Ideas on how to catch lizards that eat my tomato flowers?

I have some container TumblingTom tomato plants that have had their flowers nibbled off. I got these to have lots of cherry tomatoes without the problems of squirrels and rats on groundlevel plants. I am pretty sure some small chameleon lizards and geckos may have done it. I see a few nearby. I was thinking of getting some sticky paper used to catch mice and putting it near the plants. I don't have any outdoor cats and my dog never seems to catch the lizards she chases.

Don't kill the lizards or geckos! They're very beneficial in the garden and eat other non-beneficial pests. I doubt it's the lizards or geckos eating your flowers. It's probably something else like maybe hornworms or slugs/snails.

Very few "lizards" are vegetarians, with iguanas being a notable exception. I'd be very happy to see them, as they are (as stephanie says) very much a plus.
Are your blooms missing "bites", or are they missing altogether.
Please don't use the glue traps. They are probably one of the cruelest things ever invented....

They are sheared right off, cleanly at the stem. They are high up in hanging containers and have only been there a few days. Definitely not slugs doing it. They are at eye level and I don't see any slugs or snails. No worms present either.

I agree with Stephanie here - don't kill the lizards. As catmad suggested, these lizards eat insects and very seldom go after vegetation. Of course if they get hungry enough they may eat some vegetation, but they will seek out insects first.

If you have a dog that could be the culprit. Might be unlikely, but I caught one of my pups chewing on my tomato and eggplant plants a couple years ago.

If possible, get a bag of sand (like pool sand from Lowe's or aquarium sand from a pet store) and sprinkle it around the container - say a 5 inch circle around it. Go out and check on the sand for any footprints. This may help determine what it is by the footprints.

Just an idea ;-)

I echo what others have said, please don't kill or harm the lizards. I only wish I had some.

I lived for 30+ years in South Florida, and on more than one occasion I saw lizards eat the heads of marigolds. I've never seen them eat other flowers, but maybe they do.

I doubt lizard would "nibble" the flowers; if they ate them at all, it would be the whole flower, not part of it.

Get a road runner.

Blue Jays will eat lizards. We used to have white Ibis in Sth Fla that would also eat them. Poor lizards :(

I love the lizards in my garden. Everyone is right - the lizards are good guys and I highly doubt they are eating your blossoms. My guess, since the plants are hanging, would be birds. I have had birds do all kinds of weird things in my garden that I never would have suspected.

Reading your description of "sheared off", I suspect that the blossoms just dropped. If they don't have the correct conditions to set fruit, the flowers just drop off, leaving "stumps". Sometimes just one or two in a truss, sometimes all of them. Since you say they've only been there a few days, that means they're recent transplants, I guess? Sometimes stress can do that, but most seasoned tomato growers suggest removing flowers before transplanting, to concentrate their energy into getting established. Since you're in Texas, it may simply have been too hot for them to set fruit. Pollen clumps at high temps. Mine seem to set best in the 80's, once we hit 90, everything is on hold.

I agree with Catmad. Sometimes blossoms just all seem to drop off because something is not right with the picky little 'maters. Lizards add life and movement to your garden. Most of mine are tail-less due to a fat dog that patrols our garden plots. They are definitely on the good guy list.

everyone. thanks for your help. They were definitely recent transplants. I think CatMad hit the nail on the head. The stress of transplanting must have been it. I have been keeping a constant eye on them all day and haven't seen any kind of varmint land on my precious babies! Here is a picture. Thankfully they seem to be making a bunch more replacement flowers now.

Nice set-up! Yeah, I think they're a bit young to be setting fruit anyway, so they are just being wise little mater-plants :). I suspect you'll have lots of tomatoes, but few of them will make it to the table. Thats a far too tempting Snack Station:)

I'm not sure about the chameleons but the gecko's don't like really bad ring tones!

BUG B GONE FROM YOUR GARDEN SPRAY
THE NATURAL WAY
6 Jalapeños
4 Cloves of Garlic
1 Yellow (Hot) Onion
1 Cup of Ground /Crushed Red Pepper
*Grind all ingredients in blender let set.
* Boil 4 Quarts of water to raging boil.
Put Ingredients in one (1) Gallon (Wide Mouth) Jug or Equivalent.
Pour Hot water in on top, let stand 48 hours.
Strain mix through panty hose.(NOT wife’s good ones! Ya could get hurt)
Mix will yield one gallon that can be mixed in 2 ½ gal sprayer.(Add cool water to fill line)
***Spray New and growing plants until fruit starts to grow well.
There is not a bug or critter around that will bother you garden.
*** The Bees don’t Care****

Living on the island of Curaçao with two large gardens full of anoli lizards, I can assure you that we have caught anoli lizards as well as iguana's eating our flowers red handed (red tongued?) numerous times. The anoli lizards tend to favor flowers that have anthocyanins (red, pink, etc but not yellow). It's a pity as this also helps spreading diseases, and it has become very hard to keep hibiscus plants on the island free of disease once the lizards get to it. We eventually end up with only the yellow and white hibiscus, not really the intention I had when starting out. We are now trying repellent plants in between the flowers and flowering vegetables, and of course our 4 dogs try to help by chasing the lizards. I hope this info might be helpful.

Claireck - irregardless of 'everything is bigger in Texas', our lizards arent the same as yours except for the anolis. We have little anoles, a chameleon type of lizard, and a few geckos, small small small. They are considered insect predators-you may have had a treat on what they were munching on... They eat stuff like wasps, or hover around the hummingbirds. This time of season along this area most bug culprits likely to snack on plants are southern army worms, or webworms, or even tomato horn worms, or snails even.

My petunias are on tall stands, away from stucco arched patio walls. Something is eating them stems and all, a half plant at a time. What could be doing this? What can I do to get rid of the critters?

Hi, OP, like many of the folks here mentioned, i hope you reconsider getting rid of the lizards as they are part of the gardening ecosystem. They always carry some gifts for the ecosystem- like all the organisms in there do. Worse case scenario, you could perhaps lay a trap and gently release him/her in a faraway space