Florida Nature and our Fun Little Critters. By Lisa Hill, Daytona Beach REALTOR®

This is going to be a short little blog post about one of Florida's little green critters. I guess I should clarify that sometimes they're brown. And sometimes they're tan. And sometimes they're somewhere in between. They're lizards of course. They're the little buggers that dart in the door when you're not looking, leaving you desperately trying to catch them before the cats do (if you have cats) or perhaps you're just trying to get them out of your house!

Being a native of this area, I find them amusing, and I know how fast they are! Those suckers are hard to catch! But what amuses me even more is when people are frightened of these toothless, powerless, even helpless little creatures with the unique ability to re-grow their tails.... Silly humans. So afraid of them, that they pick them up by the tail. Tsk tsk. The lizard then releases their tail, which continues to flop and flail aimlessly about. This works like a charm to divert the attention of our cats, while the lizard sneaks quietly away. (God made such cool stuff!)  =D

But I'm writing this post to clarify one particular misunderstanding.... Lizards are NOT chameleons! We do not even have chameleons in Florida, except as pets. We do however, have lizards, geckos and salamanders. Salamanders have stripes, are multi-colored, and like dark, damp places. Although my favorites are the geckos, which I think are adorable. I love the way they wiggle, in a kind of slithery manner when they run, whereas lizards and salamanders run in a straight line.

But what we see everywhere... and I do mean everywhere... are most likely lizards. But for some reason, visitors to Florida seem to think that lizards are chameleons. And the one trait that chameleons have, that neither lizards, geckos, nor salamanders have, are bulbous, protruding eyes that rotate all the way around. So I'm really not sure why our lizards are so frequently called chameleons. I guess it's because of their ability to change colors, which is how they protect themselves... by blending in with their surroundings. But geckos can do this too, although their base color is usually bright green. When I was younger, most of our lizards were bright green, but over the years we're finding more and more of the brown ones. I'm not positive, but I believe the lizards with the brown primary, or base color, have migrated here and changed the habitat of our primarily green "anoles". But they're still all lizards.

So this little post is to set the record straight. When you move to Florida and find these small, harmless, toothless, sometimes tail-less critters in your house, in your garage, on your porch, on the sidewalk, on your windows, and falling off your garage door as you open or close it, they're just lizards.

But on the rare occasion that you find a little green wiggly thing sitting high up on the wall in your house, moving about half the speed of a lizard, and with little suction cup feet, like tiny little tree frog feet, those will be geckos. (Not to be confused with Geiko- lol).

So welcome to Florida! Land of the lizards, geckos and salamanders. But NOT the chameleons! (Unless it's someone's pet) And for heaven's sake, don't freak out about every little thing! If you've decided to live in a tropical climate, you can expect to find tropical creatures.

**Now for an extra special tip! LOL... If you manage to catch one of those speedy little lizards, be sure to grasp them gently around their soft little bellies, then tap lightly on their nose until they open their mouths. Your final step is to clip it on your ear lobe. Ta Dahhh! Lizard earring! (I offer that little tidbit at no charge!)

Now if I haven't scared you off, and you'd like to move to Daytona Beach (or anywhere in east Volusia county), I'd love to help! For information on buying real estate, << click here.  For information on selling real estate, << click here.

For general information on buying or selling real estate in Daytona Beach, Port Orange, Ponce Inlet, Ormond Beach, and the cities around and in between, visit my primary web site at www.DaytonaBeachRealEstateSales.com.