When we went into our store the other night, I suddenly looked at the ventilation windows and saw the following:
View from Ventilation Window #1
View from Ventilation Window #2
View from Ventilation Window #3
View from Ventilation Window #4
View from Ventilation Window #5
Closeup on Ventilation Window #5
View from Ventilation Window #6
Closeup on Ventilation Window #6
Lots of lizards, in other words! Number 2 and 6 were my personal favourites.
Which ones were yours?
18 users commented in " The Ishtar’s Ark Lizard Society "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackNo. 2 is kind of arty, but I like No. 3.
At 3 and 4 I started thinking of M.C. Escher’s lizards! Then they got on top of each other and that’s another theme i guess
Thanks for great pictures and stories - a favourite ten minute escape from dark rainy stormy November Sweden …
Egad! How does one choose???? They are all wonderful. I used to have Iguanas, but they died. I miss them. One was named Inigo Montoya (after the Princess Bride character) and while he was not particularly interested in me unless I was bearing canteloupe, he seemed to be quite partial to my mother. Ah well.
Ush, vad äckligt det blev när de bara ökade på varje bild och nästan kryllade på sista. Konspirations-känsla! Ödlorna tar över!
omg! I don’t know about the lizards, for some reason I don’t like them up close and personal like that…
I remember when we were in Mexico and a couple of them ran around our hotel room, just like it was on their way to wherever they were going… I was so freaked out, thinking I’m soundly tucked away from the outdoorsy creatures in our room, here they are and the doors/windows are surely no stopping them (we later found that there were all sorts of holes in the walls, under the sink, etc etc so the critters got in and out routinely 
)
@Suzanne: #3 sees their full tails intact!
@Jarl: So glad you could escape the dark, stormy Scandinavian November mood for a while! No snow yet?
@Fe: I’m glad you liked them! I never had an iguana but there are monitor lizards here. Unfortunately, people are terrified of them and kill them too quickly. They’re appreciated for their meat though.
@Hanna: I understand your concern for a potential Lizard Attack but rest assured they are being hunted vigorously by Sheba and Dennis - which is probably why they seek refuge in our store…
@O: The lizards are harmless and when seen from a distance, they are quite charming (the males are bright orange, especially during mating season, but that’s not for another couple of months) but it’s a horrible experience when the accidentally drop down on your head! One such incident sent me screaming way back in the 90s but my brother just couldn’t relate to what the fuss was all about. After all, the lizard was long gone by then! Apart from very close physical contact, the see-through geckos are more scary in my book, but there is no animal in the whole of Niger that will freak me out more than a disoriented cockroach… Luckily for us, we have none in our house!
Number 2 is cute! Are these the kind with the bright yellow head? Our cat used to hunt and eat them… eat all but the head. That sent me screamning once when i tried to put on my shoes just to have my toes hit a lizzard’s head:-( Nice post, again!
Number 2 would be my favorite. I love babies even if they are lizards.
I like 3 and 5… How strange to see so many lizards gathered in the ventilation! We see those to in the Philippines, but mostly small ones (usually alone) that walk around on the ceiling and make clicking sounds.
I like 2 and 5…you need to include a “scale.” How big are these things?:-)
@Anne: Yes, the males are bright yellow or orange, though not only their heads, necessarily. Sheba catches the little ones on the veranda. I am don’t think she eats them, but the chops them up into a million pieces and always seems to dig up a lizard leg or toe from somewhere, which is pretty gross!
@Goatgirl: The babies are cute, and FAST! Not fast enough to escape Sheba, though…
@Joy: They need security at night, and so they crawl in from the outside. As cold-blooded animals, they need a good hide-out for the night, and obviously do not mind sharing a tight space! Here in Niger, it’s the geckos that do the clicking sound. These cool creatures are more into push-ups.
@Photogchic: In order to avoid confusion between the cm/inch thing, an adult lizard will fit into you hand, tail excluded of course. The younger ones are as long as your fingers (tail excluded). Hope that helps!
Insanity!!
That many lizards in my home would make my skin crawl. Sort of a Hitchcock lizard version of The Birds. Gah!
They are really cool, though. What kind of lizard are they?
~Lisa
New Mexic, USA
@Lisa: What kind of lizard are they? Now THAT’s a question for esthergarvi’s very own “identification expert” Jerome!
In the meantime, I leave you with the following link:
http://www.wildherps.com/species/A.agama.html
Check out the West African version, not the blue-tailed East African one.
#2 with the youngsters! Those are some great pics! I have always loved lizards growing up in the deserts of Southern California. I miss seeing them here in Washington, though I do see an occasional, definitely smaller lizard running around.
@WF: I know I was chocked when I saw a lizard in the forest in Sweden - a tiny, well camouflaged little thing! I do miss them when I’m not in Africa - they’re mostly harmless creatures except for when they go vegetarian and eat my plants…
I love them! My girlfriend did not! She has a lizard phobia, no idea why….
So I had a laugh watching her face as I showed her your pics…she barely made it through all of them and then ran from the room saying, “I don’t like lizards, why do you do these things to me, agggghhhh!” I am so evil. I almost fell off my chair from laughing. So, thanks for the giggle! Plus, they are just so cool!
[...] stay. For those of you who have not yet been inside our store at night time, I welcome you to the Ishtar’s Ark Lizard Society. Every night, lizards come to sleep between the shutter and the mosquito netting, and every night, [...]
Quite amazing when they are viewed like this! I don’t think I have ever seen lizards together like this!
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