A reptile dysfunction

Our living room is set up so that the chair and the sofa are at a 90 degree angle to each other with about 18 inches of space set between the two so that you can get into the little corner nook that their set up creates. In that corner, we keep a large Rubbermaid storage bin to house all of Corban's toys. Today, while we were playing Wii baseball (a whole different entry) I was cleaning up the corner, chucking toys into the bin, when I looked over and saw one of Corban's toys move... nay RUN along the side of the wall. As I'm sure you've figured, this was not one of Corban's toys; it was a gecko.

Geckos are fairly common around here. You see them every once in a while scurrying across the ground, eating insects, and selling car insurance. I have caught one at work before, but this is the first time I've seen one IN MY HOME!!! I've had to learn things about housekeeping in Arizona. In WA, if there is a cockroach in your home, you're a bad housekeeper or have a bug infestation, or both. Here, it just means you're still in Arizona. Down here, large disgusting insects, and their poisonous buddies (scorpions) are a fact of life, even in your home, and apparently so are their lizard predators... makes sense really... but still... Eww!!!!

So, yeah, the gecko ran across the wall and under the chair. I moved the chair and called Corban over so they could meet. Corban didn't get what the big deal was... until the gecko moved. "What is that Momma?! That's YUCKY!!!"

Knowing that animals can cause all sorts of diseases and that reptiles can even emit toxins from their skin, I called Lani to verify that catching the gecko wasn't going to cause my baby to have a tail. She said no, so I pursued the lizard across the room and into the coat closet. It ran under the shoe shelf and I trapped it by holding his tail to the floor with my finger. I gently pulled it out and called Corban over again so he could get a closer look, and so he could bring me the plastic cup to house the gecko.

Right as Corban bent down to get a closer look at our new friend, the gecko demonstrated one of his many talents of discarding his tail. I knew this could happen, though, I thought it was more of an "if it gets cut off" deal rather than a "kick off your shoe" kinda thing, so that was kinda gross. I quickly caught the gecko under the red plastic cup (that Corban was so good to bring to me) , only to turn and discover a new fact about our reptilian friend; when geckos discard their tails, the tail continues to move... DOUBLE FREAKING EWWW!!!! I had seen this before in San Nak-chi (live octopus), a delicacy in Korea where they grow octopus, and then for the meal, cut off all the tentacles and toss the head back into the aquarium to grow tomorrow's lunch. Despite being separated from the head, the tentacles continue to move and even suction to your mouth and throat as you try to swallow (this is solved by dropping them into hot soup), but I didn't know that gecko's tails did that too!!! I was totally grossed out. This was aided by the fact that there was a drop of blood coming from the tail and definitely not helped by the fact that I had a dream about snakes last night.

I called Lani to ask why she did not inform me of this reptile dysfunction to which she said that it was news to her as well. She also asked that I not call back to talk about the gecko as she was trying to eat Chinese food, more specifically chow mein (that's what she gets for not inviting me!).

So, that's my story. Corban's toys are all picked up (that will soon be HIS chore), Lani has her chow mein, and I have a gecko whose tail is at least an inch shorter than it was this morning... I sure hope he has insurance...