Yard lizards can be trained to eat out of your hand
(click here for a picture http://members.ij.net/rex/lizard.jpg).
With enough training, they will climb up a lawn chair,
jump in your lap and stare at you until you give them their favorite
treat:
mealworms.
Mealworms are available at most pet shops that sell s****s, iguanas
and other reptiles. The worms are sold in small plastic containers and
they
can be kept in the refrigerator for a month, where the worms stay dormant.
Mealworms make great conversation starters on salads. Be sure to ask for
the smallest mealworms, about half an inch maximum length. Yard lizards,
formally known as anoles (a-NO-lees), can't eat big mealworms. Lizards
also
will eat live crickets; however, crickets jump about and are difficult to
use
in training.
To begin training, sit on the ground in an area where the lizards sun
themselves
and watch humans. If the mealworms have been refrigerated, let them warm
up
to reach maximum wiggliness. Wiggliness excites lizards.
Start by tossing the worms near the lizards and sit still while the lizard
watches the worm wiggle and then rushes over to grab
it. Then try placing the worms nearer to you, slowly closing the
distance. Eventually, hold a wiggling worm in your fingers and lay
your hand on the ground. Next, move on up to placing a wiggling worm
on your forearm while laying your hand on the ground to serve as a
staircase, so that the lizard can crawl up the arm to take the worm.
Some lizards are easier to train (hungrier) than others. I have
been in yards where the lizards could be coaxed to take a worm from
the hand in one sitting. In other yards, the lizards were skittish and
required multiple sessions. The very act of tossing a worm will scare
away some lizards. In such yards, a worm can be slowly placed about one
yard from a lizard, and within clear eyeshot of the lizard. The human
should
back off to let the lizard approach.
Soon, lizards will be happy to see you come outside, and will
approach you and other humans. You can call to them and they will come
trotting over like little dachshunds. They will chase each other and
fight each other to get your worms. They will perform peculiar
territorial dances wherein two lizards will circle each other
repeatedly with their tails rhythmically curling. They will do other
crude things for your viewing pleasure. A carefully placed mirror can
also prompt lizards to engage in displays to their own reflections.
So, if your child says he wants a new pet, just buy him a box
of mealworms open the back door and say "knock yourself out, kiddo!"
(Rex Curry is a Tampa lawyer who knows a thing or two about
reptiles.) This was printed in the Tampa Tribune.
for more ideas on Florida and the environment see
http://members.ij.net/rex/comindex.html
http://rexcurry.net
Rex Curry
rexy@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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