Today we saw a lizard in our little garden. She was very active and very healthy. But, a year ago we found one in our cantina. She wasn’t very well at all. We christened her ‘Little LIZZIE Lizard’.
Read on to find out what happened.
Yesterday we found this little lizard in our cantina and it wasn’t very well. We called it Little Lizzie Lizard!
She looked so thin and lifeless and so dull that we were really afraid she would die but we were determined to do our best and try to help her. First we needed to find out some facts about lizards. We have shared them and the story of Little Lizzie Lizard below.
Some Lizard Facts!
Lizards belong to an animal class called REPTILES.
Reptiles (with a few exceptions) are cold-blooded animals which lay eggs. They have a backbone, four legs and are covered in scales. Lizards can be found all over the world except at the North and South Poles.
Can you guess why?
There are over 3,000 different types of lizards and they come in all sorts of shapes, colours and sizes! The smallest measures a tiny 7cms whereas the largest, the Komodo Dragon can reach lengths of 3 metres.
Lizards have four legs each with five little toes and they are very fast runners and very good at climbing. They also have a very long tail part of which can detach itself if a predator grabs hold! The lizard then grows another one!
They are insectivores which means that they eat only insects but some of the larger ones are carnivores and eat small animals,
Most lizards live in trees or under rocks and are more active at night. During the day they like to sunbathe!
Why?? .
Well, it has something to do with the fact they aren’t found at the North or South Poles !!
Do you know what the climate is like at the poles?
Yes! Ice and snow and VERY cold.
You and I and all mammals like dogs and cats and rabbits and mice and horses are warm bloodied which means we are able to control our body temperature. To keep it the same even when the temperature outside changes. But reptiles and that includes lizards, are cold bloodied which means that they can’t control their body temperature. So they need to sunbathe to warm up!
This is why our little lizard was so poorly when we found her. She had been locked in a cold underground room with no sun and was very, very cold. She was also very dehydrated which means her body was lacking in water and dehydration is very serious. We couid tell she was poorly because she was so happy to be handled and that is NOT normal. The poor thing hadn’t the energy to run away!
So! The Jumbles came to the rescue!!
We had to warm her up and re-hydrate her which means we had to make sure she drank some water. We held her near a bowl of water and were really pleased because she started to lap it up !
Then we found a nice big bowl and popped her in with a shallow bowl of water and then we put it in a nice warm spot outside but not in direct sunlight because it is VERY hot here at the moment. We also gave her a little box just in case she wanted to hide!
Then we left her in peace but kept checking every hour.
After about four hours Lizzie Lizard was looking very different. More alert and a much better colour ! So we put a few ants and maggots into the bowl to tempt her to eat. The DOG BISCUIT was not for Lizzie Lizard! It was just a quick way to catch some insects and transport to the bowl !
By the following morning Lizzie Lizard was anxious to get out and, instead if wanting to be handled she ran off when we tried to touch her !
That was a good sign Lizzie was feeling normal again.
It was time to let her out !
And that’s what we did!
It was such a great feeling to have helped an animal back to health and to return it to the wild.
Creative Learning for Young Children 