Leaping Lizards!

My yard is lousy with lizards! The regular ol' garden-variety green (sometimes brown) lizards. They are EVERYWHERE.

I never knew they could jump! I watched one which was sitting on the fence and eyeing-up the leap to the smooth metal pole on which the Martin house sits. It was about a two-foot jump and DH and I were taking bets on whether he would make it. He did. They must have stick-pads on their toes to be able to cling to smooth objects.

I like watching the lizards and their antics, and they are most welcome in my garden. But I was wondering, what do lizards DO for a garden? Eat bugs?

Jean

They eat LOTS of bugs.

and provide us with entertainment!

Oh, and I forgot that they give the kitties exercise. They go nuts when the lizards race across a window or screened door.

I just love those little guys. Wish we had them.

Kimberly, there are no lizards in your area? None?

I think they are cute! DH has lotza little plastic tiny lizards that are great for putting around your keyboard and computer. If any of you WANT them (all colors) put that in a request next fall & winter when I'm sharing seeds. :)

(he has tons of them because his business helps distribute lizard tech technology) - they have REALLY cute ones for lizard lovers!

I encourage the lizard population in my yard. They earn their keep by eating bugs and slugs galore! And they are so cute! LOL! Lots of fun to watch them - here lately they seem to be determining who's territory is who's ... I've been challenged by a big male who thinks the cala lily is his. LOL

We have two shifts, the native lizards during the day and geckos at night. I prefer the natives, but I love how the geckos wiggle when they walk.

Cheri'

Karrie, are you saying that your DH sells lizards? Or is that the name of the company for which he works? LOL.

Yes, Cheri, these guys are challenging even inanimate objects, puffing up their red throats and acting as if they are the biggest, most aggressive things in the world. Must be breeding season for lizards.

Something that has always sent me into peals of laughter (I am easily amused) is seeing a kid with a lizard hanging from each earlobe, like a pair of earrings. But, of course, I make certain that they do not harm the little things and return them safely to wherever they came from.

The blue belly males are putting onn the ritz here. their metalic blue bellies and wattles are just gorgeous. Oooh Baby! It seems that these little guys not only are immune to lyme disease but also neutralize it. They are trying to find out how and why. They will come eat meal worms right out of your hand. the alligator lizards are another story!

here's my buddy, the cala lily lizard. Not being aggressive yet this AM ... I'm going to try to get a pic of one being macho.

This one was 'waving his red handkerchief' as my Mom says, until I approached. I guess I better learn to use the zoom on my camera rather than getting in their faces ...

Cheri'

Ha! He is a handsome chap, Cheri. Looks as if he is saying, "I was well into my act....now who are YOU?" LOL.

frogs, you have lizards that eat out of your hand?

Jean

Yeah, I think I was little more than a minor annoyance to him, but I did cramp his style. LOL

Frogs, I'd love to see those blue belly lizards. They must be totally cool. Tell us more about the alligator lizards ... Our alligator lizards are .. well, they are alligators! And I don't want them in my garden! LOL!

Cheri'

Nasty alligators. They bite. Hang on after they do too. Here is some info on them. We have 3 in California.

http://www.wildherps.com/species/E.multicarinata.html#webbii

http://www.montereybay.com/creagrus/CAalligatorlizards.html

Raise yourself up a batch of meal worms and start feeding the lizards. They will soon expect you to do so and come looking for you when you are outside. A girlfriend turned me on to this. I will get some pics of hers next time I go over. She has been spoiling them for years and they are quite bold.

We have some, but no anoles, and nowhere near as prolific as you tropical folks enjoy. Here's what we have in the wild: http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/wildlife/Resources/reptiles/

This was a new one to me: http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/wildlife/Resources/reptiles/europeanwall.htm Highly localized!

So far I have only run across amphibious critters like newts and salamanders - http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/wildlife/resources/amphibians/amphibians.htm - and those infrequently. I need to look in their habitats more.

Lizards are very common down here in S. Fla. My dh tells me the green lizard (like yours Sundry) used to be the most common until the cuba brown came in and killed many of them.

We have a lot of iguanas aound. People take them as pets when they are small and manageable, then when they get too big, they just let them go. I have driven down the expressway and seen a 6 foot long iguana taking the off ramp on foot (no kidding).

But in our backyard, along with the cuba brown, we have this one. There was, at one time, a mating male and female. (I saw them, shhhh and they saw me seeing them shhhh) But at the present time we only have one making himself visible. The body and head measure about 8-10 inches long and it's about 1 to 1 1/4 inches wide. The last time I saw this one, he was hiding in the passiflora on the fence. But I don't know what he is.
Molly :^)

Frogs, how does one go about 'raising up a batch of meal worms' ? I don't have lizards on the property here in town but it might be handy for photo-ing. I love watching them do push-ups on the slickrock.
Did catch this guy while hiking with DD in the chaparral off Ortega Highway. Don't know his name but he roadblocked the trail long enuff for me to catch up and focus in with DD's shoulder for the brace. Can you Identify? It's your neighborhood. Blooms

Wow! Those are some hefty lizards! Glad I see only the little green or brown ones (and sometimes geckos -- but they creep me out).

frogs, does your friend hand-feed the lizards? Do they bite?

Molly -- iguanas? That get up to six feet? Geez!

When I was in the apartment, I was out in the garden one day and looked up and thought, "That is the BIGGEST lizard I have EVER seen." Well, it wasn't a lizard, it was an iguana. It had to be someone's escaped pet. They lead you quite the merry chase while trying to catch them -- a job relegated to my nephew, who raised such things at the time. If he wouldn't have kept jumping around and scaring me, he could have continued to live in my garden....but nooooooo. LOL.

