Lagartija

I have a tiny lizard living in my kitchen. Much like the smashed one I found on my bedroom floor on my third day here, except very much alive, if not well (it has no tail). Our first encounter happened one afternoon when I walked into the kitchen to get a drink and it scampered from the sink to behind the fridge. In our second encounter, it was hiding behind the bottle of dish soap and again ran away behind the fridge. The third time, it stayed by the dish soap so I ran and got my camera. That's when I discovered it had no tail.

At this point I had accumulated enough food in the kitchen (bananas, a jar of honey, some tomatoes) that I began to notice ants, which seemed to originate from behind the sink. I hoped the lizard was eating the ants, since it seemed to like to hang out there. However, he's not eating enough to make a dent in the ant population, so I'm going to get some traps. Something that will hopefully not poison the lizard.

Our closest encounter came when I had left a crumpled napkin used to smash ants on the counter by the sink. I came into the kitchen to make dinner and picked up the napkin to throw it out, when I felt something solid moving inside it. I immediately dropped the napkin back onto the counter and stifled a scream and a giant shudder. The lizard popped out and then darted back under the napkin. I decided to leave it there, cooked dinner, and hoped it would be gone soon.

A couple days later I went into the kitchen to make breakfast, and the lizard was in the sink drain. It didn't move. I poured a bowl of corn flakes, ate it, and left for yoga, hoping the lizard would be gone by the time I got back. I hated to leave unwashed dishes around because of the ants, but I was willing to make an exception in this case. It was still there when I got back. So I grabbed a fork and a knife and levered the drain out of the sink and dumped it upside down on the counter, allowing the lizard to dart behind the dish soap again. I concluded it must have been stuck in the sink.

I haven't seen the lizard in a few days. I accept that it lives there, especially since it's eating the ants (I think), but it's a wary coexistence. I wonder if it's the kind that can re-grow its tail.