Little Who's Up

The original "Who's Up" was an amazing side-blotched lizard. While everything Tom has read says they only live an average of six months or so, she lived on the front porch for three plus years. She was the first side-blotched to come to the sound of the fly swatter, eat off the fly swatter, eat out of your hand, ride the fly swatter to the dining room window and eat dead flies for Tom off the window sill. Tom would wack a fly on the front porch, call "Who's Up" and she would be the first lizard there almost every time. She'd wait on the wall by the front door and pick off the dead fly as Tom walked outside with it, twice free fell off the top of the wall to land on the swatter before another lizard got there and once jumped off the roof onto the fly swatter when Tom called her. When a fly would land on the porch, Tom could hear the fly, but not always see it. Like a bird dog, she would stare at where the fly was to help Tom locate it and she knew as none of the others did that Kobae would attract flies wherever he might go and followed him everywhere. In an afternoon with all the guests armed with fly swatters she ate 40 flies.

Just before she disappeared three months or so ago she lost a lot of weight in one day. Generally that means laying six to eight eggs somewhere. About two weeks ago, the front porch got a little spurt of very, very, small side-blotches, with light colored heads, same as her. The last few days Tom has noticed one in particular. Seeing Kobae start across the drive way to the porch, he jumps off the wall, runs like he's on fire across the porch, leaps off the stairs and runs instinctively out to Kobae where he hangs out waiting for little flies and insects. Can't be any doubt of his ancestry. In the first picture, the original Who's Up hanging out with kids on the porch watching Kobae eat. In the second picture, just below Kobae, on the sidewalk, measuring maybe two inches (mostly tail), next generation.