Anyone out there providing rock piles for snakes?

Mighty handsome little fella you have there!

You would really have thought so if I hadn't blurred the photo!

Just went out to water some yuccas and spooked a female lizard of the same type. Not as pretty or large as her spouse, but her head was pinkish-red colored. I read that the heads of the females turn red during the mating season. Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase sexy redhead!

It is so darned much FUN to understand what I'm seeing in our yard; makes all the time on the internet worthwhile. Next I'll be wanting to put little sticky ID tags on everybody. Here leezard, leezard...

Oh oh oh, not you too! Now I've got to worry about making sure I don't have a beverage up to my lips when you are posting too!

oldmudhouse(really??!)-Oooh, that's another subject I know zip about(lizards)! Lizards are cool, they look so prehistoric. Um, maybe that's because they are? They eat insects, right? Do they bite? That critter sure is interesting. You're very fortunate to have caught his image. I don't mind blurry, that's how I see anyway. LOL

Yes, indirt, I have a 5year old boy, he's a little rough around the edges that's fer sure. Had a laugh about the ears, they do seem to get mighty dirty, I had figured that's why he can't hear me tell I'm practically hysterical.

OMH the closeup of the lizard scales is really neat. Had some lizards in western Kansas where I grew up on a farm. Must start looking for a camera.

PrairieGirlZ5, LOL, I am glad you don't mind blurry, but I'm going to try to do better with the next lizard! They do eat insects so I'm always happy to see them, but even if they didn't, I'd still be happy when they wandered by.

Hi again petralittledog, glad to see you on this forum, and welcome again to Daves Garden! I thought his scales were pretty neat too; the colors in person were even brighter than my photos. I hope you can find a camera and show us what you have in your backyard (perhaps even a photo of Petra too.)

Great pics of the leeezard! He seems to have posed for them. Ever wonder what they think of us? Perhaps the flash stuns them?
prairiegirl - mine is 8 - still hoping it is a phase.....

indirt-Having a teenage daughter doesn't help, she's so mouthy. He has started to call my plants stupid & dumb, just like she does (grumpy!), but I noticed at the nursery yesterday, he stopped to smell almost 10 different flowers. He told me the red & white striped impatiens smelled like peppermints. I missed my cue, surely I should've bought some of those!

Teenage girls in general are sort of mouthy aren't they? It's a phase. Pay no mind to it or try duct tape.

Yup, you missed your cue but there will be many more. I ended up buying a plant called a Candy Corn plant recently because of just such a situation. I have no idea what I am going to do with this plant but we own it and they are proud that they picked it out. Oddball looking thing and it sure does look like it has candy corn hanging off of it. I'll get a photo of this plant a little later. I have no idea what it smells like and I can't recall what they said it smelled like. Oddly enough, another DG member's daughter was attracted to the same darn plant when we went shopping. I already had the plant at home so when we got back I took a few cuttings for her kid.

Here's a link to a photo of Manettia inflata-
http://www.greenbeam.com/features/plant062998.stm

Oh dear sweet oldmudhouse, we will now be looking at buying a Bearded Dragon this fall because of YOU! I showed them your photos in this thread. Mistake, big mistake.

Duct tape, that's genius! Here leezard, leezard, LOL.

Love that candy corn vine, feel free to send some my way, I have a container that "needs" something. :0)

Find out how best to take cuttings of it and I'll try to root some for you. My kids could care less how many pieces of it are missing. They just like the plant.

Oh SURE, blame it on me! OK, Equilibrium, I read up on these things. I guess it could be worse. Bearded Dragons won't shed on your sofa, they never throw up hair balls, and they won't keep your neighbors awake barking. Bad news is you have to feed them crickets (I hate crickets) and you're even supposed to feed the crickets before you feed them to the dragons. Also they do a very freaky thing where they bulge their eyes out, and if that goes on for over an hour, you're supposed to rush them to the vet. Gee, what a fun pet.
http://www.beardeddragon.org/articles/eyebulging/

indirt, I didn't use a flash on the leezard pics. I think the only thing that stunned him was that I only got one clear photo out of three floppy disks of pictures. (Probably best that I don't know what he thought about me.)

Ya, I read up on them too. One of my nephews has one and it bulges it eyes so I was familiar with that.

Yes, you have to feed the crickets a proper diet or else you have to powder them properly... can you tell I've been down this road before. Remind me to tell you about the anoles we had once. Anyway, "prepping" the crickets is called gut loading and it is necessary to do before feeding to one's beloved herp. Mustn't have crickets that aren't fortified. Yum yum!

The kids had forgotten they wanted a Bearded Dragon until they saw your photos and we have an empty tank downstairs so they figured no time like the present so yes... this is your fault woman. Accept blame for irreparable damage to my pocket book! The cost of the BD isn't so bad it's all the special heat lamps and sun lamps and the food and the food for the food that all add up.

