When you’re handling anoles, you must remember that they are small (can fit through tiny openings), fast (can change direction suddenly), can change from tan to brown to green (not quite like a chameleon, but close enough), and they seldom are really fond of being handled. With that said, I found myself this morning searching high and low for the one that got away. This particular lizard was crafty…he convinced me that he had gone one way and actually went another. I looked under racks – not an easy feat as they were barely 4″ off the floor. Let’s just say I was glad no one entered the room at that time. I looked under the lights that were sitting on top of the tanks. I looked behind the racks of tanks and up and down the cords to those lamps. Nothing.
I finally texted my mentor and told him that if I didn’t show up for the 12:00 brown-bag meet-the-mentors meeting, I was probably still looking for #138. He texted me back and told me not to worry about it, it would show up sooner or later, and to go on to the meeting. But this is someone else’s research data! How could I sleep tonight knowing that this one lizard might determine the outcome of her research for her dissertation? Perhaps her entire future rested on whether I found that lizard or not…no pressure there.
I had finally decided to do as my mentor instructed and go on to the meeting. I locked the door to the lab, looked around to make sure everything else was as it was suppose to be, and then I saw the little bugger! He was on the wall, under a counter, laughing. Well, maybe not laughing, but he had a smirk on his face! I closed the door, slowly crept over to the counter, and, kneeling down to reach under the counter, I pinned him to the wall! And he bit me! I knew I had him then! Remember what I said yesterday about the thunder? Anyway, I withdrew my hand with the lizard attached, and escorted him back to his tank, where I told him that there would be no mealworms for him today! That will teach him! (Truth is: today was not feeding day anyway, so it was an empty threat…but I didn’t tell HIM that.)
I went to the meeting, went back to the labs for animal care, and then back to my dorm room to enter some data. Sitting here at my computer, I’m feeling twinges in my back, probably muscles spasms from contorting to peer under the racks…and my finger hurts…and I have a headache. Stupid lizard….