Leapin' Lizards!

A few days ago, my friend Maria and I were moving furniture in my classroom near my carpet area. Maria asked me for a broom. Then she asked for me to come and check something out. I was a little skeptical to see what it was because she had a worried look on her face.

"Karley, is this a toy or is it real?!?!"
"Oh, that's not a TOY!"
IT WAS A PRETTY BIG LIZARD!!

So we quickly found a container and had the class escorted out of the room, just in case it ran! I wasn't ready for screaming children jumping up on desks. Maria and Kathy caught it and once we got a better look at it we realized it was an alligator lizard. I am glad we got the children out because these lizards aren't called alligator lizards for nothing. They BITE!

What is an alligator lizard doing in my CLASSROOM!?

If you look carefully, you can see in the above picture how big it actually is. It's tail wraps around the length of this rubbermaid container and even to the other side. His body was at least 6 inches long and his tail more than 20 inches.

I knew our 6th grade teacher had an alligator lizard but hers was nestled snuggly in it's toilet paper roll. So, we had to let him go. I don't have a table his size.

Our class walked behind the Multipurpose Room, where it backs up to the Castro Park Tennis Courts. There are lots of plants, shrubs, trees, and great little critter hiding places. We let our little classmate go! When we let him out, he just stood on the grass like he was in shock. As I went to touch his tail, he scurried off into the bushes.

One of my students was a little dispappointed. He wanted to take him home but...

We just can't figure out where he came from or how long he'd been it our room.

How crazy is that!