Spotted a small lizard in the kitchen this evening, and managed to catch it so I could release it outside. Hard to get good photos with a phone camera since it was so small and the lighting wasn't great, but I think I got a clear enough look to identify it with the help of the field guide. I reckon it's a Weasel Skink, Saproscincus mistelinus, which would make it a widespread but not frequently seen lizard.
After I did some light maintenance on his enclosure this afternoon (cleaned the glass, topped up his leaf litter layer with sugar cane mulch, and watered the plants) Jerry emerged from his log to investigate the changes in his surroundings.
I opened the enclosure door and sat down in front of it to see if he'd come over and sure enough while doing his rounds of the enclosure he did repeatedly come to the open door, let me rub his chin, and climb into my hands of his own volition. I'm fairly sure he was only trying to work out how to use me to get down to the floor in order to make his escape, but I'm taking it as a win anyway.
I could, of course, just pick him up out of his enclosure and he wouldn't make a fuss about it but I'm trying to make our interactions more "lizard led" and see if he becomes a bit less easily spooked by people.
I took Jerry out to get some fresh air and exercise while the kid was getting his at tennis. It didn't take him long to decide he'd had enough of exploring and go sit inside his guinea pig bed, though.
He stayed under that same rock for, I think, 3 days straight but as soon as I put some dog food in his food bowl he was poking his head out and tasting the air with his tongue, then within a few minutes he came out from under the rock and ate all the food.
Eating is always followed by a bask under his heat lamp, after which he retreated into his warm end hide, under the basking rock.
This is the face of a lizard whose food bowl contained nothing but vegetables!
(When I give him a mix of vegetables, insects and fruit he'll generally eat only the insects and fruit, so I've decided to experiment with feeding him vegetables only first, then the tasty stuff the following day).
I’ve become kind of obsessed with the lizards I’ve discovered living in a dirt bank near my work, and today I finally got a (half) decent photo of one!