I had an Animal Planet moment a few days ago.

Here in FLA, we have lots of geckos running around all over the place. And everyone, aside from the bugs and pests they eat, love them. Even folks who are usually scared witless by spiders and all manner of creepy crawlies don't mind them. After all, they eat pests, have no interest in any and all human food, and they're kind of cute looking. Plus, in a pinch they'll sell you auto insurance! :-)

Geckos rarely are seen indoors . . . certainly not in our condo (on the fifth floor) unless it is extremely cold. OK, that's a relative term . . . for Floridians and geckos that means anything below 40 degrees.

So imagine my surprise the other night when I saw a baby gecko in the kitchen. He couldn't have been more than an inch in length. Remarkable, even though he was tiny, his eyes were adult size so they looked very out of proportion. My guess is the huge eyes are part of the baby gecko's defense mechanism.

Naturally, my first instinct was to capture him and release him outdoors. But these critters are remarkable quick and after two half assed attempts to capture him I gave up. After all, if he found his way in, he could find his way out.

About an hour later, I spotted him again in the kitchen . . . maybe he couldn't find his way out. And since our place is bug free (knock on wood) he might not have been able to find any food, perhaps he wouldn't survive.

So I grabbed two glasses (imagine a bartender trying to make a martini) and was able to trap him. He looked at me, I looked at him. He was either very calm (that's what I'd like to think) or was so scared he couldn't move. Either way, I whispered some words of encouragement and tried to relax him.

When I got him outside and tried to release him, he wouldn't leave his glass prison. But when I stuck my hand inside to grab him, he happily crawled on my finger. His suction cup fingers and toes felt pretty cool (in a weird way) as he traversed his way up my finger. We played for a few minutes, had a meaningful conversation about the fragility of life and then I released him.

Not exactly on the same level as the Crocodile Hunter but who knows, maybe there's an Animal Planet show in the works for me!