I couldn’t tell you how many lizards have fallen asleep in my hands, or on my lap; but I can tell you that I wish that I was one of them. I had a very bad night, last night.
Tomorrow it’s another doctor visit, which I’ve come to dread. What’ll it be this time? At least when you’re already in the blinkin’ hospital, they can’t threaten to pack you off to it. But man, oh, man! The whole month of November, plus half of December–no, precious, we don’t want to go back!
So today we mean to rest, Patty and me. Hurry up and rest! We need it, and after all, isn’t that what Sunday is for?
Yes, Lee, rest. Let your body take some easy time to mend itself. (She says while barely able to walk from exhaustion and almost falling asleep with her face in her keyboard.)
What a cute little guy. Rest, Lee, you’ve earned it.
These lizards get very tame.
Winning the trust of any animal is always enjoyable. We share a degree of common ground with mammals, and people have successfully tamed even dangerous mammals. But we share little common ground with reptiles and many people, somewhat understandably, consider reptiles to be untamable, and even enemies. This makes some degree of sense; many reptiles are dangerous; attempting to tame a venomous snake is not a good idea, but most reptiles are harmless and can be delightful to watch. I would imagine that having a lizard, of any size, so tame that it would fall asleep while you are holding it would be quite enjoyable.
My iguana thought he was a mammal, and acted like one. Seventeen years old he was, when we lost him.
I had a snake for some years, and she was tame enough to recognize me and be calm if I picker her up, but that was about the limit. She’d sleep in my hands, but other than not acting afraid of me, she didn’t interact much.
Garter snake?
Heterodin Nasicus, the Western Hognose. Cute little snakes which will pretend to strike and even play dead, although mine was far too tame to do that. They will also flatten their necks and try to look like a cobra, as a defense. She was very small, basically a hatchling about 4” long, I picked her up for the first time and she pretended to strike my hand. They are not venomous, and being rear fanged, it’s almost impossible to be bitten by one, as opposed to garter snakes and ribbon snakes, which love to bite. Their saliva, however, is a mild irritant, and it’s a good idea to wash your hands after handling one.
Overall, I don’t recommend snakes as pets. I love snakes, and find them fascinating, but they are best left to the great outdoors.
No, most snakes don’t make good pets–but the hognose snake is way cool. Unfortunately for owners, once the hognose is used to living with you, it gives up playing dead.
Exactly. Wild Hognose are real comedians, up to and including flipping themselves back on their back if you turn one over when it’s playing dead.
They call it “I’m still dead.”
Exactly!
Resting has been provided by our Creator as a means of repair. By all means, take that rest time. I will be doing a lot of that, too. Prayers for both of you.
We need them, that’s for sure.
I feed peanuts to the squirrels every morning. If they are out while I put peanuts on the fence posts, a couple will come over and take a peanut from my hand. And do you think they eat right there and have fellowship with me? Heck no, they scramble off as fast as they can as if they have broken some kind of unwritten law.
The few times I’ve fed squirrels by hand, they hung out with me for a few minutes.