Lizard Question

[mickeynuts]

We are from the north and my children really enjoyed seeing some of the different wildlife. One day we had an armadillo digging in the bushes right outside of our hotel room.

My children especially loved watching the lizards run around. Anyone (maybe this is for the natives) know what kind of lizards they are? They asked us but we don't know. They took pics and would like to share it with their classrooms so we would like to know what they are. Geckos?

Thanks for any info you can give.

 

[zackiedawg]

Most of the lizards you see around Disney property are Anoles. There are green anoles, cuban anoles, brown anoles, and knight anoles, all quite common down here in Florida. The most common are the Cuban brown anoles, which are brown-to-beige colored, often with little diamond patterns on their back.

Little boys growing up in Florida love to catch them, and get the lizards to bite (it doesn't hurt at all) and then 'wear' them hanging off their fingers, ears, etc to make little girls run away and scream.

You will also find geckos around Disney too sometimes - the most common form would be the 'house gecko'...usually seen at night on the sides of walls near lights, as they like to catch all the bugs drawn to the light. House geckos are very pale tannish-white with black eyes, almost translucent looking.

Of course, we have hundreds of types of lizards down here, but those are the two you'll see the most!

 

[vicki_c]

They are called skinks, I believe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skink

Oops -just saw the post above. I knew they had a funny name, but I couldn't remember -- I'm thinking anoles and skinks are not the same?

 

[zackiedawg]

They are different...but yes, you will see skinks around Disney too. Skinks are sleek, shiny-looking and usually black with stripes or patterns on their backs. The Anoles are 'drier' looking, not shiny, a little skinnier, with very long tails - and are just about everywhere in Disney...on walls, plants, poles, fountains, sidewalks, roofs, signs, etc. Skinks tend to stick to the ground, and are much less bold around people - they run and hide quickly.

 

[bellazachmom]

Little boys growing up in Florida love to catch them, and get the lizards to bite (it doesn't hurt at all) and then 'wear' them hanging off their fingers, ears, etc to make little girls run away and scream.

Little boys in South Texas love to do this, too!! I had nightmares as a young child because of this!!

 

[Robo]

Most of the lizards you see around Disney property are Anoles. There are green anoles, cuban anoles, brown anoles, and knight anoles, all quite common down here in Florida. The most common are the Cuban brown anoles, which are brown-to-beige colored, often with little diamond patterns on their back.

A green Anole. Found this on the web.

 

[zackiedawg]

Here's a cuban brown anole:

I've got dozens all around my house...this one was sitting on the wall in front of my house, and didn't run away even as I put the camera lens on the wall inches away for a closeup - he just kept that eye on me!

 

[zackiedawg]

We also have these larger, fatter, spikier lizards around the house - called 'northern curly-tails'...for obvious reason:

And down here in South Florida, we've got much larger lizards around the yard too. They haven't gotten up to the Orlando area yet, but on the Southeast and Southwest coasts of Florida, they're becoming an epidemic - tens of thousands of them and growing their population daily. They are still harmless...despite growing to 6-feet in length! But they eat pounds of flowers and plants...which makes folks with gardens none-too-pleased.

It's the green iguana...looking like some kind of godzilla offspring. Here's one in my backyard giving me 'the eye':

Here's a nearly full grown one...about 5 feet long...notice the tree he's eating has barely any leaves left!:

No danger of accidentally stepping on one of those when you come out of the front door!

 

[Golf4food]

No kidding about the iguanas overtaking SoFla - I used to get a kick out of them while in college in WPB at a golf course that had them all over the place - if you hit a ball near them they didn't care, they just watched as you came over, hit your next shot, and walked away. Kind of disconcerting trying to hit a good shot with a 6 foot long lizard sitting a few feet away staring at you like a baby Godzilla.

It should be noted that none of those species are native to Florida and are all threats to native Florida species. We have a growing problem with foreign frogs and toads right now, too, some of which eat the native frogs. Everybody sing, "The circle of life..." But seriously, it's bad.

 

[Kurtoon]

Geckos are not native to north or south America.
They came over on ships, usually pottery cargo from the mediterranean.

 

[Brian_WDW74]

I've moved this thread to the Theme Parks Community board.

Just for the record, I grew up in central Florida and not once did I cause a lizard to bite any of my appendages. Not on purpose, anyway.

 

[flyinglizard]

If the kids play with the lizards, make sure they wash their hands really good. Anoles can carry salmonella.