Stacey Vavrinek was enjoying a quiet afternoon at her picnic table in Florida when a sudden movement in her garden caught her attention. Something had stirred among the cacti and succulents — something with a tiny head and a perfect sense of humor.
Peeking out from the open mouth of a plastic dinosaur was a little lizard, calmly watching the world go by.
“I looked down, and there he was,” Vavrinek said. “Just this tiny lizard, perfectly tucked into the dinosaur like it was his home.”
Her garden, like her neighbor Michael’s, is full of playful plastic dinos — part of a long-running joke between them.
“We’ve been sneaking dinosaurs into each other’s gardens for years,” she explained. “One of us hides a dinosaur at night, and the next morning, it’s been relocated. Now it’s turned into a whole thing. Everyone’s got dinos now.”
But this time, one little lizard decided to make the joke his reality — by moving in.
At first, Vavrinek thought he might be trying to blend in, but to her, it looked more like he was wearing a costume. “I said, ‘He looks like he’s trick-or-treating!’” she laughed. “Just sitting there in his dino disguise.”
Since that day, the lizard has become a familiar sight in the garden. He suns himself on the rocks and retreats inside his plastic dinosaur whenever he needs a nap or a break from the growing number of visitors who come to catch a glimpse of him.
“He’s not scared of us, but he’s getting a little more shy,” Vavrinek said. “So when people come by, he tucks himself a bit deeper into the dinosaur.”
The once-silly garden decorations have taken on a new charm — bringing smiles to passersby and providing a cozy home to one very clever little reptile.
“He just absolutely loves it in there,” Vavrinek said. “So we let him be. After all, who wouldn’t want to live inside a dinosaur?”
