Hello there my fine scaly-free friends.

Please, let me introduce myself.  My name is Don Juan. I am a lizard and I am looking for love.

Oh what a fine day for romance.  The birds are singing.

The air is sweet.

The scenery is breathtaking.

SHE is breathtaking. Oh my, just look at how her scales glitter.

Her eyes shine like tiny amber stars in her sleek arrow shaped head.  Her stripes, did you see her stripes?

That yellow!

Oh, she has the brains to go with those gorgeous stripes.  She has impeccable taste.

Just look at that delectable brilliant emerald green cadydid leg she is crunching on.  What strong, fast legs she must have to catch such prey.

I must go talk to her.  I must tell her how I feel.  What a beautiful creature she is.

“Oh creature of my heart; jewel of my eye.”

“I am known as the great Don Juan.”

“Just look at my strong claws; my brilliant blue flash of scales down my side.”

Hey!  Where are you going?

Come back!

I did not mean to frighten you little lady.

No, no I do not mean to eat you!

Please, just give me a minute of your precious time.  I heard you were interested in laying some eggs over there underneath the pineapple plant.  I wish for you to consider me to assist you with that.

I am known to be the largest and strongest lizard in these parts.  I am able to catch the tastiest and largest of all the insects under the banana tree.  My legs are strong and fast.  My tail quick and flexible for balance.

Just look at my blue scales, they are as beautiful as the noon sky.

Have you seen any lizard more handsome than I?

Just take a moment to consider.

Let me know your decision.  I assure you there is no other lizard better suited for your needs.

Many of you are familiar with the Giant Green Iguana like our animal ambassador, Juan Amigo.  Few have met a different kind of iguana, The spiny tailed iguana of Costa Rica.

They are also known as the Black Ctenosaur (pronounced Teen -oh- soar).  Ticos call them, Iguana Negra or black iguana.

The black iguana is much like his better known cousin, the green iguana, in many ways.  They both love to hang out in trees to catch the rays.  Or on a roof as with this iguana.

Both iguanas have spikes on their backs and can use their tails as whips if you get too close. They lay eggs in the ground and can live in many different habitats.  During the dry months, both iguanas eat lots of flowers and fruit.  During the wet season, both types of iguanas eat leaves, but Ctenosaurs also eat meat.  That’s right, green iguanas are strictly vegetarian.  Black iguanas are omnivores eating crabs, eggs, bugs, rodents, bats, and even other lizards with their salad!

What is this guy up to?

There seems to be no leaves on this tree, only flowers.  That must mean it is the dry season.

Oh look, he is climbing up that thin branch!

Maybe he is going to go and smell the flowers.  They look so pretty together.

I thought I counted more flowers.  Where did they go?

Hey!  You naughty iguana you ate all of the flowers!

Well, that was yummy.

Find out more about Costa Rican black iguanas here:

http://www.anywherecostarica.com/flora-fauna/reptile/black-ctenosaur

One of my greatest pleasures at my lodging in Costa Rica were all the little friends who would greet me every hour of the day and night.

They would hang from the ceiling, crawl along the ground, skitter under my feet, sneak under the table tops, stick to the light fixture, plaster themselves to the mirror, and chirp happily while clinging to the mosquito netting above my bed.  They also joyfully consumed thousands of little insects that were out for blood, my blood.

This little Yellow-headed Gecko (Gonatodes albogularis) greeted me in the morning at the top of the stairs.  Most of the geckos in Costa Rica are nocturnal, but these guys enjoy sunshine. Only males have the nice yellow head.

Don’t you just love his blue lips?

There were many lizards that peered at me from the walls.  The most common were these little guys.

I had trouble spotting these lizards until they moved.

Really nice camoflague there buddy.

This beautiful rusty red creature is an anole.  There are over 400 different species of anoles.

Perhaps someone out there will tell me which one this is?

He lived in my cabin.  The entire building was his domain.  I would wake up in the morning with him sitting on the open windowsill, catching the morning sun.  Sometimes he would sit at the very edge of the handrail waiting for me to return from my shower.

Mr. Red had no interest in me, however.  He was looking for love.

Hey!  Is that a girl anole over there?

I better get her attention!

That brilliant red gem of a flag fanning from his throat is called a dewlap.  Mr. Red’s dewlap is quite impressive.  I have no doubt that the scaly girl he was trying to woo noticed this handsome display.

Different anoles, different dewlaps.

This anole reminded me of agate I used to polish in my rock tumbler.  My favorites were always the small bursts of color encased in a glass clear drop of transparent rock.

