So's...

[Lilith]

my kid, the cute one, comes home and says, " I saw this BIG lizard as I was walking home. "

I says, " yeah I hate those..."

He says, "the kind with the throat thing"

I says, " yeah those fat skinks with the throat that puffs out. "

He says, " come see it, it's really big"

I casually stroll out to the front yard professing it to be a skink and that he knows I don't care for slimey scaley squirmy things, so I'm not getting near it. And he better not pick it up and chase me with it.

I get out to the road and hanging over the curb all I see is a tail....

[Lilith]

The half naked dude is my neighbor who just happens to be a snake guy. The thing weighs at least 15 pounds he says.

I think the neighbors who moved, abandoned him :(

[flutelady]

What's a skink? Do we have them in California??

[Lilith]

skinks are tiny 8" long lizards but bigger than the little green ones

[Lilith]

http://fwie.fw.vt.edu/VHS/Southeastern%20Five-lined%20Skink%20(Eumeces%20inexpectatus).JPG

http://www.herpnet.net/Iowa-Herpetology/images/Lizards/skink_young_02_03.jpg

[WildIrish]

I can almost hear the urgency in your voice as you search him out...

[PantyFanatic]

skinks are tiny 8" long lizards but bigger than the little green ones
:rofl:

[Winston77]

Lilith you just love chasing any kind of tail

[Lilith]

Well hell if they wag it in front of me like that

[Kaelynn]

Holy CRAP I have never seen one that Big!!! I can't believe the neighbor even came to pick it up... Lilth... seriously how could you stand even close enough to get a picture, I would turn kicking and screaming and run far far away... How old is your kid? I think it might have been able to swallow him whole.

Ok is it just me or can there be a lot of sexual inuendos up there?? Not that I meant them mind you... just typing as the thoughts come to me. Dang I have been around pixies too often... lol

[Steph]

EEK! Your neighbour has bigger balls than me (you know what I mean)!!! I would not have stuck around to take a photo. SCARY!

[Lilith]

I didn't take the pic :D

His wife took it for me. I was on my porch by the time I figured out wtf it was and that it was as big as my kiddo.

[Lilith]

oh he's a vegetarian from what I was told....he's been hand raised for a long time. I'm worried he'd have starved or gotten hit by a car.

[WildIrish]

EEK! Your neighbour has bigger balls than me (you know what I mean)!!! I would not have stuck around to take a photo. SCARY!


:D


Aren't I just the keeper of the wav's today? lmao

[Booger]

EEK! Your neighbour has bigger balls than me (you know what I mean)!!! I would not have stuck around to take a photo. SCARY!

quick sneeks in before PF can

Sure Steph we know what you mean

[fzzy]

knowing next to nothing about these things .... but having a friend who has 3 pet Iguana's .... is that what that big bad boy is? :)

[Lilith]

Yes I believe it is an Iguana. The wrangler estimated him at 15 pounds minimum and said he looked great. We called the St Francis Wildlife recovery peeps but I don't know if they came to get him yet.

[cowgirltease]

Yeah that's an Iguana. My daughter had one but NOT NEAR that darn big!!!!!! :faint:
BTW ........Not a bad lookin neighbor. ;) :hot:

[thereIam]

oh he's a vegetarian from what I was told....he's been hand raised for a long time. I'm worried he'd have starved or gotten hit by a car.

Yeah. Or shot multiple times with a 30.06. Damn, that's one helluva lizard.

Where is the Taco Bell chihuahua when ya need him?

[Lilith]

We found out he loves Romaine :p and hates Irish Setters :eek:

[gekkogecko]

Lilith is right, it's *not* a skink, it's an iguana (Iguana iguana). A medium (and yes, I do mean a medium) sized male, in full breeding colors.

Lilith, he was probably waiting around to latch on to you and have his way. Of course, I can understand the attraction. :sex:

If, by the time you read this, he's still around, please don't feed him romaine. Yes, iguanas are vegetarians, but a far better food for them is collard greens; other things that are good for iguanas are turnip greens, if you can get them, dandelion greens (yes, the ones you can collect them from your yard, if you avoid pesticides and herbicides). Avoid spinach, broccoli, kale-these are goiterogenic. I could actually talk your ear off about how to care for the iguana, this is what I do IRL. PM me if you want more info.

