Monday, July 28, 2008

My Little Predator

Did you know a lizard could scream? I didn't.

Since Firefly seemed to want to hunt, snapping at anything that moved for some weeks now, I finally got her some crickets the other day.

I also decided to let the other lizards have a chance at them before she gobbled them all. Captain Malcolm Reynolds, as usual, was not interested in the least. When I put The Spook into the bucket, he took a halfhearted swipe at one of the bugs but that was all. So I went and got Firefly.

The mistake I made was not getting The Spook out of the bucket before Firefly got within feet of it. She took a great leap off my hand and snapped at the first thing she saw moving--which happened to be The Spook's back toes.

And the poor little guy screamed.

Not very loud, because whatever vocal cords he has can't be very big--but a scream nonetheless.

I snatched him out of harm's way--and he huddled cowering in my hand, hanging on for dear life. This is the critter that usually leaps in any direction to escape being handled. But there he sat, perfectly still, while Firefly made short work of the crickets in the bucket. After I hand-fed The Spook some gecko-goo, he perked up enough to start doing his usual leaping-lizard routine.

I am very lucky he did not throw his tail when he thought he was in mortal danger. With this species of gecko, the tail drop is a single-use defense mechanism that does not grow back; in fact, most crested geckos in the wild are missing their tails.

Hopefully the poor little Spook has gotten over his traumatic experience by now. And Firefly won't be getting near him again.


1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good blog.
I have a grandpuppy. My daughter and her fiancee have a boxer pup. They named him Bogie (as in Humphrey). As boxers go, he is handsome. I have (get) to Bogie-sit daily while they work. (no problem, they have a pool!!)
Not as much drama as gecko-rassellin' but fun nonetheless.

 
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