# A lizard just showed up at my office! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 8, 2004, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lizard-just-showed-up-at-my-office/273721 "2004-11-08T21:19:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lizard-just-showed-up-at-my-office/273721/1 "2004-11-08T21:19:39Z")
So there’s a potted flowering plant on someone’s desk that’s been in here for about a month (the plant that is) and just a few minutes ago there was quite a commotion over in that part of the building. Being the resident creepy crawly control person, I went over to see what was amiss. Well no kidding, here’s this little tiny lizard! It just crawled off of the plant! It’s maybe 5cm long from nose to tail, and light brown with dark markings. It dosen’t appear to be a chameleon, the head isn’t shaped right. It’s just a tiny little lizard, which is something you just don’t see every day in Carol Stream Illinois. The plant was delivered by a floral service as a gift. Anyway, how cool is that? It totally just made my day. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Caprese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9a28c/32.png) [@Caprese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caprese)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lizard-just-showed-up-at-my-office/273721/2 "2004-11-08T21:23:14Z")
That is really cool! It would have made my day, too. I love lizards. 🙂 One day I was at the garden store and someone found a tiny pale green frog clinging to a tropical plant. Apparently they qet quite a few, and one of the kids who works there takes them home and does a good job caring for them. Makes you realize, though, how certain species can end up in the wrong place. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lizard-just-showed-up-at-my-office/273721/3 "2004-11-08T21:34:22Z")
We used to have frogs visit us on our back porch but the last couple of years they’ve been replaced by little green lizards. They’re the cool ones with that _displaying peacock_ of throat thing. Backlit by the sun, they’re a thing to behold. ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lizard-just-showed-up-at-my-office/273721/4 "2004-11-08T21:36:01Z")
Actually, he’s trying to save you lots of money on your car insurance. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lizard-just-showed-up-at-my-office/273721/5 "2004-11-08T21:37:19Z")
Yeah, you didn’t happen to see a white & green van with “GEICO” emblazened on the sides, did you? ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lizard-just-showed-up-at-my-office/273721/6 "2004-11-08T21:37:24Z")
Are you going to take it home? Take care of it? I would love one! That’s what I asked for my birthday (well, a gecko) ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lizard-just-showed-up-at-my-office/273721/7 "2004-11-08T21:38:24Z")
The plant (in case anyone is wondering) is a Peace Lilly, aka Spathiphyllum, but I’m having little success in determining where they are grown, for a hint on where my little lizard buddy came from. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lizard-just-showed-up-at-my-office/273721/8 "2004-11-08T22:07:05Z")
One of my friends here at work had a mouse show up in one of the potted plants in her office. We’re not sure how it got in there, but it wasn’t a new potted plant AFAIK. She screamed and went to work in another office for the day, while the maintenance people set out mousetraps. They put the mousetraps in manila envelopes so nobody would have to see any dead mice :eek: ---
**Author:** ![lavenderviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cdc98d/32.png) [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lizard-just-showed-up-at-my-office/273721/9 "2004-11-09T03:35:26Z")
Try googling for images of the brown anole. Anoles seem to be the most common lizards to hitch a ride on houseplants. I saw one in the houseplant section at Home Depot once but sadly he ran away before I could figure out how to catch him. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lizard-just-showed-up-at-my-office/273721/10 "2004-11-09T08:59:47Z")
Make sure you leave out some water, because they dehydrate very quickly, especially if you have air-conditioning. ---
**Author:** ![Lizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@Lizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lizard)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lizard-just-showed-up-at-my-office/273721/11 "2004-11-11T02:46:20Z")
This is funny, because the other day I had a dream I was standing next to a tree inside a gigantic white room, while giant peopl were walking around me. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lizard-just-showed-up-at-my-office/273721/12 "2004-11-11T04:17:32Z")
Better your office than in [your airline meal…](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=283911) :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lizard-just-showed-up-at-my-office/273721/13 "2004-11-11T04:30:39Z")
Hmpf. All I ever got in my houseplants were fruit flies. I love lizards too, but they’re not exactly local fauna up in Montreal. Which is too bad - I’d rather see a lizard scramble up a tree, instead of a squirrel. If your new friend gets loose, will there any problem? We all remember the episode of the Simpsons with the frog escaping into the Australian wilderness… ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lizard-just-showed-up-at-my-office/273721/14 "2004-11-11T14:23:07Z")
I’m sad to announce that my little mystery lizard pulled a Yasser Arafat this morning. His little body had gone stiff when I checked on him. ☹ I have had lizards before, so he was set up in a nice little tank. I’d given him an array of foods to choose from, being that I don’t know what the hell he was (I decided it was a he) or what he would like. Normally I’d have gone with crickets, but crickets seemed a might too big for him yet. He was happily going to town on the fruit I cut up last night though. I’d hoped he would make it, but I never really expected it based on my experiance with baby iguanas. Baby lizards are as fragile as snowflakes. Rest in peace my little reptillian adventurer. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lizard-just-showed-up-at-my-office/273721/15 "2004-11-11T15:28:57Z")
Aww, that’s too bad! I love the lizards that live under our porch: [http://www.herpsofnc.org/herps\_of\_NC/lizards/Eum\_fas.html](http://www.herpsofnc.org/herps_of_NC/lizards/Eum_fas.html) They are very pretty. I just hope the dogs don’t ever catch one. ---
**Author:** ![SEASPINE97](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/22d042/32.png) [@SEASPINE97](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SEASPINE97)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lizard-just-showed-up-at-my-office/273721/16 "2004-11-11T18:53:42Z")
I was going to try to say something snappy about your little lizard, but after hearing he went to the tropical plant store in the sky decided a little decorum would be in order. Sorry to hear the little bugger died, I hate to lose animals, even a “found” pet like the little lizard. Perhaps to cheer up you should order a plant from the same service to see if you could get another little lizard… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_chao_goes_mu/32/3191_2.png) [@The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Chao_Goes_Mu)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lizard-just-showed-up-at-my-office/273721/17 "2004-11-11T18:54:48Z")
You mean you just switched to Geico? ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lizard-just-showed-up-at-my-office/273721/18 "2004-11-11T19:18:01Z")
> [@Cluricaun](#): > > I’m sad to announce that my little mystery lizard pulled a Yasser Arafat this morning. With all the other lizards launching a mortar attack and his widow claiming he wasn’t dead? I was suprised to see the gecko back on our window the other day. The weather has cooled a bit but he was up there eating moths that gather at night. I like the cute way his little toes splay out. My cat thinks he’d taste good but it agitates the heck out of her since she can’t get though the glass so I always have to clean her pawprints off the top of my monitor and the window.