Creepy Cool: I found a snake's skin. Or did I?

So the other day I was doing more gardening. We have statice growing in our yard that is completely over grown. So I decided to thin out the dead leaves by stripping them from the stalk in the hopes it would encourage new growth. I was well into the task when I discovered this:

I thought to myself: "Ooooh a snake skin!"

Then I saw a second piece that went with the first. Later, I found one more piece that was more deteriorated than the first set.

I quickly realized that snakes must love the tightly packed leaves of the statice because the dead leaves and stalks dry hard allowing them to slide between them which helps them to literally crawl out of their skin.

I brought the skin inside to photograph ot because I thought it was beautiful and kind of creepy cool.

Which is when I noticed the snake had toes. Say what?

Toes!

Ah! It wasn't a snake skin, it was a lizard skin! LOL. That made sense too as we have Alligator Lizards all over San Jose and I've spotted them many times even in our backyard. I may have even met the lizard who left this skin as I  once found a huge lizard just lying on the back walk. I had to literally pick him up and move him under a shrub to keep Kitai from finding him. And probably eating him.

The moment I looked for more evidence that this was a lizard, not a snake, I found small humps that belonged to the lizard's hind legs.

The tail, could have been either. This must be the hardest part for the lizard to shed. It's tightly compacted and pulled inside out like when you take off your socks.

Now that I realize the lizards use those dead leaves I've decided to leave the rest. I think I'll get some nice rocks to pile up beside them in a grotto sort of manner to give them places to rest and plant some lower greenery in front of them. Maybe succulents. Succulents would be good there because it doesn't get a lot of water. It'll look great. I'll post about it when I get around to actually doing it.