Welll good grief gertie ..

Yall managed to make me far too TOO curious about your bearded booger vermin pets.

Question: these dragons don't run around freely .. normally; do they -?- I don't need any other boogers to watch for and contend with, ya know. LOL

Some reports are that the Bearded Dragons do the eye-bulge right before they shed the skin around their eyes, to loosen the old skin in that area, and others speculate that it's done to thermo regulate. Said to expect such to happen purtee frequently for short spurts ...

I went lookin' about, at some other sites .. thought I'd post them here for you folks, just in case.

http://bearded-dragons.com/tips/

http://pub4.bravenet.com/faq/show.php?usernum=281553010&catid=778

Think I'll jes stick with the few random opportunities of seeing the fence lizerds 'round here. Now, if any of them start bulgin' their eyes - wellllll, I'll know that word was spread from certain DG folks' pets .. as to how to 'freak out' yer local human bean population! (heehee)

- Magpye

Nooooooooooooooooo! They stay behind glass thank goodness! I can just see it now if one of those things got out in this house! There wouldn't be a dry eye in the place when one of our cats trotted off with Mr. Leezerd hanging out on either side of its mouth. I bet Mr. Leezerd's eyes would really be bulging out if that happened!

LOL!! What a picture, poor leezard hanging out on either side of cat's mouth...bulging eyes...hysterical kids...flying lamps as the chase ensues...now I truly feel like a homewrecker.

(Sniffle) sorry for all this future expense in your household. I had no idea that climbing that ladder and taking those pictures would cause you to have to stuff cricket guts full of anything. I don't have kids, but if I did, and they asked me to stuff crickets for nutritious lizard snacks, my answer would definately be noooooooooooooo!

Magpye, I'm with you, random outdoor lizard sightings are more my speed. Equil, where do I send the check?

ROFL! Can you say Pandemonium?

I dunno know. I see possibilities here. Hang on to the check. We could start a business supplementing the diets of cats with Leezerds that had been fed gut loaded crickets. It can't get any more nutritious and well balanced than that! I'm thinking we might be onto something here. A cat rental business. All those parents out there who get stuck with Leezerds because of people like oldmudhouse posting photos that entice young boys and turn them into incessant nags! Yup, that's the ticket. A Rent-A-Cat business. The slogan could be, "Where the demise of your unwanted Leezerd always looks like an accident". Look at the belly on this cat of mine (by the way, that was a hard picture to take because he's normally a slug and doesn't like his nap time being disturbed). I'm thinking he's a top contender for a Rent-A-Cat business. There would be benefits to this type of an arrangement. Look at all the money I'd save buying Iams!

Oops, I forgot about the Candy Corn Plant photo for PGZ5-

Here's a close up-

Okay, deal. Can I have the Leezard Gone distributorship for the SW region? My employee is raring to go.

(Does anyone else think this thread has gotten totally out of control?)

SW regional Leezerd Gone distributorship is yours, lucky you! Uncork the bubbly!

Pssst, let me let you in on a little secret... all gardeners are certifiable to one degree or another. I know this because my husband told me so.

Speaking of husbands, my husband says you stole one of our "raring to go" cats. Wadya doing in our house? Gimme our cat back! There's money to be made when it rolls over and wakes up.

I forgot what this thread started as. Apoligies to who ever started it.

Nice firecracker vine! I mean candy corn, but that's a different holiday, same vine LOL. Neat. Those cats look like they swallowed other cats, now there's an idea, j/k. My kitty is a good mouser, she proved it last week. Now Daddy loves her, isn't that cute?

Horizontally challenged?

There ya go, now you're on the right track but wouldn't it be vertically challenged?

Um, yes, Lauren that is what I meant, I think, LOL. I didn't mean it in a meanway, or at least I didn't mean for the cats to hear me say, sakes alive that's where my other cat went! LOL What was this thread about again?

The cat I photographed is a sumptuous 22 lbs. Looks as if yours is tipping the scales too. My cats won't even kill field mice that come in the house starting around October. They sit and stare at them. Turn on a bird video or use one of those laser pens on the wall and they're plastered to the screen or flinging themselves at the wall. Go figure.

You ONLY have one??? Get thee to an animal shelter immediately OMH!

PGZ5! For shame for shame! If this kind of talk continues they're gonna need feline therapists.

May I apply for the Southeast region Rent A Cat franchise? My cats are too geriatric to work for a living (not to mention pure d lazy); but I'm sure the local shelter could fix me up with a recently neutered tom with all the right prey drive still in place.... Exotic pets like iguanas and BDs are so darn expensive and work-intensive: get a cat and get a life!

