Woman performs CPR on a lizard found in her pool, saves its life

(INSIDE EDITION) - Amy Hooks jumped into action to save a tiny lizard after the reptile was drowning in her swimming pool in Nevada.

It all started when her son, Casey, 6, came in the house to tell her there was a lizard in the pool.

When she went outside, the lizard was casually drinking the pool water.

Moments later, Casey ran back inside their Summerlin home and told Hooks that the creature was swimming around.

When he went up to his mom for the third time, the boy told his mother that the lizard was now on the bottom of the pool.

Hooks, who has a doctorate in pharmacy, ran outside and saw the reptile beneath the surface.

"There's little bubbles coming up," Hooks told InsideEdition.com. "I jumped in, in my clothes and said, 'I gotta save this lizard.'"

Hooks said she retrieved the lizard, laid him down on the concrete alongside the pool and began CPR right away.

Her husband, also a pharmacist, Googled the anatomy of a lizard to determine where its heart was located.

"My instinct kicked in and you have to what you have to do," she said.

In a video of the rescue, Hooks is pushing on the lizard's chest and belly to try to help him breathe.

Hooks says she even opened the reptile's mouth and blew air into it. After a minute of resuscitation, the lizard woke up.

"He took a deep breath and he comes back to life," she said.

The lizard stuck around for about a half hour, basking in the sun until Hooks went to pet the scaled creature and it darted off into the desert.

She said Casey's concern was where the lizard's parents were, but he and his friend were rooting for the lizard's survival in the video.

"It was cool for them to see it that we were trying to save a little creature," Hooks said.

Despite its escape, Hooks said the lizard didn't go too far because they have seen it since, running around in their backyard.

"It makes you feel good even if it's a little lizard," she said.