# A lizard in my back room **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 10, 2011, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lizard-in-my-back-room/605684 "2011-12-10T01:05:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/e19adc/32.png) [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2011, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lizard-in-my-back-room/605684/21 "2011-12-10T07:05:40Z")
They like to burrow - so if he hasn’t returned from whence he came, he may have found something nice in which to hide. Like a pile of clothes. Or under a bean bag\*. Or his new abode is in that giant mound of soil you put in the back room and forgot about. Blue tongues are territorial. So he’ll want to be getting back home. Maybe after a beer. \*That would be terrifying. Seeing a bean bag I mean; not the finding of a lizard under it. ---
**Author:** ![Ibanez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a4c791/32.png) [@Ibanez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibanez)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2011, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lizard-in-my-back-room/605684/22 "2011-12-10T07:46:36Z")
Treat it the same way you treat in-laws. Give it 3 days to leave on its own, after that kick its ass out to the curb. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2011, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lizard-in-my-back-room/605684/23 "2011-12-11T18:18:14Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Have an army man blow him up with dynamite and then ship his ass to El Salvador. Well, that’s pretty neat… yeah it’s fuckin’ nifty. That’s what you get for heading back to Australia, but at least you found the least deadly life form there. Stay away from its mouth if you do grab it (and it looks like a long neck, which means it could reach far around), and don’t grab it by the tail. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2011, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lizard-in-my-back-room/605684/24 "2011-12-11T20:16:19Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > I’ve checked in a couple of sources, and (despite being a native Australian animal) it’s not dangerous at all. But I now can’t see it at all: it may still be hiding where I can’t see it, since I don’t think it’s escaped. I thought you grew up in Australia. Haven’t you ever seen a blue-tongue before? We used to catch them all the time when i was a kid, along with [bearded dragons](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pogona). If you want to move it outside, you should be able to grab it just about at the forelegs with one hand, and further down the body with your other hand so you don’t injure it. Don’t crush the legs; give them a place to protrude between your fingers. As long as your top hand is just behind the neck, it shouldn’t be able to turn and bite you. They are completely harmless, and can’t injure you in any significant way, but a bite on the finger can be a little bit painful as their jaws are pretty strong. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2011, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lizard-in-my-back-room/605684/25 "2011-12-11T20:21:02Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Well, that’s pretty neat… yeah it’s fuckin’ nifty. In case you didn’t recognize them, they’re the lyrics to a Dead Milkmen song, _Big Lizard in my Backyard_. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2011, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lizard-in-my-back-room/605684/26 "2011-12-11T20:23:35Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > In case you didn’t recognize them, they’re the lyrics to a Dead Milkmen song, _Big Lizard in my Backyard_. I just came in to post [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5k68Uz3w3x8). 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2011, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lizard-in-my-back-room/605684/27 "2011-12-11T21:48:00Z")
I’m not all horny for reptiles, but they don’t bother me, in general. I’d let it find its way out by itself. Joe ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lizard-in-my-back-room/605684/28 "2011-12-12T00:45:04Z")
I’d like to say keep it- but it’s actually illegal to keep wild caught ones, and you even need a license to buy one [cite](http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/wildlifelicences/GettingAReptileKeepersLicence.htm) Try and trap it, and release it somewhere a little way away; they generally like hot spots, especially in the morning. I’ve worked with them in a zoo in the UK. Alternatively, that site also has a list of people licensed to catch and release reptiles- [here](http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/wildlifelicences/reptilehandlerlist.pdf) (PDF warning). Oh, and if you kill it- yourself, or get a neighbour’s pet to do it, I will personally fly over and slap you silly with a wet haddock. They’re lovely little lizards. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lizard-in-my-back-room/605684/29 "2011-12-12T01:26:49Z")