SE regional Leezerd Gone/ Rent-A-Cat distributorship is yours, lucky you! Now you go and uncork the bubbly too!

Hmmm... you didn't post a photo of any of your cats. Hiding something from your cyber buds are you? Does this mean yours are all physically fit? Show us the goods or get thee to a shelter and pick up something worthy of being rented out!

Pssst, I've got a secret for you too... cats are as exotic to this continent as Norway Rats, Australian Bearded Dragons, South American Nutria, and English House Sparrows. They were brought in by the Colonists and their native range is Africa.

My cat is a Bengal, that is a relatively new breed that crosses the Asian leopard cat with the common tabby cat, in order to get the distinctive spotted coat and ring-tail. The Asian leopard cat is extremely small, with large eyes and big ears, and loves water. So O-ren has this Egyptian bearing, Sphinx-like, and is naturally small. She is very sweet, tolerates kids, and fetches her wubbies just like a doggy. This is very unusual for cats, and helps keep her trim.
I did have a big white fluffy tom, but Whitey found a new owner more than 15 years ago. He ate other cats for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! Once he even tasted me, try hanging a 22 lb. cat from your hand, Yowch! (Note to self: If animal bites hand that feeds them, thrust hand towards their face, do not pull away!!) That is Not why he left my care, someone actually knocked on my door, he reminded them of his long lost cat. I had to prove to him he wasn't a girly man! Fortunately, still had the receipt from his neutering in my vet papers. Long story short, I was moving, we struck a deal, and Whitey went to live with them.
Lauren, have you ever heard of a children's book called "Dragon's Fat Cat" ? It is an excellent book, tells kids how to care for cats in a very humorous way.

I haven't heard of that book but it might be good for people considering a first pet. The cats in this house belong to me and my husband. The kids see the vet bills and have already come to the conclusion that when they get their own apartments they don't want any cats or dogs for that matter. Nothing like taking a kid to a vet and letting them see the bill. Nothing like having your kids stand on the driveway with you when a pallet of dog and cat food is delivered and you have to sign for the delivery… which includes the invoice and nothing like taking them to WalMart and letting them see you load the cart with cat litter. Nothing like letting them watch you help get your old Mastiff up off the floor so it can get outside and nothing like letting them see the ramp to help the dog get in and out when it can no longer handle stairs. Nothing like letting them see you hand feed a 24 year old cat because it is too senile to know to eat on its own and nothing like letting them watch you use a syringe to dribble fluids into its mouth and take it to the vet to be hydrated because its just too darn old and depends on us for survival in its later years. They begin making the connection that you pay for the food and you pay for the cat litter and you pay for the vets and that when they are geriatric they need special attention which is a major commitment in and of itself. Animals are a tremendous responsibility and some kids just don't get it. Tee he, I think our boys have seen enough over here to get it. We drove the point of pet ownership home when they wanted anoles... which they ultimately returned to the pet shop of their own free will. The Bearded Dragon will be a second chance for them but if I see it going without anything (water, reptile bulbs, food, clean cage), it will go back to the pet shop to be sold to another family.

Equil, I'm a very recent convert to digital cameras, and my cat photos are still 35mm, not postable unless I convert them to disc. Must work on that, try using the digital indoors instead of just on gardens (lol)...

And of course you're right that the domestic cat is an import; but we used to have plenty of wild felids - cougar, lynx, bobcat - until we killed most of them off. Gotta love the human race.

Fortunately for us, we've had some bobcat sightings in the local area. I'm really excited.

Awesome: give the bobcat my respects (from a respectful distance, of course)! Wonder how long it will be before someone in the neighborhood decides he/she is dangerous and has to go...

It already happened. A lady went to work last year and left her beagle tied up outside all day shortly after the newspapers mentioned the sightings. What can I say, coyotes left the dog's head behind for the owner to find when she came home from work and there were tracks in the general area that she claimed were a Bobcat I'm told. Canines leave nail marks, Bobcats don't and their prints are sort of round. The bobcat didn't kill the dog but people were claiming they didn't feel safe in the parks any longer. It's died down around here. It will stay calm as long as the newspapers don't mention any more sightings. Personally, I'd prefer that every sighting was mentioned. Better to let people know they are out there and educate them about the animal then allow imaginations to run wild.

We evidently have Bobcats but now I'd like some wolves reintroduced!

We have coyotes here, interesting side note, they are also becoming endangered, due to loss of wildlife habitat.

Hey PGZ5, Do you remember last year when the lady lost her Beagle and everyone was up in arms? It was big news. The climate of fear and superstition was so thick you could have cut it with a knife. Newspapers don't seem to let facts get in the way of a good story.

Um, no. But that's true about facts standing in the way of a good story. No news is bad news. LOL