Enjoying morning tea with the newly named “Blue” Curly Tail Skink

My front vestibule lizard went missing for 2 days and nights and during that recent long cold rain. I feared she sought refuge under the plastic tarp covering our roofers garbage pile. They’d come to pick up trash as the rain had newly commenced and that began the 2 days / nights without her. I feared she was hauled off to the dump. If I didn’t see her by yesterday I was going to the dump today to call for her…. as she was also an expectant 1st time momma having been bred this year by another friend, “Groovy Movie,” whom I rescued from a flooded parking lot after seeing a movie at lake worth post-hurricane.

Anyway her tummy is skinny so she obviously went off to have her babies …bearing live young in a cold rain! At least it wasn’t after being mangled in the refuse-dumping and where I might not ever find her to help her or see her again.

This is one of my best friends amongst 5-6 lizards I’m pretty tight w in the yard. She being my front vestibule lizard just puts us together for many hrs daily as front vestibule is my preferred hang-out spot. She comes out every time I’m out here…. and three day’s ago came out to my truck when I came home from grocery shopping. This is what began her going missing for 2 days.

I hadn’t named her like the others as she just always shows up and never needed calling. When at my truck unloading groceries, she spooked when a friend my mom and I have in common was visiting and came out to greet me/ help unload groceries. The lizard went left instead of right bringing her away from her territory of my front vestibule.

Some think it’s crazy that I was going to go to the dump and just start calling out ” blueberries…. blueberries” since she had no name but announcing blueberries is a daily ritual of sharing tea and blueberries. I would attempt to retrieve her by calling out “blueberries” and somehow then coax her into my Jeep to come back home.

I knew all the while there was the possibility she’d gone off to bear her first babies. But the coincidences of the tarp-covered trash pile, cold rain and displacement were too real and with potential hardship for her to not put my focus there.

I had just put this relationship into perspective to Layla, the friend in-common, who was amazed that this wild lizard came out to my truck and followed me back and forth.;

“So many folks have pet lizards either small & living in terrariums or large ones walking loose around the house. Lizards are quite personable and folks form tight bonds with these pets. My “pet” lizards were born and will stay wild being the only difference, but without compromising the bond. The only added extraordinary element is the initial befriending of a wild animal. “

“My viewpoint here is that having had both store-bought small lizards that I housed in my terrarium and in latter life befriending wild ones is that my heart is happiest seeing them live their lives fully & in freedom.” I added, “ I revel in watching the family dynamics. This is particularly true of the first skink friend I made in my yard that I named “Curly Tail” and his unusual and awe inspiring paternal instincts. Every year he and his wife split up the children and each rearing roughly 5 -7 young & for much longer than the scientists claim they will. “Curly Tail” still provides fatherly support for a now yearling daughter “Samantha” that only has 3 legs. He’s gone through another breeding season this year w new babies already on the ground…. But still spends his days w three-legged “Samantha.” It’s much more enriching to me to know them in this way…. and without doubt much more enriching for him to live this way.”

One of “Curly-Tail’s” juvenile offspring from last year and infant front this year

We all want the best for our animal friends and will go many extra miles for them. Having my degree in Wilflife Biology makes me respect these animals highly, enjoy their interpersonal dynamics, relate their experiences to those of us humans and mostly enjoy seeing them live full, natural & happy lives…. With the occasional potential rescue mission at the trash dump to aid a good friend!

I’m writing today’s article to celebrate them all but in honor of the newly named “Blue” (short for Blueberry) who’s now home where she belongs.

❌⭕️❤️🦎

july 2, 2022 update in form of text reply to a new friend and lizard lover

(Photo to come)

This looks like a little girl to me vs a little boy. If she can take video where I get side view and front view as well as the back / or top of her I can be sure. She’s not full grown and I estimate from this still photo she’s a 1-3yr old this year.

Ask if she was just fat and then got skinny. If yes, then she’s definitely a 2-3yr old and may just have had her first babies. If she has been the same weight or same girth around abdomen for this past month… she’s a 1-2yr old. You don’t see a lot of growth from them the first year or two of producing young. I really need something too to gauge her length. A human hand, ruler, pencil etc. Place this next to her or as close as possible. Even a brick paver she may also be sitting on w a pulled-back view. Then a more close up so i may ID her as male vs female. They look more similar when young. It’s an easy ID w all adults.

