Poseidon, a five-year-old Asian water lizard, escaped his enclosure, which had been damaged by Hurricane Irma, three weeks ago. After being notified by the Naples, Fla., club’s employees of sightings, owner Kevin Hennings captured the reptile using frozen chicken.
After escaping his enclosure three weeks ago, Poseidon, the five-year-old Asian water lizard was reunited with his owner, Kevin Hennings, on November 5 when Hennings captured his pet reptile at TwinEagles Club in Naples, Fla., the Fort Myers, Fla., News-Press reported.
The 6-foot, 50-pound reptile escaped from his 20-by-20-foot outdoor enclosure on October 14 and made the golf course his new stomping grounds. While at a food truck event Sunday, Hennings, 20, got a call from a golf club employee who told him he had found the lizard, the News-Press reported.
By the time Hennings jumped in his car to head to the golf course, he received similar messages, and one person offered to keep an eye on the reptile until Hennings arrived, the News-Press reported.
On his way to TwinEagles, Hennings picked up some frozen chicken, and when he arrived at the golf course, he soon spotted Poseidon. “He was on the shoreline of a massive lake,” he said. “And if he had gotten into that lake, it would’ve been game over.”
Just a few days earlier, on November 1, Hennings had been in a similar position. He had received a call alerting him about the reptile at TwinEagles and got close enough to Poseidon to touch the lizard. But when a crowd formed and a truck passed, the reptile got scared and dipped back into the lake. “He was able to get away from me,” he said.
But on Sunday, Hennings arrived prepared. Waving pieces of frozen chicken back and forth, he was able to get Poseidon’s attention. After patiently twirling the chicken in front of the lizard for a while, Poseidon slowly emerged from the lake and ambled toward a crouched-down Hennings, the News-Press reported.
“I wanted to get him as far away from the lake as possible,” Hennings said.
Once he lured the lizard close enough, Hennings was able to move around the reptile and pin him to the ground. A friend helped control the reptile’s tail, and Hennings picked Poseidon up and put him in a bin. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt anything better” than immediately after catching Poseidon, Hennings said. “Probably the best feeling in the world.”
See footage of the capture below.
Although Poseidon was “a little worked up” in the hour after the capture, Hennings said his beloved pet was unharmed and doing well, the News-Press reported.
“Physically, he’s 100 percent,” he said. “It doesn’t look like he missed a meal.”
The expansive lake likely provided Poseidon with a lot of fish to eat, Hennings said, but he still scheduled a vet visit to make sure the reptile didn’t ingest anything that could harm him. Poseidon’s cage still is damaged from Hurricane Irma, so the reptile will stay in a large room at Hennings’ home, he said. There he has heat lamps to keep him warm and a little pool area to cool off, the News-Press reported.
Poseidon was not in his enclosure during the hurricane, which uprooted a tree that fell on the big lizard’s cage. Hennings said he repaired the cage, but that Poseidon must have squeezed through the floor and door panels to escape. Hennings plans to double the enclosure’s size after the tree is removed, the News-Press reported.
Soon after Poseidon’s escape last month, the lizard on the loose captured the attention of local and national media outlets, residents near and far, and social media users. Hennings said he received “hundreds, if not over 1,000” phone calls, some from as far away as California, after posting about the missing reptile on social media and coverage by various news outlets, the News-Press reported.
Some callers said they saw the reptile, and other just wanted to wish him good luck, Hennings said. “It was really cool, really refreshing,” he said.
Unlike Nile monitors, water lizards are not considered an invasive species, Hennings said. They have not established a breeding population, he said, and a permit is not required to own them. Hennings, who has worked with alligators and pythons, said he plans to get a permit to use Poseidon for educational presentations in the coming weeks, the News-Press reported.
“I want people to understand the animals. They’re very misunderstood,” he said. “Let people really know what they are and what they’re about.”
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