Actually, he found us. When we moved in to our house about seven weeks ago, Slizard was there while we were painting. Adam saw him scurry under the drop cloths and later warned me that he was in the house, in case I ran across him. Well, I did. In the bathroom. I looked down, and THERE WAS A LIZARD.
We didn't do anything to capture or remove him. We just let him be. Next time I looked for him, he was gone. Until Christmas, that is. I have some red berries I was using to decorate with, and I moved them, and THERE WAS THE LIZARD.
I wanted to put him outside, but Adam thought it was too cold. After all, it's winter, and they hibernate. We tried to capture him, but he was too quick for us. We found him the next day sitting in the living room on my Bible and journal. (They are dark green and blue/green...just his colors.)
{The set up}
When we relocated him for the fourth time, I suggested that we get a little lizard catcher and keep him until we figure out what to do next. Off went AMP to Petco, and nearly an hour later, he came home with a house for Slizard. I was envisioning something about the size of a recipe box. But my animal-loving husband came home with a 10-gallon tank (that was on sale, he would like to mention), complete with a heat lamp, heating pad and directions on how to care for a green anole.
{Green Slizard}
{Brown Slizard}
Adam's spent a good bit of time researching the Green Anole, and I have to say, we've learned quite a lot. They turn brown when they are under stress. For a while, Slizard was green, but he became brown constantly, looked really dried out and on the fritz. I thought we were going to lose him (it was touch-and-go for a while).
After a week, feeding him mealworms and baby crickets, Slizard wasn't eating, so we thought we'd let him go. AMP put him on our back porch and propped the lid up on a semi-warm, sunny afternoon. He peeked out of the shoe box that was inside the tank, but he didn't leave.
We came back several hours later, when it was dark, and Slizard was still inside, looking rather frigid. So, we brought him back in and Adam went to work making his home more Slizard-friendly.
You can see now he has a warming brick (where we place the light), more leafy greens, and on the opposite side, rocks and sticks and such. He still likes the shoebox, though, because it gives him a little spot to hide in the lip of the lid.
We have a science experiment in our house! You can find us at various points in the day looking for Slizard, making sure he's happy (green) and just watching him. He plays hide-and-seek with us. One time, we thought he'd gotten out, but he reappeared about an hour later. Crazy Slizard!
Troy grew up with lizards as pets, and we spent a fair amount of time going to the pet store to purchase crickets. I guess this is why it doesn't bother me at all. Slizard makes Adam really happy, so I like that, of course! (I told my family last night that someday (in the far-off future), I think I'll make a really good boy mom!)
We don't think he's eating (we still see crickets hopping around), but he made it clear that he preferred the indoors instead of outside, so I guess Slizard is here to stay for a while!
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