My yard is full of bluebelly lizards. Some people call them fence lizards. They are friendly little critters, and very nosy. The ones in my yard are not very wild.
Yesterday I found Stubby Tail, who hangs around the back steps, lying on its back on the sidewalk. It looked quite dead. I was on my way to collect eggs and made a mental note to bury the lizard when I was finished.
But when I got my trowel the lizard had moved. It was upright and breathing, but not moving. I had no trouble picking it up with my hands. (Except that it feels kinda creepy to do that.) I have a nice little terrarium, so I found it and put some sand in the bottom, put it half on a heating pad, and put the lizard inside.
Then I went on the internet to find out what to do with an ailing lizard.
First, it said, don't put it on sand. Lizards might ingest the sand and become constipated. It recommended putting the lizard on paper towels. So I picked it up again and laid paper towels over the sand. Next the internet information said there were three things that are most likely to lay a lizard low (aside from being stepped on): compaction, being egg-bound, or shedding its skin. Sometimes lizards get parasites that affect their brains, but this isn't as common.
The lizard docs recommend rehydrating a lizard right away. The way to do this is to put it in warm water, give it a bath. Because Stubby Tail would occasionally flop onto its back, I was afraid it might drown, and then I'd have to figure out lizard CPR. So I used a wash cloth in the bottom of a bowl, which gave it something to hang onto. The lizard loved its bath. Who would have ever thought that? I massaged it with a damp Q-Tip. No egg. No poop. Oh well. I couldn't see its eyes, though, so thought maybe it was shedding.
Today the lizard is staying mostly upright. I gave it another bath and left the bowl in the sunshine coming through the kitchen window. I put a couple of bugs in the terrarium, but I don't think it can see them. It does have one eye open now. Hopefully by tomorrow it will be feeling good and I can put it back outside. I'm not too keen on having lizards in the house.
10 comments:
Daddy fed one inside, and it waited for him every evening and climed on his had to be taken in for a meal!
But you've got one lizard in the house already - a lounge lizard called Bob! They could become best friends.
You have been nominated for a bronze award. Please send $150 to receive your medal and certification.
Aaah.Most people wouldn't have bothered.
Jane x
PP. what did your daddy feed his lizard? I'm assuming I can't buy a sack of lizard chow at the feed store. I know they sell live crickets, but I'm not bringing those things in the house and I think they're too big for this lizard anyway. I have a mealworm supply but they're all in the beetle stage right now.
Bob hasn't been on the couch much lately, YP. He has only 3 weeks of summer vacation until his summer classes start, so he's trying to squeeze all his partying and socializing into that time.
ALWS - please have a representative call me, preferably at dinner time.
Daddy brought the lizard in and placed it on his bed so he could control where he ran. Daddy got a bug like a gnat or some litte night bug that came in the house and was attracted to light. With four kids in and out, I am sure there were lots of little bugs at night. after a bit, the bugs fell and the lizard caught them himself. The bugs were tiny, but it does not take much to fill a lizard. The first night, Daddy had to catch the lizard, the next night and for weeks, the lizard waited on the porch rail, and just walked onto Daddy's hand.
Was the plain crash with the fire chief from Consumne from one and the same as your town?
PP, he's not from my neighborhood, but works for the fire department in a neighboring place, Wilton. Cosumne is the name of our river and it's used for lots of things - the fire department, a community college, etc - as well as for the township of Cosumne.
I don't think my lizard can catch its own food yet, and I found out this a.m. it's pretty much impossible to convince it to open its mouth and take a bug from a pair of tweezers.
Daddy never tried to feed it, just put the gnat or tiny moth near it and it did it's own eating. You are probably frightening it with the tweezers. The bug needs to be less than a quarter inch from what I remember. Tiny things drop into my glass of milk or other drink that sits on a table under the bulbs of a lamp. They may eat larger bugs, but that is all I ever saw our lizard eat. Maybe a couple of tiny crumbs of bread would be nice.
I never heard of Consumne, so it shocked me to hear of it someplace else besides your blog name.
I can spell "climbed."
I think the American Lizard Welfare Society picked the right person for the Bronze Award!!!
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
http://deltacountyhistoricalsociety.wordpress.com
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