust down. The leaf wrapped around the skin is now a part of it. Taking the leaf off would almost certainly break the skin.


This is a big alligator lizard - about as big as they get around here.

Another Lizard Rescue

I rescued this grateful fence post lizard this weekend while working in the garden.

She had found a pretty good spot to catch bugs but would have had a hard time escaping before something bad happened.

Here she's relocated to another good place to hunt for bugs.

Alligator Lizard - Caught/Rescued

This Lizard was rescued from our dogs.


Looking at it's tail it may have had a previous encounter.

Lizard Season

No, we don't eat them, but I can't help it, I still enjoy catching lizards and we are just entering the prime lizard catching season here at Camp Ramshackle. Lizard activity is highest during the hot months of July, August and September, but the lizards are much too fast to catch then. It's this time of year, when the nights and mornings are a little cooler, that, before they warm all the way up, an old guy like me can catch a blue-belly or two and feel a quiet sense of awe in holding something wild. Awe and at the same time comfort in the fact that I am not doing any damage in my indulgence (at least not much damage, providing I don't accidentally pluck off a tail.)

Pictured above is what we called a blue-belly when I was a kid but have identified as a fence lizard through our field guides and online. These range from tan (pictured) to charcoal gray. From my observations, the colors variance appears to break along gender lines in our yard -- males are darker and have more pronounced blue patches on their bellies. This one looks like a pregnant female to me.


Young fence lizards are all over our yard right now but this one is a rarely seen baby Alligator Lizard. We wrote about an adult skink I caught a while back - it was actually an Alligator Lizard. They have sharp teeth and bite! Here are two more I caught while engaged in what appeared to be mortal combat. I thought until recently that these alligator lizards were a type of skink but I was wrong.

We do have skinks here too, although I don't have a picture of one yet. I have also learned that what, when we were kids, we used to call a blue tailed skink is actually a juvenile Western Skink. It has an electric blue tail that fades as it grows older. I have seen them and caught them but have yet to photograph one. Maybe this will be the season.