EWWW!!! Mangled lizard!

AGH! Matthew’s laughing at me, but I’m still coming down from a freaked out adrenalin high. Hobkin caught, killed, and chewed up a lizard in the house. I heard Hobkin crunching something near the front door so I came to investigate what he’d found. I shooed him away from whatever it was. At first, I thought he’d discovered a bit of string or yarn, until I picked it up and realized what I was holding was a tail with attached mangled body. I screamed. I can’t believe I screamed. I can deal with all types of traditional creepy crawlies–snakes, spiders, bats, rats–in fact I like them. But finding that ruined mass of tissue attached to a tail totally unglued me.

Couldn’t even tell it was a lizard at first. Thought it was a mouse until Matthew and I got the flashlight out to examine it closer. It was a small lizard. Quite mangled. When I thought it was a mouse, I thought Hobkin had eaten about half the body, but after we figured out it was a lizard, it looks like he just chewed it up a bit. I believe the majority of the body was still there. Readjusting my body mass expectations from “mouse” to “lizard,” I think I could identify a head and midsection. It would appear I stopped Hobkin within a couple seconds of him nabbing it or else he probably would have polished it off.

Ew ew ew eww ewww! I scrubbed my hands three times, feeling downright obsessive-compulsive about it, and I had the urge to make Hobkin gargle with mouthwash or something . . .

On the verge of panic, I made Matthew call his godmother to consult with her, but she wasn’t home, so then made him call the head of the ADSA (American Domestic Skunk Association). She basically said we were very silly and that we didn’t have anything to worry about. After all, skunks eat mice and lizards naturally.

So now I’m trying to get my heart rate under control. My plump fuzzbump is a hunter after all. It can’t have been a very challenging hunt. I mean its winter (and how the hell did it get in the house in the first place?). The lizard was probably very slow moving. But I guess my darling does still have hunting instincts.

But now he’s in my lap, all sweet and cuddly, and probably wondering why Mommy was screaming earlier. Sigh.