Comments on: 4-Foot Lizard Loose Near Decatur

By: SR

SR — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 21:55:26 +0000

Wow. Your mom is far braver (is that the right adjective? tolerant?) than mine. I actually shared this story on FB with the tag line that I guess my mom won’t be visiting Decatur any time soon. She acknowledged that I was likely right about that. She did allow my friend to leave his snakes sealed in their aquariums in her basement when we went on a long weekend trip, but I’m pretty sure she did not go downstairs until they were removed and probably didn’t sleep the whole time, either. I do like the image of a mom “walking” a monitor lizard on a harness & leash.

By: At Home in Decatur

At Home in Decatur — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 16:39:56 +0000

I plan to NEVER swim near any of those species–crocodiles,loggerhead turtles, water moccasins, and crocodiles! Even mushy lake bottoms give me the willies. I like cold New England lakes with slate rock bottoms. But evidently TomL’s kin were ok with swimming in a pond with an alligator.

By: smalltowngal

smalltowngal — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 15:30:21 +0000

I don’t know anything about crocodiles, at least not firsthand. But growing up in the deep South (100+ miles from the Gulf) where alligators were very common, we were taught that alligators can be extremely aggressive at any given time. We fished a lot, but never went swimming where they were known (or strongly suspected) to be. And where you have alligators, you also find loggerhead turtles and water moccasins. A large specimen of the former could take off a child’s foot, and the latter would almost surely put you in what my father called “the marble garden.”

By: At Home in Decatur

At Home in Decatur — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 14:50:41 +0000

No, but I thought crocodiles are more agressive, no? My impression from going to Costa Rica where alligators are in some parts and crocodiles in others is that alligators should be left alone but crocodiles should be actively avoided.

By: smalltowngal

smalltowngal — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 14:01:47 +0000

Are you operating on the incorrect assumption that alligators don’t eat people?