Nesting: National Geographic Edition

My adventures in nesting have taken me to the sand pile -- the foot-and-a-half tall, five-feet-across mound of sand that our landlords left in the driveway with the words, "we can come move that this week"... two years ago when we moved in. It's on a side section of the driveway that we didn't really need at the time, so we weren't in a tremendous hurry to see it gone. Now that they're going to be repaving my street, though, and the housemates who usually park out front will have to park in the lawn if I don't reclaim the concrete, I had strong motivation to get it moved.

Friday I'd finally unearthed the majority of the sand (which, after two years, was covered in several inches of mulch and a dense mat of English ivy) and started shoveling it into a large rolling trash bin. When I stuck my shovel in for the third or fourth time, it came out with something on the end that looked like a heat-wilted Mentos candy. Odd. When I set the shovel down, the "candy" split... and I discovered it was, in fact, a spiny lizard egg.

I was instantly grieved that I'd broken it;  besides having a soft spot in my heart for babies in general, I have great affection for the spiny lizards in my yard. They're resilient, they're docile, they grow to be almost a foot long, and -- of particular interest to me -- their favorite foods include mosquitoes and roaches. Since we live near a creek and encounter more than our share of both, I'm sure you understand why I want to do everything I can to keep them happy living at the Abbey.

Much to my delight, when I looked where I'd been digging, I discovered the egg I'd inadvertently broken was only one of a sizable clutch of them. I'd uncovered another five or six. I decided the next day I would transfer them into a bucket of sand so they'd have a safe place to incubate while I continued clearing the driveway. Meanwhile, I scooped the sand back over them for safekeeping.

When I returned to the sand pile the next day and brushed back the sand to see the eggs again, I saw that one had opened... about the same time that I saw its former occupant, just shy of two inches long, scramble down the sand pile and into my yard! I grabbed an empty jar from the garage, set it beside the clutch of eggs, and gently scooped the whole nursery inside -- not because I intended to keep them in captivity. mind you, but just so I could watch them hatch, appropriately commemorate their birth and show you these:

As someone counting down the last several weeks before she gets to see her own baby 'hatch,' I found great encouragement in watching someone else's babies make a successful debut... and as someone who knows I'm whacked out on pregnancy hormones, you shouldn't be surprised to learn that as one of the babies ran up onto my hand for a moment before taking to the fence, I found myself sighing, "They grow up so fast."

Comments

[lauren a.]

awww! how awesome!

[kristen]

at least your milk isn't in yet. you might have let down.

[Ami]

What fun! What was Aidan's reaction?

[mrs. n]

Lauren -- I know, right!?

Kristen -- even if it had, I don't envision the latching having gone well...

Ami -- he was a little wary until I assured him they don't bite. Then he was almost as excited as his mommy was. "Bye bye, babies!" he cried out to them as the skittered under (and over) the fence. "See you later!"