Sick lizard

[Angi]

What would you do?.......Last week I had a lizard in my garage that looked like his eyes had been injured. The next time I saw it it looked worse. It came out of my garage and was hanging out in my front yard. It would not move unless touched. Well it would move from place to place but would not run if you walked by. I just left it alone and now it is gone. My oldest son said I should kill it because it was probably suffering. I also worry that it could spread disease to my pets or other wild life. My guess is that it was injured though and not diseased. What should I do if this happends again? Thoughs?

 

[StudentoftheReptile]

I'm assuming this is a native lizard you're talking about, and not some escaped pet exotic. If that is indeed the case, my first inclination is to let nature take its course. If its gone, its very likely died (or gotten killed) already.

If you do encounter it again, and you do feel you want to end its suffering, I suggest putting it in a ziplock bag and put it in the refridgerator...NOT the freezer! This is probably the most humane way to euthanize the little reptile within your own means, short of taking it to the vet for that purpose.

 

[dmarcus]

If it was me I would just leave it be and let nature takes its course. We find them all the time around our house injured, and if they get inside we find pieces of them that the cats left behind. If you think they are suffering then you can kill it, but who knows if it just fell and is just trying to recover from the fall.

 

[Angi]

It was a native. They are all over the place here. I did think it might recover. It probably got something thrown on it(like a baseball bag) while it was hanging out in the garage. It is so hard with reptiles to know is they are suffering.

 

[ascott]

Angi, I would have let it be....I may have tried to pick it up to check it out closer....puffy eyes, perhaps a bit dehydrated for some reason or got ahold of a bug that had been exposed to insecticide/bitten by mistake by a black widow....as they shove their heads in cracks and crevices all of the time to snatch up a bug and hit webs....

As our shelled buddies have moments of not 100% then pull themselves through to a healthy state...there is always a chance it was a temporary thing.....or, perhaps ill and nature did take its course .....

 

[Angi]

Angela~That is what I did, but then I felt bad when my son said I let it suffer.
Thanks

 

[ascott]

Angi, you did just fine.....if we all went around killing reptiles that did not look 100%, well, we would not have a need for this forum and others as well.....

The world is an awesome place....who is to say the lizard wasn't just in a moment...how horrible that would have been if you had off'd him....you did right, sometimes we have to follow our first gut instinct...

OT here I was watching this program on rattlesnakes some time back (i know not your fav critter ) ...well, there is this mammal (and I can not remember the name of the critter) that eats rattlesnakes naturally....this thing kinda looked like a ferret but not quite the same, a bit bigger as well... it corners the rattlesnake into a hole and begins to try to eat the snake...well, this animal can survive being bitten by he snake, it falls into this coma type state, but it still moves around----looking pathetic and near death...and after approx 4 hours it like comes around as though it had never been bitten...then it continues to eat the rest of the snake....very interesting.

So maybe you encountered the lizard in some weird moment in its life and you took a moment to share some curiosity and compassion....you did fine IMHO that is.....

 

[Tom]

Angela, you are talking about the honey badger and a cobra. I saw that show the other day too. Those things are amazingly tough.


Angi, I would have tried to help him find some reasonable shelter in a reasonably safe place and left him on his own. I might have soaked him first if I thought he was dehydrated. I try to help the local lizards because they keep the pest insects down around the ranch. So I do tamper with nature a little, but not too much. Its a judgement call.

 

[ascott]

Thanks Tom!!!! Was awesome for sure

 

[Angi]

Thanks Tom. That is good advice.

 

[Mgridgaway]

HONEY BADGER!!!

He doesn't even care that you poisoned him, Mr. Cobra. He'll just sleep it off like a bad hangover.


But Angi, I agree with your decision. If the problems were definitely caused by man I would reconsider (ie deer getting hit by car), but since they're natural, it was right to just let it be. It might've just been having a bad couple of days.