Lizards in Florida

[jiacinto]

How do you take care of them? I have them living at home and one already died. They come and go as they please but a lady from a polling firm called me about pets. Then I realized that I need to take care of them better. How do you take care of wild lizards?

[sidwill]

1. Ummmm

You don't.


They thrive on their own without much help.So don't worry.

[DoYouEverWonder]

2. Leave them alone for the most part

They survive pretty well on their own, unless you happen to keep cats. Then be prepared for little half eaten presents every now and then.

If you want a lizard for a pet, may I suggest a bearded dragon. I just got one myself a couple of months ago and they are relatively easy to keep and responsive for a lizard.

BTW: I know I was a little brutal the other day. I hope you're feeling better.

[Lorien]

9. Good advice

I'm also a displaced northerner living in Florida, and was similarly charmed by the lizards and geckos when I moved here. They don't do at all well in captivity-and the green ones are becoming rare, so leave those ones alone especially! You prabably know by now not to grab them by the tails, either. You can purchase a butterfly net at Restoration Hardware to catch them if they get in the house, then safely deposit them outside. keep egrets out of your yard if you want a healthy population-cattle egrets eat those guys like popcorn!

[7th_Sephiroth]

3. i'm in fl myself

and the best i can say is let em be.

[fishnfla]

4. Word up bro

lizards eat the bugs. when the lizards dont come around anymore means you got snakes. dont worry snakes will eat the bugs too

[KG]

5. i'm in FL, and i very rarely see the buggers in the crib.

i usually try to herd 'em back outside when i do.

[rppper]

6. don't get rid of the gecko's carlos...they are good luck....

...and all lizards eat roaches, which come with the territory here...

[SoCalDem]

7. Leave them alone

they eat bugs.. they will come and go.. The one who died,may have eaten a bug somewhere else that had been poisoned.. Maybe he just came to your place to die :(

Why would the lady from a polling place call you about pets:shrug:

Do not try to domesticate them..THAT will kill them the fastest...

[flama]

8. I don't take care of them

They take care of themselves.

Since there aren't any bugs in my house (except an odd flying thing), I try to shoo them outside when they try to move in. The dog cries when he sees a dead lizard on the floor. I don't feel good about it either.

[FloridaJudy]

10. Cancel the Exterminator

Those lizards eat cockroaches; leave them alone and they'll keep your house pest-free.

Unfortunately, geckos are exquisitely sensitive to insecticides; when I refinanced my last house, the bank insisted on my hiring an exterminator to spray the place first. The geckos all died; the Giant Mutant Cockroaches from Hell snorked that stuff up as if it were Chardonnay, and held a party.

Welcome to Florida!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

11. When I was a kid, we brought a green anole back from Florida...

My grandparents lived there, and they were all over the place...especially in the gardens.

One summer, we brought one back to the DC area and fed him meal worms and fruit flies. He wasn't happy, though. In the late spring he stopped eating. So we took him back to my grandparents' garden when we visited in June. He was easy to recognize, as he was quite tame, and wouldn't scamper away when I came near...he'd even let me gently stroke his back with my finger. Over the next couple of weeks that we were there, he gained weight.

Setting him free was the 2nd best thing we could do for him. The best thing would've been to leave him alone.

[JCMach1]

12. You don't, if they get stuck inside grab them by the tail

and remove them to the great outdoors, or at least the side of your building.

WE have little brown Geckos in the UAE...

:)

[FlaGranny]

19. If you grab them by the tail, the tail falls off -

you are left with a tail but no lizard. My husband catches them by putting a washcloth over them and picking them up. He just puts them outside and they go scampering away. I have two lizards in my house right now. They are such cute little guys.

[montana_hazeleyes]

13. This is off topic but,

seems there are many Floridians here right now. Quite awhile back I found a website where I signed a petition to help out beautiful free (wild) chickens of Key West. It's hard to remember what was supposed to happen to them.I think they were going to be allowed to be shot or something.
Does anyone know this story and would you please tell me if the chickens made out ok?
Thanks,
Montana

[SoCalDem]

17. Here's something I found on google.. Is this the story??

http://keywestchickens.com/welcome.php

[montana_hazeleyes]

29. Yes, those are the chickens!

Thank you for the site,SoCalDem. I'm going to peruse the site later on and find out what's been happening on this matter
Thanks again,Montana:)

[Booberdawg]

14. good gawd, did I miss something? Are you people saying

that in Florida it is just "natural" for these lizards to "come and go" ... as they please ... through your homes??? Jeezus H, Christ on a stick and Holy Nipples of Mary!!! I would never sleep! I would have to MOVE immediately!!

