Your garden critters

[Chew Toy McCoy]

I have about 3 or 4 of these little guys in the backyard, almost always at least one of them in sight every time I go back there. Sometimes they're even chasing each other.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

Greeted me when I got home from work today.

 

[Huntn]

Lol, my wife’s plant marking system, little green and yellow plastic tabs stuck in the ground has been sabotaged by… the squirrels or some other critter that has run off with seemingly all of them! I imagine some nicely decorated squirrel nests.

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Greeted me when I got home from work today.

Skinks? We have those.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

Skinks? We have those.

They're blue belly lizards. That's mostly what we have here, and the occasional alligator lizard.

 

[Eric]

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Greeted me when I got home from work today.

What model is your iPhone? Your closeup shots are always stellar and I'm thinking of upgrading my 11 to the 13 (pro max) for the updated camera.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

What model is your iPhone? Your closeup shots are always stellar and I'm thinking of upgrading my 11 to the 13 (pro max) for the updated camera.

I'm actually on an 11 pro. I get a lot more dud closeups than keepers, especially with insects that it can't quite figure out what to focus on or tapping the screen for the focus point knocks it out of wack due to that tapping movement. I plan to hold out until at least the next iPhone.

 

[Apple fanboy]

 

[mollyc]

we are having a slow start to spring right now, but here is a grasshopper from last year.

 

[Apple fanboy]

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

 

[Huntn]

In the last week I’ve found 2 skinks, in the house, 5 Lined I think or maybe a Brown Skink which looks very similar. I need to adjust the threshold of the front door. One was hanging out in our shady front porch Yesterday, then this morning I almost stepped on one sprawled out in the middle of our family room. The dark red wood grain of the floor kind of camouflaged it. Normally they skedaddle, but this one just laid there, spread eagle when I nudged it, so I thought it was dead, until I went to pick it up. Then it tried to wiggle away.

Easily captured, I initiated Rescue Protocol. Btw, I captured the previous skink that was in our master bath. Anyway, usually they die of dehydration in the house, at least that is my impression. I held it in my hand so it’s head stuck out, I fetched a cotton swab, dipped it in water, and deposited a drop on the side of its mouth. It swallowed! Then when I put the wet swab next to it’s mouth, it tongue came out and started lapping up the water. It was so cute! It was probably the warmth of my hand, but it seemed to be quite content being cradled.

Anyway I briefly thought about keeping it as a pet, but decided I did not want to worry about feeding it especially when we leave on trips. Although likely a shorter life in the backyard wilds, it would have a free, more intriguing life outside. And one day I’m waiting for a lizard to approach me and expect a hug…

 

[Citysnaps]

Here's a few.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

In the last week I’ve found 2 skinks, in the house, 5 Lined I think or maybe a Brown Skink which looks very similar. I need to adjust the threshold of the front door. One was hanging out in our shady front porch Yesterday, then this morning I almost stepped on one sprawled out in the middle of our family room. The dark red wood grain of the floor kind of camouflaged it. Normally they skedaddle, but this one just laid there, spread eagle when I nudged it, so I thought it was dead, until I went to pick it up. Then it tried to wiggle away.

Easily captured, I initiated Rescue Protocol. Btw, I captured the previous skink that was in our master bath. Anyway, usually they die of dehydration in the house, at least that is my impression. I held it in my hand so it’s head stuck out, I fetched a cotton swab, dipped it in water, and deposited a drop on the side of its mouth. It swallowed! Then when I put the wet swab next to it’s mouth, it tongue came out and started lapping up the water. It was so cute! It was probably the warmth of my hand, but it seemed to be quite content being cradled.

View attachment 16454​

Anyway I briefly thought about keeping it as a pet, but decided I did not want to worry about feeding it especially when we leave on trips. Although likely a shorter life in the backyard wilds, it would have a free, more intriguing life outside. And one day I’m waiting for a lizard to approach me and expect a hug…

I love skinks! That sure is a beauty. We have a native specifies in CA but I've rarely seen them. Most common is blue blue belly lizard and then alligator lizard. I've seen some whip tails but it's been a while.

This is an alligator I caught at work.

 

[Huntn]

I love skinks! That sure is a beauty. We have a native specifies in CA but I've rarely seen them. Most common is blue blue belly lizard and then alligator lizard. I've seen some whip tails but it's been a while.

This is an alligator I caught at work.

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How big is the second one? It looks substantial.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

How big is the second one? It looks substantial.

Same lizard in both pics. I estimate they were about 1 ft. In the second pic I temporarily put them in a small terrarium I have on my desk so I could snap some pics that don't feature my hand. Then I released them back into the wild.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

 

[lizkat]

Finally the NYT prints something not about midterm elections... to keep subscribers like me on board after we max out on polls and ads.

They May Have Love on Their Lizard Brains (paywall removed)

Ned and Sunny stretch out together on the warm sand. He rests his head on her back, and every so often he might give her an affectionate nudge with his nose. The pair is quiet and, like many long-term couples, they seem perfectly content just to be in each other’s presence.

The couple are monogamous, which is quite rare in the animal kingdom. But Sunny and Ned are a bit scalier than your typical lifelong mates — they are shingleback lizards that live at Melbourne Museum in Australia.

In the wild, shinglebacks regularly form long-term bonds, returning to the same partner during mating season year after year. One lizard couple in a long-term study had been pairing up for 27 years and were still going strong when the study ended. In this way, the reptiles are more like some of the animal kingdom’s most famous long-term couplers, such as albatrosses, prairie voles and owl monkeys, and they confound expectations many people have about the personalities of lizards.

“There’s more socially going on with reptiles than we give them credit for,” said Sean Doody, a conservation biologist at the University of South Florida.

Humans have a long history of animosity toward reptiles, and influential twentieth century scientists added to the idea of reptiles as cold, unintelligent beasts. In the mid-1900s, Paul MacLean, a neuroscientist at Yale and then the National Institute of Mental Health, began developing the triune brain hypothesis. He theorized that the human brain contained three parts: the reptilian R-complex, which governed survival and basic instinctual behaviors; the paleomammalian complex, which controlled emotional behavior; and the neomammalian cortex, which was responsible for higher functions like problem-solving and language.

Dr. MacLean’s ideas were popularized in Carl Sagan’s “The Dragons of Eden” in 1977, and they are deeply rooted — the idea of the “lizard brain” as a center for basic survival instincts is still widely believed, even though it is not based on actual facts.

“It’s pretty much totally bogus,” said Stephanie Campos, a neuroethologist at Villanova University.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

Finally the NYT prints something not about midterm elections... to keep subscribers like me on board after we max out on polls and ads.

They May Have Love on Their Lizard Brains (paywall removed)

And some enjoy sleeping under the covers like humans.

 

[Huntn]

Finally caught a bird using the bird bath, to drink. There are 2 who are now regulars.