Herpetology

Did you know that the study of lizards is called Herpetology? Neither did I. Until today. There is a blog that I love to read. See it here. This poor woman has been dealing with snakes. She titled her blog "Herpetology 101" and when I looked up the word, lo and behold, it was the study of snakes AND lizards.

I hate, hate, HATE snakes. I can't even look at the pictures of them because it will give me nightmares. Well, in good ol' Alabama, there are snakes in abundance. Thankfully, I have not come into contact with any snakes while I have lived here, but I have run into their ugly cousin...the lizard. I Hate lizards.(notice the hate is not as strong as my HATE of snakes:)

Well, recently I have encountered 2 lizards of massive proportion. These are not my only lizard encounters, but definitely the biggest. Last year, we had a few small green lizards in our house and one larger black one, but none of those compare to the 2 most recent.

2 Saturdays ago, my husband was taking a shower and I was cleaning the house. While putting some dishes in the sink, something caught my eye. Right next to me on the dishwasher was this evil creature:

SICK!! 

Perhaps this is a good time to remind you that I am a city girl. I don't enjoy lizards, snakes, camping, etc. I yelled like a crazy person and my husband flew out of the shower (thankfully, he grabbed a towel on his way out) and rescued me. He caught the lizard and set it free.

Then, this past Saturday, we had gone to a farmer's market, and on our way in, my husband was unlocking the front door when he heard something scurrying around above his head. That is when we beheld the following creature:

This was as close as I would get to this one! 

This was WAY bigger than the other one. I contemplated not coming into the house until my husband reminded me that there may be others that were out there as well. Then I made a mad dash to the door.

I haven't been the same since these sightings! I am constantly on the lookout for lizards. I turn on lights and look around before entering rooms. I won't reach into any dark place. I am really jumpy. Even now, I find myself looking around the room for anything that could be lurking in here. I wonder if there is a name for this phobia...perhaps herpetophobia?