I found ONE cockroach where I lived several years ago and went through so much bug spray and roach motels and cleaning .that my friends accused me for years of exterminating every living creature in the neighborhood. There is no fucking way I could have LIZARDS running through my house!!

Are you serious??? Or are these pets??

[JCMach1]

15. the good news is the lizards eat the roaches

the pitter patter of tiny lizard feet is a good thing...



Sorry if I waxed Martha for a moment there.

[Booberdawg]

20. If I wanted to hear the pitter patter of little feet

I'd put shoes on my cats! fuggedaboudit!!

[SoCalDem]

16. They are cute little harmless creatures

They sometimes scare you though, because they crawl up rough stucco walls and can startle you when you turn a light on.. They are bug eaters and yes..they do just come and go as they please :)

Here in CA, we used to get these little critters in the house now and then, and I would have to chase them down and catch them before the cats or the dogs got them.. and these guys BITE..

Sadly , we never see them anymore.. or toads.. I have not seen any small reptile in about 10 years..:(

[JCMach1]

18. When I was a kid, we would catch the green anoles

and get them to bit your earlobe. The hold on for quite a long time...


Instant designer earrings.

[Booberdawg]

21. OMFG!!

They "sometimes" scare you??? sometimes??? HA! Do you know that every little hair all over my body is standing strait out right now???

They eat the bugs they tell me. Fuck - I'd rather put up with the fucking bugs! Sheesh!

I guess I won't be visiting Florida!

I'm GLAD you don't have those snakes there anymore. In your house?? I might visit there, but geeze, I'm going to check ahead of time about what kind of critters they have living around their house besides the cats first!

[SoCalDem]

22. Boober..Boober..Boober

It's not a snake..just a cute little alligator lizard.. :) Ya big baby :P

[Booberdawg]

24. OH!! WELL!! Excuuuuuuuuuze me!

It's not a little ole snake ... It's just an ALLIGATOR LIZARD!! :wow:

I don't know WHAT came OVER me?!?!?

Yeah, I've seen those lizards and alligators around here before - WE keep them at the HENRY DOORLY ZOO!

;)

[radwriter0555]

23. Boober, Yer one of them 'partment dwellers, archa?

LOL we LOVE critters in, on, around our place. Well, except for ants.

We have hummingbirds who stop in to let us know the feeder is empty, lizards of all sizes, 3 dogs, no roaches, lots of spiders, 10' x 5' fish pond filled with koi & giant goldfish, (we call the whopper "Moby" since he's HUGE), 2 frogs that developed from tadpoles that live under the pagoda, which I have never SEEN, since they liberated themselves, but I've HEARD. When we sit out in the yard at night around the fire pit, (martinis in hand) we'll hear a frog shriek, then a splash, and we'll know they've gone for a swim! Every morning I see wet spots where they got out of the water.

Our critters are of great importance to us. It breaks my heart when the pups catch a lizard, or we find a dead baby bird, but we do know it's part of our little mini eco-system. We definitely live and let live around here.

[Booberdawg]

25. You people are enjoying my discomfort with this, aren't you?

;-)

Now radwriter, I don't live in a 'partment, but what possible difference does it make whether I live in an apartment or a house?

Your talkin about frogs and tadpoles and fish and stuff OUTSIDE in a fish pond, and insects and birds and other stuff OUTSIDE. I don't have a problem with that. I've got a dog and a couple cats in my house too. That's no different than here in E-I-E-I-O land in Iowa.

But I DRAW THE LINE at lizards, snakes or alligators IN MY HOUSE. Won't have it. x(

[amazona]

26. lizards come and go as they please in Louisiana also

I can't imagine how you would keep them out. A super-tight house is a radon hazard, isn't it? The common household lizards do not make a lot of noise or cause any mess or trouble. Most of the time you don't even see them. It is a bumper crop this year for "chameleons" -- the Carolina anole, which can turn from green to brown and back again -- with little babies running around all over the place. They can find their own way out when they happen to pop inside. However, if I see a tree frog indoors, I catch it and put it outside because it is probably truly confused. The other lizard we have here indoors is the Mediterranean gecko, a pink night lizard that probably prefers being indoors to being outdoors. I would assume most if not all houses and apartments have them, but they keep out of sight 99 percent of the time.

