# Do you take away the lizards?



## cat owner again (Dec 14, 2012)

I have taken away a mouse and two gophers and relocated them but not sure they would live but what to do about the lizards. The mom cat doesn't mind if I confiscate them. Sometimes they seem in good condition and I take them away and hide them back under the ice plant on my bank. The male cat takes it much more personal and eats them too! As soon as I see one of them walk by with one in it's mouth I run to the cat door and close it up but what to do about the lizards. What do you do?


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## snowy (Aug 23, 2012)

There was this adult lizard that ET was torturing. Hubby picked it up and brought it out of the house, it was still alive. Most times, we found dead ones in ET's room.


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## mumof7kitties (Jan 27, 2013)

Bleh. Reading about lizard carcasses and dead rodents make me very glad my kitties are indoor only!


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## Marcia (Dec 26, 2010)

mumof7kitties said:


> Bleh. Reading about lizard carcasses and dead rodents make me very glad my kitties are indoor only!
> 
> 
> Sent from Petguide.com Free App


DITTOS!!! I could not stand this! One of mine caught one of those giant cockroaches (water bugs) once on the screened porch and brought it to me as a present - in the middle of the night - when I was sleeping - and it crawled up my arm towards my face. NEVER have I been so freaked out!


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## mumof7kitties (Jan 27, 2013)

Marcia said:


> DITTOS!!! I could not stand this! One of mine caught one of those giant cockroaches (water bugs) once on the screened porch and brought it to me as a present - in the middle of the night - when I was sleeping - and it crawled up my arm towards my face. NEVER have I been so freaked out!


Omg that just gave me quite the laugh imagining that scene! I'd have jumped up screaming and tossing all the covers off of me! We don't have roaches here in northern NV and I thank the lucky stars for it!


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## oceanmist (Feb 12, 2011)

Marcia said:


> DITTOS!!! I could not stand this! One of mine caught one of those giant cockroaches (water bugs) once on the screened porch and brought it to me as a present - in the middle of the night - when I was sleeping - and it crawled up my arm towards my face. NEVER have I been so freaked out!


Casie used to leave me decapitated mice when I was little. 

Cherry just captures flies and puts them in my bed. lol


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## KozyKitty (Jan 18, 2013)

I know all too well about the lizard problem! Living in Arizona we have them ALL over the place! I have a catio that comes off of my bedroom window, plus we have a dog door for the the Senior Greyhound of the house, so even though the cats aren't technically allowed outside, we still get the occasional visitor. We came in the other day from shopping and as I walked by my bathroom I stopped dead in my tracks. There was a tailless lizard hanging out on my cushy rug that is infront of my sink. I don't know if he came in on his own or if he was brought in, but regardless, there he was, looking back at me. So we swiped him up and took him to the backyard and placed him in one of the plants that was covered (we had a cold spell pass through so most of our plants were covered and protected from the chill). We were both surprised to see him in the winter as well. We don't usually see them until spring time so we figured putting him with the covered plants would help to keep him warm, should he choose to stay there. 
I also have experience with this as I used to live on a remote island, ontop of a hill, in the jungle of Thailand. We had two cats there and occasionally they would come strolling in with a giant gecko (Tokay) and there was NO WAY you could get me to take that thing away. Geckos in general aren't going to harm you, they are more scared of you then you are of them, but if they are cornered and frightened, they will bite, it does hurt (don't know from personal experience) and my understanding is that their mouths are dirty and you can catch an infection. We didn't like them catching the geckos since the geckos take care of other nasty critters that we didn't want around, we much rather they took care of the Cobras and Vipers. Here is a link to a YouTube clip on Tokays. We usually saw the baby ones all over the place, but I have seen some that are bigger then the one in this clip. Giant Gecko of Thailand - YouTube 
So in short (cough, cough, ok that wasn't short) if I can get the lizard away and the lizard is alive, I do it. If the cat eats the lizard, ok, well, that's part of the circle of life. If the cat is trying to torment the poor thing, I take it away regardless of how bad it's hurt, no creature deserves to be tormented. So, it's up to you, how you feel about the whole thing, etc. If you know your kitty will eat it and you are ok with it, then ok. The only concern I have with them eating something wild is you don't know where it's been and because a LOT of people use poisons, I am so concerned that my kitty would be poisoned from consuming it. Read a horrible story about an owl that ate a mouse that had been poisoned and it killed the owl too, such a shame...there are other ways to rid your home, farm/etc of pests without poisoning everything else. Anyway, hope that helps.


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## cat owner again (Dec 14, 2012)

Kozykitty, interesting stories. I had gophers in the back yard and I think I saw a rat jump from a bush one dusk. I live in SO CA. I tried all these natural deterrents but nothing worked until I adopted these cats. I don't know if they just stay away or what but I haven't been seeing any varmint activity. I think my mama's two kittens were poisoned when they were living outside by themselves. I still think a neighbor did it because the cats had no owner. I made it clear that these two left are now my cats and I consider them family. Bu the way my daughter had a smaller gecko as a pet and he has been alive for 12 years.


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## KozyKitty (Jan 18, 2013)

Yeah, unfortunately there are a lot of mean people in this world, poisoning animals on purpose etc. There are also people who put out poison for rats, pigeons, owls etc then a cat eats a pigeon or an owl eats a rat and the poisoning continues. It's so sad. Hope your neighbor leaves your kitties alone and doesn't leave out poison for rodents.


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