Everywhere I looked there was a lizard resting in the sun, sitting in the shade, munching on a bug, or trying to attract love.  I would sit for hours just watching them go about their lizardy business.

At night they seemed to disappear, replaced with nocturnal geckos chirping from hidden places among the palm fronds.  Following the sound, I would not find the gecko, but the anoles fast asleep.  The gecko would chuckle his chirps at me from his new hiding place.

It is time for me to find my own frond to snuggle up on for the night.

sueños dulces

I enjoyed one of the most beautiful scenes of a jungle on my trip to Costa Rica.  We were high in the mountains above the Pacific Coast rain forests surrounded by beautifully maintained gardens.

Every morning I would watch the clouds rise from the valleys into the sky.

And every evening settle down into the valleys for a long rest.

Many of the mountains were very high.  These ones rise above palm plantations.

The trees were amazing.  I tried to hug a few, but they were too big.

Many of the trees have enormous buttress roots.  They help hold up the massive trees.  People used this strategy when building huge buildings before they were built with metal and concrete.

Is this where chocolate comes from?

Not only can the canopy be delicious, but also fun. The animals climb along the massive branches in the dark canopy.  We prefer to fly, zzzzzzzzzzip!

Down from the emergent layer in the sun into the dark unknown.

Under the canopy in the understory and forest floor, it sure is dark!  No wonder baby trees take so long to grow big.

Down here there is plenty of water.  Just not enough sun for many plants to grow on the forest floor.

Speaking of the sun, I think it is time it went to bed.  All of this exploring has worn me out.

Good night!

Caroline Seitz

Director/Founder of Reptiles Alive LLC

Reptiles Alive Name: Cobra Caroline (aka The Reptile Lady)

Hisstory: Cobra Caroline performed her first live reptile show in public when she was 9 years old.  She continued presenting wildlife education programs through high school and college and then worked a few years at various zoos and nature centers.  In 1996, she founded “The Reptile Lady” which would soon become “Reptiles Alive LLC.”

RA Diet: Favorite lunch time items for Cobra Caroline include banh mi sandwiches, BLT’s with homegrown tomatoes, and anything her mom cooks for  her.

Natural Diet: Cobra Caroline is an opportunistic omnivore.  She will eat both plants and animals, including seafood.  Her diet is variable depending on the seasons.  Winter  foods may include slow cooked soups and stews,  where as summer fare typically includes vegetables grown in her garden and fish and crabs from the Chesapeake Bay.

Range: Although Cobra Caroline was born in Arlington and has lived her whole life in northern Virginia, she spends much of her time traveling, especially to Reno, NV where her father lives.  She also has had special opportunities to spend time on the Big Island of Hawaii where her brother lives and works as a sea turtle biologist.

Habitat: You could find Cobra Caroline in many different habitats.  If you are on the road, look for driving the reptile van to a show.  You might see her performing a show at a school, library, festival, or other venue.  She manages the office, so she spends a lot of time on the phone and on the computer.  And she supervises the animal collection, so she spends time monitoring the health and care of the animals here.  WHEW – she is everywhere!

Size: Don’t be fooled by Cobra Caroline’s size.  At 5 feet tall, she is more than capable of handling a giant python, capturing a crocodile, or carrying a heavy tortoise.

Lifespan: Cobra Caroline could live to 80 years or more.

Reproduction: Cobra Caroline has successfully raised many plants and vegetables into a beautiful home garden.

Conservation: Since she was 4 years old, Cobra Caroline has dedicated her life to teaching other people how important snakes and other animals are to our environment. She spent her childhood learning about nature by reading books, writing in her nature journal, and spending copious amounts of time in the swamp near her house searching for snakes, frogs, insects and other creatures.  She started volunteering at nature centers and zoos as a teenager and became a Virginia Licensed Wildlife Rehabilitator when she was 18.  Wildlife conservation IS Caroline’s life.

Cool Facts: After graduating from George Mason University with a B.A. in Speech Communication, Cobra Caroline spent some years working a variety of fun jobs.  She worked as a park naturalist at Hidden Pond Nature Center;  a park ranger Mason Neck State Park where she lead canoe trips into bald eagle habitats and a wildlife educator at a zoo where she performed shows with monkeys, kinkajous, exotic birds, and other animals.  One of her strangest jobs was working for an animal removal company as a “Snake Removal Technician.”  This involved spending hours crawling through dirty and sometimes scary crawlspaces and attics searching for snakes and inspecting the facility to figure out how to stop them from getting in.

Cobra Caroline feels lucky every day – as the director of Reptiles Alive, she gets to “work” at job she loves.  She can’t imagine doing anything else.