A lizard, a vent, a trash bag, and a baby!

If that title doesn't grab your attention, nothing will! I just had to write about my unusual experience I just had. I'm still shaking about it!! I had finally sat down to work on my thesis. (I'll be done w/ my masters in 2 weeks, but that's whole other blog!!) I kept hearing this weird scratching sound. I thought maybe the landscapers were out doing their monthly maintenance on the house. When I looked outside my window to see if it was indeed them...no one was there.

"Hmmm...that's kinda weird"

So I just started to get to work. I kept hearing it and as I was standing looking at my window, I started to notice that the sound wasn't coming from outside...but ABOVE me! There is an air vent in the celing of my room so as I stood on a chair to get a better listen, I realized that it was most definitely something in my attic! I thought...

"No big deal. It's probably a mouse or something. It'll die eventually and I'll never have to see it"

As I kept hearing the noise, I decided to look again to see if could figure out what it was. That's when I saw it!


Yep, a little lizard was POKING it's head out of my vent (which by the way happens to be partially above my bed!)

It was at that moment I realized that I truly DO scream like a little girl! My roommate, Amber, was seriously, but rightfully, alarmed at my scream. She; however, is more petrified than me at this point. She couldn't even set foot in my room.

We both set up camp. She in the hall looking through the phonebook to find someone to help us and I in my room watching the lizard to make sure he didn't fall out and go somewhere. (Looking back on it, if he indeed DID fall out at that moment, I would have ran like a scared baby!)

We called Ranger Rodents, Critter Catchers, Critter Gitters, etc. You name it we called it. One suggestion we got was to take a pair of pliers and grab him by the neck (!) Clearly, they weren't aware that we were scaredy-cat girls!!


Can't you just see me grabbing him with pliers?!?!

Thankfully, my friend (and at that point, my Savior!) Derrick was home! He was home by himself with his daughter, so he said he would be right over after he packed up Ella.

Once he got there, Amber stayed downstairs to babysit Ella. (We really had to twist her arm to do that!) Derrick and I debated our strategies and we narrowed it down to 2: unscrew the vent or try to lure him out to catch him. We opted for choice 2. So Derrick, taped a trash bag around the vent in the hopes that when I turned on the heat full blast, little Lizzy would fall/jump/slip (i didn't care HOW at that point!) into the bag.



With our bag in place, we watched. We heard him scratching and after a few minutes, Lizzy fell (literally) for our trap. We saw him in the bag. Now the big question was: How do we get the bag off with Lizzy STILL inside? We just had to go for it. So, Derrick, with no regard for his own life, swooped and yanked the bag off the ceiling. For some reason, that scared me. What if he jumped out of the bag? What if he gnawed his way out of the bag? I screamed! Apparently, that startled Derrick and he dropped the bag. My biggest fear of this whole charade had come true.

He was going to get out and LOOSE in my house!!

Thinking on our feet, Derrick told me to grab a couple of books to put on the bag.

Long story short...Derrick finally got the bag with Lizzy inside and threw him (still in the bag) in a retention pond :)

So...back to writing my thesis.
Thanks Derrick :)