There’s a lizard holed up in my house. It’s in a sunken room (yes, the house was built in the 70s) so I don’t think it can get out by itself. I’d like to get it out before it dies in there, but so far it’s eluded me. There are a number of things for it to hide under. Short of clearing out all the furniture, is there a way to trap it, so I can get it back out into the garden where it belongs?
Here’s an interesting idea for a cheap trap:
If you can chase it about, then you can probably make a trap that looks like a place of refuge. Maybe a cardboard box with a slit along the edge that sits on the floor - placed in the junction of floor and wall, the idea would be to chase it and have it run into the dark space thinking that it is escaping you.
The box can then be picked up, the slit blocked with your arm or a board, and carried outside.
Borrow a cat.
Nice ideas. I have a cardboard box with a few pieces of crumbled newspapers set up now. I figure if I can chase it in there, I can quickly tilt it up, then dump the whole thing outside. It’s not hiding where I thought it was though, so now it’s a waiting game.
I like the lizard/minnow trap idea, but I don’t have a bottle like that, and I’m not in love with the idea of catching bugs to bait it with. It might come to that though. The little guy is probably getting hungry by now.
Bear in mind it can probably walk up the inside surface of the box - tilting it will not contain the lizard for long - you’ll need a way to close it.
If this is a species that can climb the walls of a cardboard box, why is it still trapped in a sunken room?
It may not want to get out. The spider that lives behind the pedestal of my bathroom washbasin is capable of leaving the room, but chooses not to.
Once I had a snake in my house. I was told the best way to catch it was to use a sticky trap. Then stick the trap and snake into a bucket of ice water until the snake chilled out, so to speak. Then use vegetable oil to release it from the trap.
yeah, that was going to happen.
Unique up on it.
Well, the thing has disappeared. I tried rousting it out from under the chair where I thought it was hiding, and it wasn’t there. I hope it found its way out, but more likely it’s starved to death in some corner. Poor little guy.
Because claws. The room is covered in hard tile and it can’t get traction. The stucco walls outside are easy for lizards. They sit there sunning themselves just they’re sitting on flat ground. I don’t know if it could climb out of a box, but I only would have needed it to stay in there about ten seconds for the journey outside.