Science says the max life span is 10/11 years. But my old friend Curly-tail is 14 this year. His diet has been supplemented w fruits for years and years. I attribute his longer life span to this. That’s only my working hypothesis w no data to go on yet. But he’s my first curly tail friend/ subject and no one else I know is at the twilight of life or passed away for me to compare it to. He was the only one I fed for many many years. Every spring I wonder if he passed away during winter as I really don’t see any of them much in winter if at all. I never see him in winter anymore.

He’s a wise old man and the sweetest friendliest boy lizard by far. He’s the one that spent a year w his daughter born w 3 vs 4 legs. For 1 year I never saw her without him. He was nearby but not hovering year 2. He never jumped in front of her til this day while she gets a bug or blueberry. She’s not full grown yet. He was/ is a great father to her. This year 3-legged Samantha had her first babies as a 3yr old. She’s a favorite friend of mine too.

The last two springs curly tail came back around a month after the younger ones. I do not know where they winter. Groovie- movie, or my front right side yard breeding male, bred one of curly-tails 2 wives last year as curly-tail missed breeding cycles of females coming home a month late. His bigger wife wasn’t interested in the aggressive and “full-of-himself” younger Groovie-Movie, and she had no babies that year. I’m not sure who bred her this year as she’s still in the middle of front and back yards territories (curly tail has the back and goovie-movie has the front ) in the most lushly planted landscaping. She’s between both males. Next year I’ll be watching her… if my boy curly tail retuns🤞

The wife that groovie-movie bred last year was successfully commandeered. He bred her again this year so it’s “written in stone now.” She’s relocated now to the front yard vs the backyard. It was hard to recognize her not in my backyard. Behaviors are part of my ID system and I couldn’t place her for a few weeks having relocated. She wasn’t acting like herself either to be fair to myself. She had to be more in guard in a new territory initially. I thought she was a new random female. Then a behavior stuck out and everything about her including appearance was immediately recognizable.

But she displaced a younger female Autumn that was one of my best friends. I haven’t seen autumn since. I hope next spring she comes back as she’ll be full grown and a 4yr old. She’ll be able to hold a territory against my bigger girls. Her sweet demeanor is the only reason she may not do so. I hope she toughens you enough to come home. Blue , my favorite of all lizards (autumn being my 2nd favorite … but fast overtaking 1st place as she’s just the sweetest little feminine thing / blue being quite butch such I respect for other reasons.., and is the one that sits w me in my vestibule, front walkway, wherever I sit down our front she joins me… and follows me when I, come home n park in driveway like she’s been waiting for me all day.., is a hard act up follow. .., can I have 2 favorites!? ).

All 4 quadrants of my yard were all highly suitable for lizards but just this week my neighbor removed a well established talk and dense hedge-row for a 6’ privacy fence.., starting only at their house. I wish they’d left 2-3 of the individual bushes between our front yards. I don’t know who else was now displaced. But that territory could be open for Autumn next year. The left side (or right side from standing out front looking at my house) are my “control group” lizards that I don’t feed/ name or interact closely w. I just spy on them quietly for scientific observation. I need to be sure my interactions w (including all those things I mentioned above ie naming, feeding fraternizing w) all of the lizards on the other side of my house divided by front yard and backyard territories isn’t changing any normal patterns of breeding/ patenting/ seasonal appropriate behaviors. If anything I do would change any normal pattern I’d have to cease all or parts of my interactions w them. Thankfully over the years I’ve had full interactions w the entire 1 side of my house I’m happy to report all things are duplicate to the lizards on the other side of my house. Yay. Permission from nature to continue!

Re the bushes coming down .. Babies are just today crawling around visibly. Babies have no experience and likely clung to the bushes as they go in and up for security. In a bush they escape birds who hunt w flight. Up they escape ground predators including some birds.

There is a season to do everything where baby wildlife are safe. Spring and early summer are not the time to rip up or replant vegetation. Fall into winter is best for both plants and wildlife. Folks assume they should plant in spring as that’s “the season of growth.” That’s just the season for top-growth or what we see above ground. Winter is for underground growth. So plants go more dormant w top growth and the roots quickly latch on to soil and the above ground portion jumps out of the ground in spring. What they need most on a re-plant is root structure for survival. Move them a month before frost.