Walking through the kitchen to get a soda mid-day. Wait – what’s that out on the porch?
First of all, is it dead? It looks dead… Nope, it twitched. Is it dying? (And please excuse the Dodgers doormat out there. We’re really NOT that sort of people1 But when we moved in the landlord said it had to stay and three years later I still haven’t figured out if he was joking or not.)
I don’t want to move because he’ll bolt, but let’s use the zoom on the iPhone a bit.
Yep, he’s alive, and alert now that he knows I’m here. But he’s not tearing off across the yard and up the tree like he’s training for the Olympics.
This is definitely the closest I’ve ever seen him come up to the house. And he never lounges up on the porch. So what’s up?
When I posted his first lounging photo a few days ago, long-time follower of this blog Jemima Pett thought that it might be because when it got really hot, the concrete in the shade might still be cooler than the air and the critters would do it to stay cooler. That makes sense, but it would still be the first time that I’ve ever seen it. And today wasn’t “stupid hot,” just in the mid 90’s, when we’ve had plenty of days up above 110°, or even 120°. Maybe he was lounging by the pool at the neighbors house on those days, but now they’ve gotten a dog and we’re a pale, pathetic substitute.
I just hope this little beastie doesn’t figure out we’ve got the A/C on inside or he’ll be making a dash for the door when it opens. I don’t even want to think about all of the screaming, crying, and panic that would follow.
We Love The Stars Too Fondly 
Just a bit behind here….
I’d expect him to be reasonably acclimatised, unless he’s a juvenile, perhaps, or she’s pregnant…no, doesn’t look it. Did he run off okay when you’d finished shooting him?? 😉
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Yes, as soon as I moved closer to the window so it could see me, it took off. That’s why it’s such an unusual behavior – they’ve been out here since we moved in three years ago, but it’s just now that we’re seeing this behavior. It was back yesterday, even closer to the door. My first reaction catching sight of it out of the corner of my eye was that it was the biggest lizard I had ever seen here, even bigger than a chuckwalla (which is not native to this area, more of an Arizona desert native). But no, it was our fuzzy guy, all stretched out. And not it’s starting to ignore us even when it sees us. Head raised, one eye open, “Oh, it’s just you,” and if we don’t open the door it just lays there. Very odd.
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