Ladies and gentlemen, introducing my new pet, the Kitchen Desert Night Lizard! This is a narrowly endemic variant of the regular desert night lizard (Xantusia vigilis) which inhabits much of the western Sonoran and Mojave Desert region. This form lives in my kitchen in Yucca, hiding behind my countertop sink and next to the stove. He’s been there for two months or more and it was only recently that I realized that he actually WANTS to live with me. Twice before earlier in the summer, I captured him and relocated him outside, thinking that he was a juvenile western whiptail lizard. (Which would make him a her, as whiptails are all females and reproduce asexually via parthenogenesis – i.e. cloning themselves by laying self-fertile eggs.) Assuming that the whiptail would rather be outside and had accidentally strayed inside, I gently removed (her) to the outdoors thinking I’d be done with it.
Well that is not going to be the case, apparently. This little guy (it could still be a female, but for simplicity’s sake I’ll use the “he” pronoun) keeps coming back inside and has claimed terrain in the kitchen above. He hangs out there nightly, eating moths and small spiders and whatever else gets in. He’s quite wary of me and won’t readily let me take his portrait, and I had to sneak up on him to catch these photos before he slipped back behind the appliances. Taken on two different nights several weeks apart, you can see the shedding skin in the first photo sloughing off of the tail.
So what should I name him? Assuming he’ll live with me for quite some time yet to come….
Desert night lizards are not rare, but they are almost never seen as they are quite secretive and active mainly at night, unlike most diurnal lizard species. In fact up until this summer, I’d never actually seen one. Xantusia vigilis is strongly associated with Joshua trees (Yucca brevifolia) and other yuccas in habitat (like Mojave yucca, Yucca schidigera and banana yucca, Y. baccata), and in fact the preferred living places for these small 4-inch-long lizards is in the dead leaves that hang on the trunks of the yuccas, or in dead fallen trunks that have started to hollow and decay. They will survive in other piles of dead woody debris however which helps them extend their range. (Including kitchens, apparently. I swear I don’t have woody debris inside, however!) Studies have shown that these little lizards live in colonies, have family units, and live for 7 to 10 years, which is a pretty long time for such a small reptile. In almost every regard, these are different from normal lizards aside from their fairly conventional appearance.
Nightcrawler in action, being predatory and fierce.
A few weeks later, I found him hanging out around this onyx light on my kitchen windowsill. While I use this light for ambiance most of the year, I don’t leave it on in the summer months because it attracts too many bugs inside the house. But yesterday I went to town and decided to leave it on in front of the closed window. Small insects and spiders which were already inside were attracted to the light, and provided a good source of food for my new friend, whom I think I may call Nightcrawler.
I captured Nightcrawler in action just seconds before he pounced upon a tasty winged ant. Fierce actions in the Wild Kingdom! Nightcrawler measures no more than 4 inches long from nose to tail tip, but he’s clearly a force to be reckoned with for the hapless invertebrates that are drawn to the light above his lair behind the sink. 
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Note: This post was originally made on Facebook on Tuesday Sept 1, 2015. I’ll include a couple of comments below. I didn’t see Nightcrawler during the winter of 2015-2016, and assume he went into hibernation or whatever the proper term for reptile winter rest is. He reappeared in spring and the little Xantusia lived with me most of the summer of 2016 as well, although being skittish as ever I didn’t try capturing any more photos of him. He disappeared for presumed winter sleep in the fall of 2016 and did not return in 2017 or 2018. Whether this is because of a natural end to its lifespan, relocation to elsewhere outside, or some other unknown factor I cannot say. But it was fun and amusing to see the lizard for much of two summers.
I will add that the current resident of the spot that Nightcrawler used to occupy in the cleft between my wall and my sink/countertop is a medium-sized black spider of some sort which weaves a funnel-shaped web sprawling out of the cleft and spreading low across the back edge of the sink, and it’s been there all of 2018. Obviously I don’t evict everyone who tries to move into the house. New tenants may continue to cycle in and out of this space until one day when I finally finish the countertop with tile or something, as one is supposed to do with countertops….
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Zachary: “I’ve always wanted to see any of the Xantusia. Lucky bastard has one living in his kitchen!”
Me: “I know, and I even tried to evict him twice mistaking him for another species! 
“
Aaron: “Me too, I have yet to find one.”
Me: “It’s quite ironic that I had always wanted to see one as well, and didn’t before now. I knew the species lived in my region (at least in theory) and should be present in my Joshua tree forest and perhaps the Yucca baccata or Nolina bigelovii that also grow here, but I also knew their reputation for secrecy made them a bit harder to find. I also admit I didn’t really try hard, either. That’s why I didn’t recognize this as a Xantusia at first. Funny how life works.”
Thank-you for your narrative on your Xantusia vigilis lizard. Having recently made a pet of one myself, your story was of great interest to me. Living for the last 23 years in the Morongo Basin’s Yucca Valley has had me dealing with these covert creatures on an irregular but frequent basis. Your easy reading, colloquial style was a refreshing find! Hopefully, you will continue managing your domestic pet! Sincerely, Shaun St. Clair
Thanks for your comment Shaun. I still have Xantusia vigilis living behind my countertop and stove back. I do not know whether it’s the same individual(s) as in my original article anymore but there is still at least one and maybe two living back there. I just saw one a few days ago sitting on the dish drying rack, and he skittered away as I approached. I think that for small lizards this species lives a comparatively long time so it might be the same one as the original. They amuse me and are much more welcome than some other desert critters that come inside – kissing bugs (Triatoma) among the least welcome of all!
Hi I’m Deborah I live in the Antelope Valley Palmdale California and my boyfriend brought home one of these little critters the other day about a week ago maybe and handed it to me and it was so small I never seen a lizard so small I was like oh my gosh it’s sometimes and Tiny he’s only about an inch and a half long tops skinny skinny little guy and then a couple days later I was picking up some tiles out side and found another little guy was cold out and he didn’t go very fast so I grabbed him put him in there as a friend or surrogate brother and last night low and behold I found one more when I was picking up leather off of couch cushion out in the desert he wasn’t moving at all he was cold so he came home in a potato chip bag now I have three little fellas or ladies I have tiny (tiny one) tiny 2 and now tiny 3 each one slightly bigger than the last so it’s been a struggle to get tiny one something he can eat my house doing little tiny maggots at first but they drowned when it rained and then I went digging around the fruit trees to find some little bug blues that he could eat he’s so small tiny tiny skinny getting skinnier I’m worried but I just now saw him eat a bug wonderful wonderful wonderful so far so good my little friend seem pretty comfortable and they seem to be getting along well I think they are going to family up and keep each other company enjoyed your story hope you do the same I will message if I have any questions if that’s okay seems how I’m a new not desert lizard mama I had a gecko that we caught out here in the desert but he got away I was so sad but now I have three tiny lizards to take care of anyway have a great one peace
Whatever lizards you captured are likely to be of another species. Many lizards lay their eggs in the summer and then hatchlings emerge that are quite small in late summer or fall, because they are still juveniles, not adults. Regardless of the species however they can be challenging to keep unless you provide the correct food sources, water, habitat, and temperatures for them. I don’t keep any reptiles (even the desert night lizard behind my stove and countertop just lives here and fends for itself, with no assistance from me) so I don’t know precisely what those food sources should be for such small juveniles. But unless you manage to find the proper care and feeding regime for them, they are pretty likely to slowly starve to death. My suggestion is that you either learn quickly how to properly maintain them, or simply let them go back outside to fend for themselves. After all they came from the wild and they basically know how to survive there via their inborn instincts. I personally would just leave them to it….