A Bowie family is still waiting for a large Asian water monitor to be caught after the lizard kept showing up at their front steps and yard, prompting animal control to search the property Thursday. The reptile, measured at about 3 1/2 feet long in photos, was not found during that sweep.
Keshia Trafton said her family first spotted the animal resting on an Amazon package near the front door, then later saw it come out of nearby bushes when the weather was warm. It was also seen on the steps and on a house pillar, turning an ordinary front yard into a place the family watched closely every time they opened the door.
The sightings mattered because this was not a quick one-off visit. Humane traps were set, but they did not catch the lizard even after repeated appearances. That left the family trying to keep track of where the monitor might emerge next, while also worrying about their two small dogs.
Photos later identified the reptile as an Asian water monitor, a species Maryland law does not classify as dangerous. That made the problem less about an immediate public threat and more about a stubborn animal that kept slipping away from every attempt to remove it.
Animal control officers searched the property Thursday but did not find the reptile, and they plan to return and remove it safely. For now, the unanswered question is not what the animal was, but where it is hiding after repeatedly using the same Bowie home as a stopover.
