Unexpected spring visitor

I was reading curled up on the living room couch. Bogie was sleeping on the throw rug in front of the open door.  The screen door was shut so he couldn't get out.

Suddenly I see a movement.  A lizard scurried from under the couch!  It saw me as I saw it.  It hurried under the hutch.  Then when I tried to catch it, it scurried under the camelback trunk.  I didn’t even know there was room underneath.

Throughout this, Bogie seemed completely unaware until I moved the trunk a little to see the tip of a tail. For some reason, instead of “helping” he went outside to sleep in peace. Thankfully.

I found some empty plastic storage containers and a cardboard box and surrounded the trunk. But there were gaps.  I didn’t know what to do.  I didn’t want to scare it out into the open where Bogie could get it.  So I went next door to get my teenage neighbor, since he has lizards. 

He came over with me.  Said if we pick up the trunk he’ll grab the lizard.  Happily, the trunk was empty.  We lifted it a bit.  The lizard skittered.   My neighbor tried to grab it and missed.  The lizard ran right into one of the storage containers.  Luckily it was pretty deep. 

I wasn’t sure what to do with it.  He suggested out the back gate.  But his mom had wondered if it came in through the gap between front door and screen.  So I thought, out front where he probably came from. 

As we stepped outside, another lizard scurried from the base of a tree to the pile of rocks by the sidewalk.  Spouse?  So I let the one we’d captured go by the rocks.  He didn’t want to leave the container.  I had to dump him out.  And he scurried to safety between the rocks. 

Whew! 

He was about 8” long, half of that tail.  My neighbor said it was probably a whiptail.  It looked very much like this.