Lizzy, Our Desert Spiny Lizard

Lizzy just appeared one day in our school garden.  We did not buy her at any store.  We do not know where she came from.  All we know is that we started a school garden ten years ago, and from time to time we saw a tiny lizard or two. Our garden does have a natural dry wash area, so perhaps there was more than one lizard in the area already.  We were never quite sure how many lizards there were in the garden before it became Jardin Del Sol (The Sun's Garden).

Nevertheless, Lizzy is getting quite big now and is more frequently seen in one of our compost bins foraging for food, basking in the sun on top of Windsor blocks in the agricultural area, or scurrying into the mountain riparian or the desert quadrant.

A few years ago when Lizzy was smaller, she would stop in front of a group of our students that would be working in the vegetable garden. A brave and curious student or two would pick her up gently.  Lizzy would crawl up their shoulders and go to the top of their heads.  Now that Lizzy is big, she does not let anyone get too close to her.  She does have a family of her own now. So, we know that she has a mate somewhere in the garden.  Every once in a while we see a few of her young scampering around in the early morning sun or late afternoon in the same favorite locations.

Lizzy, our Desert Spiny Lizard, is resting on Windsor block in the agricultural area.