And yes, the other photo you provided was of a skink-there are numerous species of skink, distributed around the world. The pictured one is specifically, a juvenile five-lined skink. BTW, most of the skinks don't have throat fans or dewlaps-the ones that do and are commonly to florida are anoles.

This :sex: concludes :sex: today's :sex: biology :sex: lesson.

[Lilith]

The man across the street works for DEP and is a snake breeder, well known in our area to be the snake dude. He has some frogs and lizards too. He is keeping his warm and moist and I have my first squash on the vine and thought I'd sacrifice it to the cause. We're waiting for the lizard to get picked up by some peeps that can give him a good check up and find him a LARGE and stable home. One that isn't mine :D

[cowgirltease]

[QUOTE=gekkogecko]Avoid spinach, broccoli, kale-these are goiterogenic.

Damn I didn't know that! No wonder mine died. :(
He was broccoli crazy. :spin:

[imaginewithme]

:yikes: :yikes:

[Oldfart]

Your largest skink over there is the Gila Monster.

Ours is the Blue-Tongued lizard at about the same size without the venom or the

black and yellow colour scheme.

[rabbit]

LOL...hey Lil, your experience reminds me of a story back when we lived in Miami. My wife was in our backyard doing some gardening underneath a large avocado tree. Suddenly, a foot long green lizard drops out of the tree and onto her back. She screamed so fucking loud that the lizard jumped down and ran like lightning for the bushes.

Seemed kinda large for an anole lizard, common in south Florida....


rabbit

[gekkogecko]

Rabbit-could have been a knight anole, they're typically green, with whitish undersides. Maximum length is around a food (total).

They're not-too-distant relatives of the common anole (aka carolina anole), and yes, they have populations in south Florida.

[gekkogecko]

Lilith,

as a teacher, you may enjoy these web pages:

http://tolweb.org/onlinecontributors/app?service=external/ViewTreehouse&sp=l2488

[Lilith]

Thank you! I am a huge proponent of using technology in the classroom and sites like that allow for a tremendous integration opportunity!

[rabbit]

Rabbit-could have been a knight anole, they're typically green, with whitish undersides. Maximum length is around a food (total).

They're not-too-distant relatives of the common anole (aka carolina anole), and yes, they have populations in south Florida.

Thanks for the heads up...sounds like our lizard!

:p

[denny]

We had the blue tailed variety where I grew up in the south, but haven't seen any here in SoCal.
What's a skink? Do we have them in California??

[denny]

With just a little research I found there is a western skink that extends from the central valley down through baja. Go figure!

[Loulabelle]

Wow Lil...the only thing I know about Iguanas is that they can attack women when they're on their period.....can be pretty vicious apparently.

Seems incredibly irresponsible just to let one go free, like that....are you sure he didn't escape while the people were trying to move him? Perhaps they want him back.......

Did I tell you about the tiny tiny baby lizard that hitched a ride in our suitcase back from Italy last year? In the end we caught it and took it to a rescue place about an hour from us....I was going to e-mail the guy to see if the little thing survived, but I've been too chicken, in case I find out that the little fellow died.

[Lilith]

I confronted the neighbor...she said she had "found it, it's not her's but it's a vegetarian and just eats fruits" I just pointed out to her that she was sending it to certain death and that she could have simply put a free ad in the paper.

[gekkogecko]

Loulabelle:

Iguanas have aquite wide range of reactions to humans. Juvenile iguanas are usually (usually) quite skittish. But iguana puberty can be absolute hell...particularly the males, though not only the males, get very agressive when they first go through sexual maturity.In most cases, the agression is sesonal, and tends to moderate as they get older. But yeah, there are quate a large number of male iguanas that have been known to trail their women owners and/or try to latch on to mate with them when said owners are having their period.

In general: iguanas are not originally native to Florida, but escaped or "released" former pets have established feral and wild populations in portions of Florida, particularly the southern portions. On a couple of the keys, there's quite a problem, as they like to munch people's gardens.

If you know someone that wants to off-load a pet animal, please direct them *not* to release the animal. It isn't "humane", in places other than Florida, (and even for the most part, even in Flroida) it will lead to the slow death of the animal, and also in the vast majority of places it is flat-out illegal. Direct them to a reptile rescue agency, or local humane society shelter.