Alligators and snakes invading the home cannot be a common occurrence but when it does happen, Fish and Wildlife will remove them for you. I doubt it's much different in Florida or any other Gulf Coast state.

If you have ever visited Mexico, there was a Mediterranean gecko or another lizard in your room -- you just didn't see it.

mmmm...lizards...like em fried, like em stewed

[Booberdawg]

30. Thank you so much for sharing that part about

frying and stewing lizards and eating them.:puke:

[catzies]

33. My live & let live philosophy also means no chemicals outside anywhere

Here in coastal Southern California we have had a whitefly epidemic for the past 3 years, but I refuse to spray because we have the cutest little tiny birds that are bug eaters and I know if I spray it'll hurt them too.

[radwriter0555]

35. Same here. I won't spray for termites for the same reason. It upsets

the ecological balance in my yard.

I use good old soapy water on the whitefly.. but that oriental whitefly is KILLER.. HUGE things all puffing around. Haven't had them in a long time, so I don't know if the soapy water will work on them.

[LadeJarl]

39. No, not inside..

They spend all their time outside.
If you get one of these little fellas inside, carefully help him outside.

Lizards are often scaring people not used to them, but they are completly harmless.

I was outside the house by the pool late at night last week, smoking a cig before going to bed when I noticed something on my right arm... Looked down... OMG! A big and I mean BIG roach crawling up my arm :) Probably around 3-4 inches long. Where is a lizard when you need one? :)

[SoCalDem]

27. I fell , headfirst into a ditch, trying to help my boys catch one of these

They were all over our yard in New Mexico.. These little rascals are ..F A S T .. We would spend all morning crawling around in the dirt catching them and then when Dad came home for lunch, he would "Ooh & Aah", and then we would let them go.. and they would want to catch them all over again the next day..:eyes:..

We also had rattle snakes, so I never let them go lizard hunting without me..

You guys know how boys are :eyes:..

Luckily I only ever had to kill one rattler when my , then 2 yr old "found one".. I panicked and grabbed a rake.... My older son had my husband cut off the rattles for him to take to school. (7 rattles on that baby).. Of course, living in New Mexico, no one in his class was impressed.. They all had them too :eyes:

He's 30 and still has those rattles..:)

[Booberdawg]

31. Now that sounds kinda fun!

It's OUTSIDE! :D

I took my son tadpole hunting in ponds and lakes. That was enough excitement for us. :D

[cally]

28. I'm with Booberdawg on this one

I like the critters OUTSIDE, but not in my house. I can't believe you are all so happy with alligator lizards in the house. Sheesh. Ever wonder why so many want to move to California :evilgrin:

[Booberdawg]

32. Thanks cally!

It just isn't "normal" to have these creatures running through one's home! Glad it's not just me!:hi:

[Loyal]

34. They are self-sufficient

n/t.

[DemBones DemBones]

36. Lizards in the house is a good thing and common in all tropical and

semitropical climes, due to the insects that also live there. We have green anoles even in north Georgia and I was delighted when one moved inside for a while.

My grandparents moved to Florida during the boom of the nineteen-thirties and adopted some of the customs of native Floridians, such as allowing huge spiders to live in the house. I think they were tarantulas (after all, banana boats came in to Tampa Bay,) No one ever had more than one of these huge arachnids in their house and they generally kept a low profile. My grandparents had one that liked to sit on the phone, which was (like everyone's phone in the fifties) on a table in the hall. My grandfather knew how to shoo him away when someone wanted to use the phone.

Now, don't you lizard-haters think you'd rather have lizards in your house than big ugly spiders? :scared:

[Booberdawg]

37. LOL! Well what a choice! I wouldn't live with any of them!

tarantulas, huge arachnids, lizards .... NO! NONE! NADA! ZIP! MOLLY PUTZ! ZIPPITY DOO DAH! ZILCH!

I WON'T LIVE IN FLORIDA!

[carpetbagger]

40. Has anyone mentioned scorpions yet?

I remember once living in Miami when my father bent over, without realizing what he was picking up, and almost picked up a scorpion.

[notadmblnd]

38. we have chinese water lizards

we feed them meal worms and crickets packed with a product called "gutload". keep the humidity high and spray them down 2x a day with water. so far they're thriving up here in Mich.

[Booberdawg]

41. Ahhh! But they don't live in your house - they are outside. ;-)

:D