A bit Off Topic

Well ... it isn't really off topic, it's just showing a hoya bloom with a Lil' Critter enjoying the nectar!

I never knew about the nectar stuff until a few months ago when Carol and a couple of others talked about it. Since then, I have noticed nectar dripping from brevialata and wayettii blooms. I was just outside a few minutes ago walking around the pool and looking at my plants and noticed two little anole lizards on one of the brevialata plants. They were slurping up the nectar from blooms like they were dying of thirst! They really liked the stuff!

It's real humid out (what else is new here in Fla?) so these pic's are a bit hazy from the camera lens being fogged up but you can see the little critter drinking the nectar. I had to come running in to get my DH to see it but he wasn't too fazed ... I guess he realizes it doesn't take much to amuse me. ^_^

This pic may be a little clearer

Isn't it great to be so easily amused?
That little lizard has good tastes! How cute!

Wow.....Very cool! I love the little lizards.

LOL, I KNOW I will be out there every day lizard hunting, to see if I find more of them sucking up hoya nectar!

I love those little lizards too because they eat bugs! Sometimes there are hundreds of those little lizards all around the yard and in the pool enclosure. I'm always rescuing them from the cats! One time, hee hee, I even sorta did cpr on a little one! I thought the cat had killed it. I held it in my hand and it wasn't moving or breathing at all ... thought for sure it was dead, but I began rubbing it's belly and talking to it and sure enough within a minute or so, it started to move and in short time it's little legs started pumping, so I turned it right side up and sat it on a plant out in the front yard ... it sat there a minute and then ran off! Made my day! ^_^ I've always scolded the cats for catching the little critters but they just don't understand why I take their toys away!

On occasion I've found little lizard eggs in my plants. They look a lot like perlite. Last year I put an egg in my terrarium and it hatched ... I named it "Lucy Lizard" and had my husband going outside to catch moths around the porch lights every night to feed it! After the weather warmed up in the spring, I released the little thing to the backyard.

The only buggy type critter I'm not afraid of ... they don't have teeth, just a mouth like a suction cups that holds onto your finger!

I'd be a bit wary of CPR on a lizard. Never sure how many breaths to chest pumps. And applying pressure to the chest with the palm of your hand could be a little tricky. ;O)

Hoya nectar is really sweet, I tasted few different hoyas hoping my neighbors didn't see me doing it. hehe

LOL tropicbreeze ... I sure wasn't about to breathe into the little guy's mouth/nose - all I did was pet it and it began to breathe again. Of course, it could have been playing possum so to speak, out of fear ... maybe just waiting to be left alone to go on it's way.

LOL Sunshine ... I've been tempted to taste Hoya nectar, but haven't so far!

I always taste the nectar on my hoya flowers, and its always sweet. And so it should be!

What a great thread this is Lin, I love your little nectar slurping lizards!


Christine

LOL, It sure is fun to watch them slurping the nectar. I was worried I might end up with a bunch of drunk little lizards stumbling around the pool area and possibly falling in the pool and drowning. ^_^

LOL, at least your neighbours don't call the police on you ... my daughter lives south of Phoenix and some sort of toad got into her backyard the last time it rained heavily. It squawked so loudly (mating calls it turned out) that an adjacent neighbour called the police around midnight claiming that they were keeping a sheep or a goat. The police were amused when my sleepy SIL showed them the little critters that subsequently laid thousands of eggs in their pool...


Christine

OMG ... now that is funny! I know there are some frogs that make weird noises! I wonder if this is the one in your daughters yard: http://www.reptilesofaz.org/Turtle-Amphibs-Subpages/h-r-tarahumarae.html Scroll down the page and read where it talks about reproduction and calls. It says they have no vocal sacs but still are able to make different noises .. Snoring, Whining, Squawk - LOL ... some critters are amazing!

edited to correct spelling ... hopefully I found all my typo's!

This message was edited Aug 4, 2009 4:46 PM

You're good Lin, I think that's the same site she found to ID them - http://www.reptilesofaz.org/Turtle-Amphibs-Subpages/h-s-couchii.html, maybe a little different - heck all toads are the same to me!

I know we have toads and frogs here but I don't see too many of them. We have tree frogs down this way too that "sing" at night at certain times of the year, but their vocal's aren't real loud and obnoxious. There is an invasive tree frog here in Florida, the Cuban tree frog, which is pretty large for a tree frog (up to 5") and they eat the little native frogs and lizards. They are cute critters but look at the size of the one on this guys finger!: http://emr.ifas.ufl.edu/inside_IFAS/6_2007/6_2007_7.jpg I had one jump out of a hanging basket on me a few weeks ago ... scared the beejeebies outta me! I remember when I found the first one in the yard a few years ago and suspected it was the non native cuban tree frog, I sent a photo to the University of Florida for confirmation. They ID'd it as the invasive cuban tree frog and told me to humanely euthanize it by putting a dab or streak of benzocaine (tooth ache medication) on the back of their head and down their back. After a short while they become unconscious and then you put them in a plastic bag and put them in the freezer overnight and throw the bag in the garbage the next day. I did it with one or two. My husband found one on his boat a couple of weeks ago and took it and put it in the woods across the street. I asked him if he thought the frog would stay over there, LOL.

I remember Carol talking about the invasive Coqui tree frog that is a non native in Hawaii. I had to google it and found this site with a video about some folks trying to make a habitat for them on their property in Hawaii: http://www.hawaiiancoqui.org/ Geesh! I hope those folks aren't allowed to continue, those frogs will multiply and multiply and then what?... loss of many native critters that will become food source for the Coqui. I listened to the vocals and think it sounds kinda nice but I bet when there are hundreds singing at night, it would be hard to sleep!

I hate the thought of killing critters but sometimes it's the only way to control non natives.