Teeny Tiny Toy

A couple of nights ago, I was sitting at the dining room table, correcting papers, when the cat strolled through the open patio door and began playing with something on the tile floor. She was tapping it with her paw, then it would move a teeny wiggle, and she'd tap it again. Suddenly, it slithered under the edge of the jute rug, so she worked on it until she was successful in turning up the edge of the rug and fishing it out onto the tile again.

It was dark outside, and I was using a lamp to focus onto the table top in order to read my student papers as I checked them. So, I really couldn't tell exactly what little object or creature she'd brought in to play with. She isn't fussy--she'll spend lengthy minutes batting around the plastic ring from a milk jug. A piece of cellophane wrapper from a breath mint can keep her busy for days, off and on.

At first, I thought maybe it was stick or bit of tree bark. But then it scurried under the rug. So, when she dragged it back out, I guessed cricket, maybe grasshopper, or small praying mantis? It was lying in the dark grout between our tiles and she was trying to flip it up in the air with her paw, but couldn't get it to move. So, I called in CoolGuy to come and see what living thing was the object of her rapt attention.

This is what he brought over to the table to show me under the light:

It was the tiniest lizard I've ever seen. His skin was almost transparent. He was so small! (Click on the photo and it will enlarge it for a better view.) He must have just hatched out of his egg and that nut KittyCat found him in the grass. He seemed quite stressed, understandably. If I were him, and a gigantic furry beast with huge teeth had picked me up and dropped me onto a cold hard surface that was nothing like the grass I'd just been living in, I'd be freaking out, too. 

 

So, despite our curiousity and desire to keep him and study him further, CoolGuy took him back outside and set him down in the grass to live (we hope) another day. Isn't he just adorable??