SUN-HERALD (DeSoto, Florida) 18 March 06 Tale of a lizard with no tail (Laura Schmid)
Pets sure make life interesting at times, creating situations you'd never dream of.
The latest for me was when I happened to look up at the shower head one morning while I was showering and spotted a lizard hanging precariously onto the top of it. Part of its tail was missing, so I immediately knew it had gotten inside courtesy of my calico cat, Fiona, who fancies herself a mighty huntress.
The minute she gets a chance to go outside, she immediately sets about stalking any poor lizard in sight -- and despite her somewhat hefty girth, usually manages to catch it. Fiona, being a generous kitty, then feels duty-bound to bring the lizard inside and drop it on the nearest throw rug as a misconceived gift for me. Invariably, the lizard immediately runs away, frantically looking for any means of escape.
This only delights Fiona into continuing what she considers a fun game of cat-and-lizard. Sometimes she catches the lizard and wears it out so much with their "game" that I find the lizard lying on its side curled up several days later.
More often than not, the lizard manages to elude her sharp eyes and claws, hiding away in cracks and crevices until she or I notice it darting around again. If I'm around when she brings in her "gift" or I discover the lizard later -- always with half a tail or less -- I immediately set about trying to catch and rescue the poor little thing and put it back outside.
I refer to this as our catch-and-release program. She catches and brings me the gift, I release it, and she goes back outside to start all over again.
There are many times I don't find the lizard until it turns up in an odd place, however. Hence, the shower.
I must say, that was a new one for me. Fortunately, I think lizards are rather cute, so I wasn't grossed out by finding one in my shower. And since it seemed to be hanging on pretty well and I wasn't in the mood to attempt to catch it while wet, I just continued on with my shower. I chatted with the little guy, who I dubbed "Willy" for his strong willpower to get away from Fiona and survive, to keep him reassured. I'm not sure if he appreciated it; he may have been too busy trying to hang onto the metal shower head so he wouldn't slide off.
After I was properly dried off and dressed, I warned Willy I was going to catch him to set him free. Apparently, he misunderstood. He leaped off the shower head and skittered around the bathroom. He was faster and had more tail left than most of Fiona's other victims I've caught. I could see why Willy had managed to evade her.
I finally caught Willy, for which he rewarded me with biting me on my index finger. I've been bitten by a lizard before and it usually feels more like a tickle than anything else. But he actually had some heft to his bite and it almost hurt!
After a brief chiding, though, and even more impressed with his gumption, I set Willy loose to roam free in the wilds of the backyard again.
With the days warming up and the cats going outside more, I have more such amusing adventures to look forward to. Except I'm a tad concerned -- Fiona's taken an obsessive interest to certain squirrels that hang out in a side-yard tree.
Tale of a lizard with no tail