Hiding in the foliage? The plant is a dischidia.
Can you see him?
Very handsome, if you didn't bring my attention to it, I would have missed it. Ours are a nice dark brown and orange so you can def. see them. I seen my first Gila Monster this summer down by Phoenix, sick sick sick. I don't know if I could keep something like that as a pet, but alot of people do..
I have more than my fair share of lizzards here and don't laugh but i'm scared of em"!!! I'm not scared of snakes though. Go figure that one out!! And if you really want to get me moving show me a spider. I dont even like to look at them. Just seeing one live or in a picture makes my skin crawl!!
Interesting thing about me being scared of both lizzards and spiders is that when I was in my teens I had an iguana and a Mexican red knee tarantula as pets! The iguana I would hold but the spider,well she was as big as a coffee saucer and we kept the glass walls of that aqaurium between us at all times!!
Those little green lizzards are one reason why I keep all of my hoyas in the gh. They are in all of my gh's and I let them stay because they help keep the bugs under control. But if I had the hoyas outside where the cats could see the lizzards on them all of my hoyas would look like cole slaw!!
A few weeks ago I almost dropped a specimen hoya when I took the basket off of its hook to remove some dead leaves and there was a lizzard in the pot!! I know they cant hurt you and I dont know why i'm scard of them but I am.
dmichael
Oh, I love tarantula's, I could watch them for hours, I could hold them when I was young, but I don't think I would hold one now. I like there hairy little butts. How ever my worst are black widow spiders, they make my skin crawllllllllll. There are lizards all over here too, my lab loves to chase them, they don't bother me. Now snakes I adore from afar, they do startle me, but if it ain't rattling, I don't run !!! Another sick one is scorpions, ewwww.
When I had my tarantula I wasnt afraid of them like I am now. I didnt hold her out of fear of being bitten. I know most tarantulas wont bite unless heavily provoked but I wasnt willing ot take that chance! She also had the nasty habit as a lot of tarantulas do of flicking the hairs off of her abdomen when disturbed. Those hairs make for quite and itchy throat and nose!
As for snakes, I dont do the poisonous ones and try to avoid them when at all possible. I've had a ritculated python (very agressive when they get older) a common boa and several ball pythons as pets.
I'd love to get another snake as a pet. Maybe a red tail boa or a burmese python. My favorite would be an emerald tree boa but with 2 indoor dogs and 2 indoor cats one of which is VERY curious I dont think a snake would be a good idea right now if you know what I mean!!!
dmichael
My lizards are dear to me....both the anoles and the ghekos. They scare me if they run up my arm from a plant...but I think they are MORE scared than I am!!! Now snakes - and other creepies...no thank you. The only thing that drives me nuts about the ghekos is their "poop" (looks like black rice grains) that get all over everything. But since I don't eat off the top of my computer, I don't worry about it...I just wipe it away or vacume it up.
I get the honor of being the critter relocator in my house. since we live waaaaay out in the country, we've got all kinds of critters that get in the house. I once had to remove a few of those ginormous wasps that had got into the kitchen. while my housemate was flailing around, I just got a spoonful of jelly and the wasps were delighted to have a sweet snack. they just sat on the spoon gorging themselves until I flicked them out the back door.
I have to agree that the only time you'll hear a shriek out of me is when something gets on me when I'm not expecting it.
Don't like Snakes, Spiders, Mice, Palmetto Bugs (huge Florida roaches) .... but I love all the little green anole lizards (chameleon's) .... they eat ants, roaches, and flying insects when they can catch them! I am always rescuing the little critters from one of my cats! If they get inside the house, it's like a 3-ring circus with me trying to catch them before the cats do!
Dmichael, I will trade snakes for your little lizards! I have had a couple of run-ins with snakes this year ... one was a deadly Coral Snake! I tried to get it with the shovel, but it buried itself in the mulch and got away. Needless to say, that was the end of my gardening for that day ... scared me ! A couple of days later my neighbor saw it in her yard and one of her sons killed it! The little lizards don't have teeth, so they can't bite .... it's funny, they will hang onto my finger and just hang there like a suction cup till I put them on a plant and then they run away! You'd think they would say "Thank You" for saving them from the cats! LOL
Lin
Lin, we have those big nasty palmetto bugs here as well. In fact I think we have more of them than we do people in this state!! FOr anyone who doesnt know what a palmetto bug is they are BIG (2 inches at least) brown ugly cockroaches that mainly come out a night and they can fly!
dmichael
Lin are you sure your snake was a coral snake and not a king snake? Starting with the head the first color on a coral snake is always black and the red and yellow bands touch each other. The king snakes head is red and the red and yellow bands do not touch.
A lot of people including myself probably wouldnt take the time to even pay that any attention when face to face with a coral snake!! I cant say that i've ever seen either of those snakes even though we do have common king snakes in this area they are colored differently.
dmichael
Carol,
Great picture. WE have thoes here in Texas too. Not so many Geckos where we live but they are here. A friend of mine that lives in Hawaii is fixen to paint the house and they just figure on using what Geckos leave behind for Texture. :-)
Here's a shot I got while out getting pictures of blooms when it was warmer. I had never seen this.
Tami
Oh my goodness Tami ... Looks like that one lizard is eating the other ... Ugh! But, what a great photo shot!
Dmichael: Yeah, it was a coral snake - we get king snakes sometimes during the summer in our area too. I was pretty sure when I saw the first color on the head being black, so I ran in and googled and printed photo's of both the coral and the king snakes and went back out with pic's in hand to be sure! That's when it scared me, when I realized it was a coral snake! I would never kill a snake on purpose except if it is the poisonous kind. I once was on my riding mower in the backyard and all of a sudden there was this awful noise and parts of snake shooting out from under the mower ... a garter snake that I hadn't seen in the grass. I felt really bad about mowing it down. Snakes creep me out, but I figure they are God's creatures and here for a reason, just like the rest of us. Now, I guess I am contradictory in one sense, cause I really get creeped out by spiders and kill them.
Lin
Fabulous shot, Tami. perhaps it is 'love among the lizards'...CPR? Sometimes I find their eggs in pots...lovely.
Thanks Lin and Carol.
Carol, I have found a few eggs too but have never gotten one to hatch after finding. They are so cute when they are small. I have one running around in my sunroom and I run accross him as I water. I hope he has enough food to last him until he gets out in the Spring. I bought and hatched Praying Mantis's once and set them outside to live and eat bugs only to find the lizzards sitting over the egg case and eating them as they came out. I guess it was quite a find for them. Not gonna buy egg cases to feed them to them though. :-)
Tami
Hey Tami .... sounds like when I released hundreds of ladybugs in my yard and screen room .... found the lizards feasting! Those little lizards are real quick and wait for flying insects to light on the screen and the lizards stalk real slow and then ....... slurp!
Lin
Lin,
Yes they are quick little buggers. Its kinda funny when they catch a big bug and they have trouble getting it down. Fun to watch them really.
Tami
Carol, when are you going to start exporting those?