Lizard hunting

[Ichthysaur]

Fun unless you are the prey.

My tortie used to catch lizards that came into the house or the screened lanai. She'd carry them through the living room to the laundry room and drop them in the litter box, watch them run around a little, then fish them out and bring them back into the living room, play with them till they wouldn't play anymore, and then eat them, snout to tail. Vet said that sounded like a lot of fun (for her.) I am glad to find this cat site because even though she's an old lady now and her hunting days are pretty much over, I still wonder why in the world she did that with the litter box. Any thoughts? Does anybody else's cat do this?

 

[danteshuman]

Wait your cat actually caught the lizards? Mine just bats are the bushes until they drop a tail, then he acts all proud! He doesn’t eat the tails either.

The litter box is to contain the poor lizard while the cat hunts it. I had one cat that would catch and release live finches in my bedroom. He would catch and release them to death!

 

[Ichthysaur]

That's probably it! Yes, she ate them. You could hear crunching and slurping if you weren't quick enough to leave the room.

I'd always heard that cats have to learn hunting behavior from their mothers. It surprised me when Molly turned out to be such an able hunter because she was left on a cat shelter doorstep when she was too little to be weaned and we got her straight from the shelter. So either her mother got in some teaching really early, or (once again) what I'd always heard isn't true.

 

[klunick]

We had a cat that would go after skinks. Must have almost caught one because it popped its tail off as a defense. I had neve seen that before so I had to video it. The tail wiggled around for so long!!! It was so fascinating

 

[Caspers Human]

If Casper saw a lizard he probably just $*** himself!

We don’t have mice in our house and there aren’t very many lizards in this climate. Maybe the occasional garter snake. Casper, being an all-indoor house cat, doesn’t have the opportunity to hunt things like that.

One time, a while back, we caught a toad on the back porch and we showed it to Casper just to see what he would do. (Yes, we made sure he didn’t bite into it.) He, pretty much, just freaked out. He pawed at it a few times but, mostly he just sat there with a “What the...” look on his face.

He’ll occasionally kill bugs or spiders but, after the “Great Stink Bug Incident,” he’s pretty circumspect about bugs.

But for the “ick factor,” it might be good for Casper to chase a lizard if it would give him some stimulation.

Oh, well... Cats will be cats, I guess.

 

[Ichthysaur]

We have a ton of lizards here in Florida and a lot of them have the poor judgment to come into the house. Or into the lanai, which is screened all the way around but they get in somehow. Once Molly brought a ringsnake in. She was so proud of herself, and kind of mad when I helped it back out the door.

 

[danteshuman]

Cats can learn how to hunt from other cats. Jackie was a bottle baby and now is an only kitty most of the time. I call him a city kitty because he sucks so badly at hunting!

Years ago I watched 2 bottle babies being taught how to hunt/be a cat by their adopted father (a neutered male who mommied them.) I called him their dad. Those 2 bottle babies were good hunters. 1 grew up to be a phenomenal hunter despite being declawed! She caught and killed pigeons! (& other things.) ( I know declawing bad, not my cat & over 20 years ago!)

Jackie has 2 siblings. Occasionally they are taught how to hunt by watching their ‘Uncle’ Chess hunt in the backyard. So far they are OK hunters. I keep hoping they will teach a Jackie a bit.

 

[Ichthysaur]

We did have an older neutered male who hunted and he may have taught Molly a thing or two. But he didn't know how to eat his kill. We would have to pull him away from field mice for fear he would choke on them.

 

[fionasmom]

Fiona herself was a steel eyed killing machine. She was an indoor only cat, rescued as a tiny baby from the center of a huge park where she evidently did not walk herself. When she was quite old, about 14, I realized that she had no ability to jump or climb, so she was able to sit out on the back patio if I was home...and that was when I realized that she had evidently saved up 14 years of aggression. Lizards were her prey of choice and she only wanted them dead, nothing more. About the first 100 times I ran outside to save the lizard, who was usually badly injured or dead, she became furious because I was interfering, so I just gave up. Amazing how many lizards are around now in the years since her passing.

 

[Ichthysaur]

Then I guess the thing I thought I knew wasn't so. We used to call Molly "Lizardbane".

 

[game misconduct]

i think its mainly instinct driven i am amazed every time a fly gets in and graycie hunts them down swatting them out of mid air and eating them before i can get them to kill and throw away. bigger stuff probably will get played with to death

 

[maggie101]

Luckily there has been no stray cats. I have a family of lizards that live on my porch. No exterminator needed here. Lizards take care of the ants and beetles, cool to watch. When they mate it looks like they're hugging. There throat retracts bright red. I have a video but trouble posting it. Just saw one of the little ones. Cute!

 

[Caspers Human]

Yeah! You're right about that!

Even when we brought that toad to show Casper, we let it go, afterward, right where we found it.

They say that just a plain, old American, brown toad can eat 1,000 to 2,000 insects every day!

Besides, they sing at night and it's nice to listen to them as you are falling asleep.

 

[maggie101]

That is cool!

 

[game misconduct]

rather hear toads and frogs than crickets

 

[Caspers Human]

Y’know... When I first moved out here, I would hear this sound like a bird, coming from the trees that kept me up at night. Birds? At night?

Then I found out they were Gray’s tree frogs and I was like, “Doh!!!”

Oh! And, katydids! To hear them from a distance, it sounds like huge bugs. Then I saw one and it was only half an inch long and it was another, “Doh!!!” moment!

Now, they are just a part of the background of nature!

Some nights, I couldn’t sleep without them!

 

[Caspers Human]

rather hear toads and frogs than crickets

Oh! By the way!

Do you know that you can tell the temperature by counting how many times a cricket chirps in a certain time period?

Yes! It's true! It's called "Dolbear's Law," discovered in 1897!

Dolbear's law - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

If you want to know the temperature in degrees Fahrenheit, count the number of times a single cricket chirps in 15 seconds then add 40.

If you want to know the temperature in degrees Celcius, count the number of chirps in 8 seconds then add 5.

 

[Ichthysaur]

I knew but I had forgotten. Thanks!

 

[Tobermory]

I lived in Florida many years ago, and my cats would bring lizards into the house from the lanai. They never ate them, but they’d sometimes “bury” them under a rug. One time I picked up the rug in front of the sink to find a very flat, desiccated lizard husk stuck to the bottom.

 

[Ichthysaur]

Only once?