Freaky not Spooky

Sunday I came upstairs with the intention of having a lie-down on my bed with my laptop.
I was just about to put it down on the bed when something moved.
Aieeeeeeee.
A gigantic lizard!
Alive!
On my bed!
He was just as surprised as I was I think. We eyed each other warily as I yelled my surprise. Luckily Alex came quickly and his eyes got very wide at the size of this guy. "I need something to pick him up with!" he went and got a sock to put over his hand. We have the unfortunate personal experience with alligator lizards and how hard they bit and how they don't ever want to let go (just like alligators) once they've bitten you. Just ask Zach or Alex as they've both had that traumatic experience.

Removal was quick and easy and we were a bit worried about him, was he injured? Or just stunned and scared? The cats love to hunt lizards, and this one had an obviously regrown tail. He didn't seem to have any visible injuries. He laid there on the deck barely breathing. Finally he started moving almost imperceptibly as I watched him. I took a movie of it because it was fascinating to see the order in which he moved his legs and his tongue moving in and out slowly.



He was calm enough to let me get this neat closeup
Then one of our cats came along, and I had to chase him off so he'd be safe, at least for a little while. Still don't know how he got in the house, did he really come in and climb up the stairs? Was he brought in by a cat? I don't think so because there weren't any bite marks on him. Very mysterious! Hope he stays out for a while, I've had enough of strange animals around here...