The garden frogs and I scare each other on a regular basis, but we have learned to live in harmony (after my heart quiets down after those surprise jumps).

I'm jealous! I want some lizzards. LOL Great pictures and infomation.

We don't have any lizards where I live. We do have bull frogs and toads out at my girlfriends farm. I would love to get one of those toad houses and set it up in my back yard and bring home a toad or two. They sure would make quick work of the bugs in my yard.

What really helps with the bugs at the farm are about three nesting pair of Barn Swallows that return each year. They raise at least two and sometimes three batches of babies each summer. The oldest babies stick around and help out with the younger ones and by the end of the summer we have about 30+ swallows eating the bugs!

LimeyLisa Kay

Alligators bite any time and all the time.

The bluebellies will take up permanent residence in your yard and so will be familiar. they do get so spoiled that they will eat out of your hand. They do not bite.

Blooms, most pet stores carry meal worms. buy a mess of them and put them in a largish critter keeper type plastic container. they sell them at the pet store-large plastic box with a ventilated id. I suppose a container witha a wire mesh lid would work too. Put in about 5" of oatmeal and an apple or two that you have bored a few holes into.

You will eventually see all three stages of the critter. They mautre into a small black beetle. Good luck

lol! No he doesn't sell lizards! He owns Ascent GIS. It is a geographic information company. One of the products they distribute is Lizard Tech (compression software). Lizard Tech gives them these little lizards to hand out to people (you know, like how some companies give out emery boards, or whatever).

Frogs:
So, is Blooms (and my) chaparral lizard a bluebelly? (I didn't check his belly...). It was a about 8" long as I recall.

If you google "California black lizard" you will find out there was a publishing company in this state by the name of Black Lizard Press and you will get a hit for every book they ever printed! Not too conducive for id'ing reptiles...
-- X.

Try searching only .edu domains using Google's advanced search; that's helpful for weeding out commercial sites.

Thanks GW, will do next time! 'Twould help weed out all the computer programs (and games) that just happen to have reference to words like "gecko" or ??? whatever the last one I tried and got so many unrelated hits I gave up, too!
-- X.

Google has all kinds of specialiazed searches; I only learned about some of them recently, and they've really helped me hone in on my prey, LOL. http://www.google.com/options/index.html

That link is GREAT! I only just recently figured out that I could bookmark Google Images (for DG research!) -- but I have put this one in its place on the toolbar; can't wait to try them out!

THANKS (i.e. big thanks!) -- X.

Have you tried the Google Toolbar? You might love it - we sure do! :) http://toolbar.google.com It even has a pop-up blocker.

I couldn't live without Google. Use it every day, all day to find everything. Sometimes, returned search results are funny (or shocking).

When I first got online, I started researching some of my interests, which included life in rural areas and on farms, as told by actual people who lived there. So, I entered 'farm wife' in the search criteria line.

I think that every porn site on the planet was returned with the search results! LOL. That had never entered my mind when I began the search, but I nearly fell off my chair, laughing.

After that, I learned that there is an art to searching.

LOL, yes! I know what you mean!

blooms, try looking at skinks. It might be one of those, but I don't know enough to say.

Thanks Angie -- Frogs id'ed it in another forum as a California blue-belly (you have to get it to roll over to see the belly!) and an unusually dark one of them.
~spin!~

finally got a pic of a lizard doing his macho thing. My mom calls this "waving his red handkerchief" which I always find funny.

This one found a lofty perch on the Easter Lilies (which seem to be taunting me, refusing to actually BLOOM)

Cheri'

He's cute! For such little things, they sure do think they are King of the Garden :))

I haven't found that the toad houses are used by toads at all. Now slugs seem to love them!

I wonder if any of the small lizards you folks in CA and other warm states have would survive here in central MO? If so I would love to have some sent to us. I remember we use to have some blueish colored ones on a farm where we lived when I was a young child. I almost never see any around here tho. Maybe my poultry take care of that for me.

We had a neighbor who had a small iguana. They kept it for a couple years then gave it away. I didn't realize at the time how large they can become. Shad and I watched some Discovery channel shows about them and I told him he could NOT have one.

Poor little bluebellies would freeze their tails off in 5a. You might could keep it in the house. They are so picky about plants that I cannot imagine trying to send an animal from here.

Hi Everyone -

I have the same type of lizard around our house as Sundry...I think they are cameleons. We're about to tear down an old garage that has a great number of these living in it. Does anyone know if I can lure them into the yard so we don't kill them?

We're going to completely clear the garage out and maybe leave it wide open for a bit before tearing it down so they don't feel as comfy and safe as they must right now in hopes of luring them out into the yard. They come out of the garage quite a bit but it is obvious they have setup home inside of it and prefer to be in there (but this might be while they're nesting or something as several of them are around the yard during the day).

I really love these little guys and want to keep them around so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

tlschaefer, I would imagine that when you start clearing the garage out that the little critters would run away (outside). Although they ACT like they are King of the Garden, they really are scardy-cats and will scuttle away from disturbances.

I agree with LSP. They are, no doubt, in the garage for safety and shelter. When you start knocking around in there, it won't be so comfortable for them and they'll go elsewhere, but not too far.

Cheri'

Thanks Louisisana & Sundry, this is just what I wanted to hear. These little lizards bring back childhood memories and I was excited to find that they live around our house when we bought it last year.

Thanks for the encouragement!

Tracey