I was filling a watering can when I noticed what looked like debris down inside, so I tipped it out and a largely gravid southern alligator lizard (Elgaria multicarinata) literally and loudly plopped out onto the driveway. She looked annoyed and uncomfortable, but I could be pro
jecting my own dismay at the possibility of having harmed her in her delicate state.It's weird: usually I just let the old leaves and what-not float around in the watering can as this detritus just pops out through the spout given sufficient back-pressure. Some intuition caused me to dump the lizard out, otherwise this situation could have been messier.
Maybe the lizard considered the watering can, laying on its side under the Texas Ranger, a likely spot for a nest. Anyway, she blinked a few times then ambled fatly off into a chink in the cottage stones nearby presumably to find a drier and more stable spot to lay her eggs.
3 comments:
I love it! I see so many fence lizards and some of them looking very bulgy like this alligator lizard. I wonder, among my fence lizard friends, why some are dark and smoother and shinier, and others are the usual buff and dark pattern. Are they male and female? Different strain? different stage? they sure all look like fence lizards.
Oh she's quite the super model! Glad she seemed to survive her bath and your intuition kicked in to get her out in time. I'm itching to provide more habitat to attract them to the garden.
We like to use term "eggnant" for lizards in this condition.
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