Cat 1, Gecko 0...

Just the other night I was on the phone with my Mom and we were dicussing confined-to-uber-small-apartment-kitty-boredom and pest control.

Aya's been doing a good job of keeping the giant tropical cockroaches and all other six-legged critters under control.

We humorously discussed me going to the pet shop and gifting her with a white mousy or two. Then my mom asked if I still had geckos in my apartment. I replied that I'd evicted the last one shortly before I found Aya 18 months ago and haven't seen any since but they'd probably make good cat entertainment since they move very fast. We were speculating about how long they would last vs. a very attentive cat. I never find bugs in my apartment anymore, least not live ones as she spots them all befor eI know they are there.

Well, lo and behold that night after talking to her I'm sitting on the toilet in the B-room. I always leave the door open as I live alone and Aya likes to drink from the b-room sink while I'm on it. I look out into the hall and there is a 2" long gecko sitting in the middle of the floor in the hallway, about 4 feet from where Aya is happily munching her kibble.

The gecko disappeared into my shoes before she saw it. Well, he reappeared tonight, and before I even noticed, she'd got him. She was having a plast playing with the dead carcass all over the apartment. All I found later were 'gecko bits', a head and an arm. I guess she ate the rest of him?...

He lasted less than a day.

But do you have any poisonous little lizards around there?

In florida we have to types of tiny frogs. One of which is deadly if a cat ingests it. The other the kids never managed to eat becasue once they get it in their mouths there's an irrtating substance on their skin that makes their mouths burn and they salivate like mad. After picking one up I've seen them gag, hack and whine. I'm hoping they never find the deadly type.

Our little Florida lizards. Doomed. Tthey're a great toy and apparently harmless.

I found a tiny, tiny snake in the living room this morning. Not much bigger than a large worm. Dead but uneaten.

I worry about the catching and eating...ahem..Palmetto Bugs. They've downed a few that come out on the pool deck at night without any apparent problem but I worry about the diseases they carry.

Yay for Aya!! What a good little hunter girl!

Geckos never have a chance in my house. My girls don't practice "catch and release"!

We've had two little lizards in the house in the last week, Dottie tells me. One she managed to shoo out, but the other somebody found and frolicked nearly to death. Dottie put it outside; I hope it survived. They seem to be able to take a real beating and survive.

We don't have many lizards around here (too bad - I love them!!), but I found the absolute tiniest frog I have ever seen on the floor a couple weeks ago. I mean, he was so feakin' small I thought he was a cricket at first, until I saw him hop with his froggy legs. I didn't want Holland to kill him, so I trapped him and took him outside.

I wanted to get a picture of him, but my camera battery was dead. I found this image on google, though, which is about what he looked like: