(Photo from the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service website. Photo courtesy of: Father Alejandro Sánchez Muñoz)
I know that there are worst things to find in your home here in Central America. And in reality, I'm not complaining.
I actually enjoy lizards, anoli, geckos and iguanas. I find them mesmerizing to watch when they are on the hunt. Their quick tail lashes back and forth like a coiled whip as it spots its prey and it's incredible to see how they move. However, I should be clear that I do NOT have an iguana in my house. THAT would give me an immediate heart attack. Not that they do harm to more than their favorite leafy plants, but they can get to be VERY big. I saw one, not too many days ago that was three and a half feet long.
We frequently have geckos and anoli almost inconspicuously living with us. I think they're great...when they're outside or on the opposite side of my screened windows, going after moths and other flying insects that might otherwise be dive-bombing me while I cook or read.
To prove this, I actually had a pet anolis when I was 9 years old. I would sit next to his terrarium staring at him and watching every move he made. I was especially fascinated with watching him hunt. I was always amazed at how fast he'd strike and would watch him slowly swallow down what I had brought him. I used to run around our ample yard in the country searching out his meals: cabbage butterflies, small ants, grasshoppers and small spiders. I named him Elliott, after my 4th grade crush, who was actually a short, stocky, rather square boy who had a fantastic sense of humor and an even more fantastic belly laugh.
His namesake, was about 4 inches long, skinny, green...or brown, depending on what he sat upon at the moment and never once did I hear him laugh.
Sad to say, on the morning of October 7th 1994, my dad and I mourned his death and buried him later in the afternoon in the garden in a green Winchester bullet box, padded with paper toweling.
So when I see a gecko or anolis on the hunt, I have to stop and watch.
However, matters change somewhat when I become aware of the presence of these little marvels INSIDE my house. They like to leave little "tokens" in random places throughout the house to announce their presence. I find these tiny white-tipped black pellets just about anywhere. Today, I found two in the guest bathroom shower, and two on the back of my new refrigerator.
What these little tokens mean is that, at any moment that I am not paying attention, I could very well end up squishing one under my foot, or vacuuming one up while I'm cleaning. But more than anything it means that, at some point during the next weeks, I may have a tremendous scare when one scurries out of some corner.
This happened twice. Yesterday, I almost squished a big black spider in my kitchen. It turned out to be a baby anolis. I met it's older sibling this morning when I was cleaning, attached to the back of the refrigerator, along with the two aforementioned "tokens". And two weeks ago, I found a dead, thoroughly dried out gecko UNDER MY BED!!!
(Photo from http://photos.wildmadagascar.org/images/gecko_ftdau_0011.shtml)
I find that geckos make me shiver a little more than anoli. The geckos here are flesh-toned or like a peach-colored eraser. But they are slightly translucent, so you can see their vital organs if they are backlit. They SOUND like a gummy eraser when they fall to the floor after being chased around the vertical walls or the ceiling with a long broom. (Don't ask me how I know these things.) And never once have they given me a car insurance quote.
I will not cause a fuss about these little creatures as long as they help me get rid of the spiders and other winged bugs that I find a nuisance. But the moment I find them in my bed, near my food or waiting for me in the bathroom, I'm moving back home.
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