I had purchased a plant from Gardino Nursery in Fla., and when I opened the package an anole popped out! I caught him, contacted Gardino's - that's what they assumed it was and indicated they were common (as ladygreensleeves mentioned above)and they also mentioned that they often lay their eggs in the potted plants, so I'm betting ladygreensleeves is correct in assuming an egg hatched! I took him home and put him in an aquarium with a screen lid - caught bugs for him, bought him baby food as suggested on another internet forum....but he escaped! We never did find him! I also got some Bilbergia broms in trade a few years back, and a treefrog hopped out of the box! I was at work, he escaped, and hid - I tried, but never found him, either.

Hi, Whitecat. I *love* that I-Hsin Salmon. Beautiful! The other pictures of it (and descriptions) don't do it justice. Your picture shows it off beautifully. I really love the waxies, and that magenta lip it has is gorgeous. Fragrance is a big plus, and so rare in phals. I am definitely going to put that on my list. I think Big Leaf has one, hopefully will still have it when I accumulate some funds again :) No, I don't think any of the Byrd's crosses are that elusive waxy/shiny gold I'm looking for. At Bedford Orchids photo gallery, Border's Gold, Brother Elizabeth (url below) and Brother Victory two pages further on have it, but not for sale anywhere I've seen. I found one at Olympia orchids called Maraldee that looks right. About Byrd's -- tiny seedlings are just exciting to me. I like big in-spikes, of course. But the tinies are all promise, and all surprise. And with phals, you can bloom a lot of them within a year. I did get the cross Pat's picture shows, a couple of ice-white/greens (The Ho's Dreamy x ... crosses) and the Timothy Christopher crosses. I love T Christopher -- just beautiful multifloras, and very nice texture when crossed with any waxy. Besides, I wanted more practice with seedlings, so I can try a flask next year. PS I'm hoping to order some of the doritis crosses OrchidWeb offers this summer. No one else has anything like them. Here is a link that might be useful: Border's Gold, and Brother Elizabeth

Sounds like you may have seen a brown basilisk, which is an introduced Lizard, although I haven't heard of them in that area. They are becoming more common in Miami-Dade County. Can you give me a size estimate? Here is a link that might be useful: Brown Basilisk in Florida

Marilyn - sorry - just wanted to clarify that my previous post wasn't aimed at you in the very least. Again, you are doing the responsible thing by not releasing that animal. If you would like some more options as to care and whatnot - you've prooobably got a nearby or local herpetological society that might know of someone responsible who would take it off your hands. Now, while they can get quite aggressive, they are nonetheless interesting, impressive animals (rather personable and curious) and make good display animals at zoos. A local nature centers might also be interested if they have setups showing "Exotic Species". Then again, sometimes these unwanted rescues end up having silver linings to them - I've got a few animals that I took in as rescues and couldn't get rid of initially that I've become quite fond of (even if they are still a pain in the butt at times...haha). As for enclosures, you could possibly make a relatively cheap, large, outdoor enclosure for the animal which would solve many many problems and keep costs and maintenance down to a minimum. Since Ctenosaura are excellent diggers, I would recommend making what is basically a wood-framed (1"x1" pine wood beams work well) box that is enclosed on ALL sides with a lockable, hinged lid. I'd also probably use 0.5" x 0.5" heavy duty wire that is stapled to the wire frame. Dig a hole, sink the enclosure in there a bit and fill in with dirt - this way the animal can behave naturally and dig, but not escape. You could also landscape it with some boulders and plants...make yourself a neat little outdoor enclosure that I'm sure you'd end up enjoying. Here's an example of an enclosure that I made for my turtles if that helps you visualize what I'm talking about at all - I would just recommend making a wood frame and keeping the rest wire though. This cost about $100 to make and measures around 9x4 feet and 24" tall. It cost a little more than what you'd make because I used cedar (the moisture levels here would have rotted pine in a couple years). Here is another enclosure I used (for turtles) that is more suitable for a lizard. What you can't see is that the enclosure is totally enclosed - that enclosure is essentially a wire box that is sunken into the ground. Hope that helps and gives some encouragement. ~Mike