I’d probably wait till he goes outside then shut the door on him. It won’t have anything to eat in the house so it will (at the very least) need to go outside to hunt. If it has found a nice spot in the house it will want to stay there and just commute in and out every day, but that may not be practical ie if you close all doors and go away for a while what’s he going to do? They are quite persistent commuters. We had one about 50% bigger than yours at our previous house who would make a regular daily trip from almost one end of our block to the other, presumably to go from its favoured sleeping spot to its favoured eating or sunning spot. And as someone said above, they are territorial and they really, really don’t like being uprooted once they have chosen a spot. I had a pile of wood and junk and dirt in our yard from when I renovated a shed. A few months after the renovation I found the time to clean up the pile. There was a large bluetongue in residence. He _really_ didn’t want to go. Long after my removal of 90% of the junk should have made it clear to him that, sadly, his home was gone he just stayed in the spot hissing at me and glaring at me and showing me his tongue and chomping on my boots while I removed the final 10%. Poor fella. Anyway, plenty of other spots in the garden for him to go to. They luuurve snails. Put one in front of him and watch it vanish. I used to feed them to a monster blue tongue that lived under a retaining wall when I was a kid. I’d put one down a foot or so outside the crack in which he lived and a few seconds later (presumably by smell) he’d know to come out and grab it. ---
**Author:** ![BeaMyra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@BeaMyra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeaMyra)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lizard-in-my-back-room/605684/30 "2011-12-12T09:35:27Z")
So you all say they are harmless but they can bite you and cause pain? That to me isn’t harmless. It’s like saying, let the bed bugs stay because they don’t spread disease, they just make you itch. Ewww to bed bugs and ewww to lizards. Unless the lizard is eating the bed bugs 🙂 Wikipedia redirects blue tongued lizard to blue tongued skink > **[Blue-tongued skink](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue-tongued_skink)** > > Eight extant, see text. > Trachydosaurus > Blue-tongued skinks comprise the Australasian genus Tiliqua, which contains some of the largest members of the skink family (Scincidae). They are commonly called blue-tongued lizards or simply blue-tongues or blueys in Australia or panana in Indonesia. As suggested by these common names, a prominent characteristic of the genus is a large blue tongue that can be bared as bluff-warning to potential enemies. Their tongue can also deform itself and produce a... hey are relatively large lizards (up to 45 cm total length), light-bodied, short-limbed, broad > [@](#): > > with a distinct head and dull teeth. (45cm = 17.72 inches) ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lizard-in-my-back-room/605684/31 "2011-12-12T10:10:50Z")
> [@BeaMyra](#): > > So you all say they are harmless but they can bite you and cause pain? That to me isn’t harmless. Well, cats can bite you and cause pain, but I still regard them as harmless to human beings. (But not to small rodents and birds.) ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lizard-in-my-back-room/605684/32 "2011-12-12T17:48:42Z")
Where is the option to scream and run? ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lizard-in-my-back-room/605684/33 "2011-12-12T18:39:52Z")
> [@BeaMyra](#): > > So you all say they are harmless but they can bite you and cause pain? That to me isn’t harmless. It’s like saying, let the bed bugs stay because they don’t spread disease, they just make you itch. Analogy fail. And i meant harmless in the bigger picture sense. Yes, if they get your finger in their mouth it stings a bit, but the worst case scenario is one where you pull your hand back quickly and shake it for a couple of seconds, then forget about it. There is no venom, and (at least in my experience) they don’t even break the skin, so there’s almost no chance of infection; it’s basically like a sharp pinch. In the world of Australian wildlife, that’s damn near friendly. ---
**Author:** ![ShelliBean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@ShelliBean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShelliBean)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lizard-in-my-back-room/605684/34 "2011-12-12T20:13:45Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I just came in to post [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5k68Uz3w3x8). 😉 Dammit y’all, I thought I was going to saunter in and be original. As for lizard poop - I think it’s safe to say that, since you are in NSW, it probably contains the shoes of toddlers and remains of infant jewelry. ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lizard-in-my-back-room/605684/35 "2011-12-12T21:36:19Z")
I’m just going to say to those who find random lizards in their houses: _You are so f-ing lucky._ This winterized Canadian would think it’s the coolest thing in the world. Hell, I get all excited about seeing green anoles when I visit Florida. I’m going to agree with the other posters who say just leave him alone until he leaves on his own accord. But first take pics. “When come back, bring pics.” ---
**Author:** ![Jamodu\_Green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Jamodu\_Green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamodu_Green)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lizard-in-my-back-room/605684/36 "2011-12-15T10:48:14Z")
A couple of years ago, a friend of mine called me over to get one out of her house. They aren’t poisonous, but I thought a bite would require me to get a tetanus booster or might lead to an infection. I threw an old towel over the lizard as a precaution, then picked up the lizard and put it in a box. I took the box outside, put it on its side and let the lizard walk away at its own leisure. More recently, my dogs killed one in the backyard. I wouldn’t recommend getting a neighbour’s cat or dog – they would probably do the same. Not only would a harmless and beneficial animal die, you would have to clean up the mess. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lizard-in-my-back-room/605684.md?page=1)