Cats bring you presents. We all know that. Most of the ones Bertie the black cat brings up onto the terrasse are little rodents. He has brought us brown wall lizards, moles, and various birds, including a pheasant hen, over the years. Sometimes the animals he's caught are pretty big. A neighbor tells us about seeing Bertie with a rabbit in his jaws one day.
From what I've read, the lézard vert is not at all rare in France.
Yesterday I saw the cat outside the sliding glass doors on the tiles with quite a bit of blood spattered all around him. He was meowing and looking confused. The doors were open, so I'm lucky he didn't bring his prey into the living room. Bertie seemed to be very interested in the big wooden shutter outside, which was open and folded back against the wall.
This green lizard was probably 10 inches (25 cm) long from the tip of his snout to the end of his tail.
When I looked behind the shutter, I saw the green lizard. He was alive and he was hiding. I think Bertie had injured him. I got my camera and a broom. After I snapped one photo, I put Bertie in the house and shut the door. Then I pulled the shutter away from the wall and swept the lizard off the deck and into the vegetation down below. He sat there for a minute or two and disappeared before long.
So beautiful. We had a huge lizard living in a rock pile and got much amusement watching it go back and forth between the rocks and the hedge with twigs for a nest or food. Haven't seen it for a while. Neighbors told us where there are lizards, there are no vipers.
ReplyDeleteWe see a lot of brown wall lizards when the weather gets hot (if it does!). Bertie hunts those too, and so does Callie the collie. I don't think Callie would eat one though.
DeleteHe is beautiful. No vipers is a good thing.
ReplyDeleteOur orange cat, Scarlet, doesn't bring us anything. She has settled happily into her role as the Dowager Countess of Grantham. We are the downstairs staff.
Bertie is definitely an outdoor cat. He's French-born but half-Siamese and was raised in a British household until he came here and got Americanized starting in 2010. He's now 10 years old.
DeleteWhat a marvellous lizard and such a bad Bertie. The lizard really has a striking appearance.
ReplyDelete: ^ )
DeleteNice to know the size of this pretty lizard.
ReplyDeleteIt was pretty and pretty big. I read that the green lizard can grow to a length of 15 or 16 inches. This one was medium-sized, I guess.
DeleteIt looks as if this lizard has already had a few scrapes. Glad it survived Bertie, with human assistance.
ReplyDeleteI noticed those scrapes and scars too. I was glad to help the poor thing.
DeleteThat lizard is beautiful!
ReplyDeleteOur next-door cat (belongs to neighbors, lives in our yard) seems to have ended her hunting days.
It is a pretty lizard. I'm glad Bertie didn't kill it, because I don't think he would have eaten if even if he had. It sat stunned down below in the vegetation for a minute or two after I swept it off the deck, but then it went and hid under the little ledge that borders the gravel area around the house. I watched it to see if it would survive, and wished it luck.
DeleteAccording to my mother, who grew up in your area close to Chinon, cats who ate a lézard vert were destined for a long slow death. Not sure whether it's a local wives' tale or has some validity. Glad she didn't eat it! I'm glad to finally see one as the only part of the lézard vert I've ever seen is the tail as it rustles away ahead of me as I've approached on foot. Thanks for the picture.
ReplyDeleteThere is probably some truth in that folk wisdom, but it's hard to generalize. The only lézards verts I've ever seen are the two or three that Bertie has brought in over the past 6 years that he's been living here.
DeleteLovely lizard pictures.
ReplyDeleteThe question about cat cuisine sent me off to consult Professor Google, who says that eating one won't kill a cat, but eating a salamander could. I suppose people might confuse the two. The lizards eat insects, though, so probably not a bad thing to have in the garden.
I read on various sites that cats will get sick from eating certain kinds of lizards, but not all. I don't know about the green ones. Bertie has brought us those several times, but he doesn't seem to eat them. Same with moles — he'll catch them but not eat them.
DeleteOne of the sites I looked at was for that particular lizard and said it won't cause terminal harm to a cat. Of course, it might well cause intestinal upset. And to the lizard as well, I imagine.
DeleteAren't cats supposedly smart in knowing what they can and can't eat? Or maybe that's another tale.