I ain't makin' this stuff up, folks!

Squash Blossom · Post by **Squash Blossom** » Jul 27, 2006 12:44 pm

Every summer I have at least one funny experience with the wild birds, lizards, or treefrogs around my house. Right on schedule, last Saturday morning I went in the bathroom to take a bath and found a 1" long gecko in the bathtub. It was one of those little milky-white geckos.

As I stood bent over the tub to be sure what I was seeing, the tiny lizard ran down the drain. I instantly grabbed the cover off the drain, thinking maybe the lizard would turnaround and come back out.

Luckily we have two bathrooms...we moved into the hall bathroom for Saturday, Sunday and Monday. The little lizard would venture so far as to peep out of the drain but I cannot describe how quick he was and I couldn't get him to venture out far enough that I could plug the drain hole.

Tuesday morning at 2:30, I went to check the bathtub for the 10-millionth time and old lizard-boy was all the way at the other end of the bathtub. I quickly plugged the hole with a Kleenex, then with a flashlight pointed at the ceiling it was fairly easy to herd the lizard into a plastic Mardi Gras cup.

3:00 A.M. finds me outside in my nightgown, stepping barefooted into a bed of hydrangeas, to release the gecko where I had last seen him before he managed to get in the bathtub. I have an idea that Paul or I one may have given the little guy a ride into the house at some point because the backyard faucet is close by and we're always in that area.

When I got back inside, Paul and the three pugs were all awake...the pugs had to all go outside for a quick sniff and pee, then we all finally go back to bed, until 5:00 A.M. when Paul had to get up for an early golf game.

I was a zombie Tuesday but proud I'd saved a gecko!!

Ann

Motacrazy · Post by **Motacrazy** » Jul 27, 2006 3:19 pm

Kudos to you!

I don't think we have any geckos around here (at least that I've seen,) but we do have some Skinks that I used to see on an old brick home we used to live in.

petal*pusher · Post by **petal*pusher** » Jul 27, 2006 3:24 pm

Good FOR YOU, ann!

Now I can admit stopping the van to move an old box turtle out of the middle of the road last week! Don't see these fellas too often....and this one was pretty old....couldn't chance him getting across on his own!

Thanks for being YOU!......p

Old earth dog · Post by **Old earth dog** » Jul 28, 2006 2:20 am

Very

! Neat little critters.

PeggyC · Post by **PeggyC** » Jul 28, 2006 7:16 am

Awww, good for you! I'm fascinated by the geckos since we don't have them here!

LucyGoose · Post by **LucyGoose** » Jul 28, 2006 7:24 am

Awwwww....

to you!!

Snow · Post by **Snow** » Jul 28, 2006 12:35 pm

I would have done the same thing - good for you! But that picture makes me LOL

sunnydee · Post by **sunnydee** » Jul 28, 2006 8:20 pm

How neat! I have to admit to being a softy when it comes to critters too. I've been known to stop the vehicle for a painted turtle and then go to the store 2 blocks away to get a box to put him in and take him to the creek on the way to our house about 1 mile away. (I had to! He was right beside the grain elevator and they had a ton of semi traffic at that time, I would have felt awful if I had went by the next day only to see him squished

) Though I'm sure it was a site to see since I was in heels and a dress.

My most recent venture was to catch a little pygmy goat that was in the corn field across the road from our house. He was just a little guy and I didn't want him to be a coyote's supper. He now has a good home with some other little pygmy goats.

Found out after the fact who owned him and the people didn't want the "bleeping" thing in the first place their kid brought him home one day. So don't know if he was dumped or not.

Thank you for watching out for God's little critters.

Sunnydee

Ed_B · Post by **Ed_B** » Jul 28, 2006 9:12 pm

Wow Ann

what a good thing you did.

Ed

patsue53 · Post by **patsue53** » Jul 29, 2006 2:14 am

What a sweet story! Good for you for saving that little creature!

Squash Blossom · Post by **Squash Blossom** » Jul 29, 2006 5:22 pm

Sunnydee,

A couple of years ago I went out to walk one of my pugs on leash and I found a gorgeous turtle in the street at the end of our driveway. The only thing I had to put the turtle in was a pooper-scooter bag.

I scooped-up the turtle, tied a knot in the open end of the bag, made a couple of small air holes, and left my parcel outside the back door, intending to finish walking Rosebud then take the turtle to a small bayou about a block from our house.

When I came back home, Paul was in the carport watching the poop-bag slowly making its way back out toward the driveway!!

I'm always getting involved with the craziest "wildlife" situations. Another time a tiny treefrog that had been living outside the back door (and periodically getting on my car windshied) managed to catch a free ride all the way across town with us by hiding down around the windshield wipers.

We came out of choir practice that night, right at dark, and the treefrog was on the windshield again. I knew it was my treefrog and I wasn't about to drive off with it exposed like that and I didn't want to leave it on a huge, hot parking lot.

Naturally the second Paul reached to try to catch it, it jumped probably 6-8 ft. away. SO...we ended-up with probably 4-5 grown men trying to catch a treefrog that was smaller than my little finger. Someone eventually did catch the frog, we put it in an empty coffee can we found in the church kitchen, and the frog went home.

I'll never forget how strong the smell of coffee grounds was in that can when I took the lid off and couldn't help but wonder what the little frog thought had happened to him.

That treefrog stayed here for at least two summers, I'd see him almost every night on the glass of the greenhouse, and he always had a few coffee grounds on his belly.

Ann

Kas · Post by **Kas** » Jul 31, 2006 5:06 pm

Ann, sort of reminds me of my treefrog story. When I was a little girl, I always had some sort of critter in the house. One of them was a grey treefrog I kept in my terrarium. Well, he got out one day and was gone for a couple of days. I thought he was a gonner. My poor dad. He put up with so much from us. One night he got up to go to the bathroom. On the floor was this giant dust bunny. He picked it up and threw it into the garbage can. He just about had a heart attack when the dust bunny jumped back out!

And that is how we found my frog. We rinsed him off and my mom made me let him go. She was afraid we might not find him next time. Or maybe that she would become a widow after Daddy's coronary! He survived that one and them mouse crawling on him in the dead of night and my rabbit does burrowing and birthing under the foundation of the house. The list goes on!

kas

rakenleafs · Post by **rakenleafs** » Aug 25, 2006 6:54 pm

I just read this thread, you guys have me laughing so hard... crawling poopbags, hopping dustbunnies..
and Ann.. I love your sign, I
will make and leave signs all over my house, DH wants to know who the signs are for since there are only three of us here...
So Ann... were you expecting a stranger to stop by and take a bath without asking?

Fran

Linda P · Post by **Linda P** » Sep 09, 2006 9:03 am

Great stories, Ann and everyone. Fran, I'd have to make the sign to remind myself not to use it. My friend and I stopped along the road to rescue a snapping turtle once. That involves a bit of care. Fortunately, we had a box in the back to put him in while we found a better place than along the gravel road.
We are always doing things like that, too.
Linda P