the egg is under the withered lavender plant, originally uploaded by chispeak.
Carl was a lazy lizard, a sad, miserably lonely lizard. He had a relatively large tank for himself with an abundance of sticks and crickets, but Carl refused to move. He refused to even hunt. He remained stubborn, gradually getting skinny enough until he was essentially hand-fed fatty caterpillars to keep up his weight.
This routine was exhausting and yes, pathetic. Research of the vast Internetz revealed that anole lizards are social creatures. So, Harriet was introduced to the tank. At first, Carl thought Harriet was a competing male, and rather than fight for his territory, he turned brown. About five seconds later, he turned bright green and attempted to assert and (ahem – insert) himself. Harriet would have none of it and has remained dominant ever since. She takes the highest perches. She climbs all over him. She initiates reproduction.
Yet, Harriet has served as a muse for Carl, an elegant role model. He learned how to appropriately court a female, how to hunt (and appear dashing while doing it). He even learned how to copulate upside down (but we’ll keep it PG-13 for the younger readers) to satisfy his female.
It really was inevitable, but Carl and Harriet are on their way to becoming (indifferent) parents. There was a second egg buried a bit behind the one in this photograph. Both have been removed for their protection from viciously eager crickets, but it’ll be several weeks before we know if they’ll hatch. Updates to follow.
