#herpreport — Public Fediverse posts
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#LizardReport
It's been cool the last few days since I got back, but warmed up enough today that the lizards started coming back out. Still haven't seen Bill or Donna, but Cutie, the tiger whiptail, the zebratail and the white iguana came over to get fed.While I was feeding Cutie, a big ol' bobcat strolled down the alley 30 feet away. The great horned owl, which for some reason was out during the day, hooted at the bobcat from up on its perch on the power pole.
After lunch, one of the neighborhood Harris' hawks popped a bunny rabbit right in the front yard and flew off with it.
And then just now, on my way out the front gate for a walk, I happened to look into one of the cactus clumps right next to the sidewalk. Now I know where the Western diamondback rattlesnake I saw two days ago hangs out.
And the day isn't even close to over yet!
#HerpReport
It's beeen a #MutualOfOmahasWildKingdom kind of day. -
Well, today's #LizardReport it's pretty easy: no lizards. It was cool and cloudy, only into the 70s so nobody even got up. I miss them!
But, I was doing some work in the carport, turned around and saw the big gopher snake going into a little hole under the concrete slab by the back door.
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This is the second rattlesnake in my yard in a few weeks, plus the one I relocated from my neighbor's yard. I've never seen one in my yard before though I've seen a couple on this block relatively close.
What I'm guessing is that this is actually a normal number of rattlesnakes, but I am seeing them now because I'm usually not here in early May, plus we had that bizarre heat wave in late March, which probably woke all the snakes up and brought them out of hibernation early. This is also probably why it feels like there are far more lizards than I've ever seen here before. I usually have to leave by late April and it's usually not this hot yet.
The fact that we had an extremely dry winter and there's virtually no annual vegetation growing anywhere probably also contributes. No plants means no flowers which means no seeds which means no food for rodents, so I'm guessing that snakes probably have to wander much further to try to find a meal.
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This afternoon I was planting some cactus in the front yard and I saw the big gopher snake again, slithering along the wall…
"Gopher snake"... um... then I saw the black and white striped tail and the rattles as it emerged from behind a cactus. Another western diamondback rattlesnake!
I got my camera with the telephone lens and got a bunch of close-ups, then went back to get my snake stick and a bucket. Unfortunately the critter was behind a very spiny hedgehog cactus and pulling it out would have potentially hurt it, so I let it get away into the rock pile.
I continued about my work, and then saw it a little while later over under the pomegranate tree. Then a few minutes later I didn't see it. It's out there somewhere 🤷♂️
Given that I don't have to get under the house to do any work anytime soon, I'm not gonna worry about it.
I'll just think of it like inspector Clouseau's manservant Cato, there to keep me on my toes.
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The tiger whiptail seems to live in the scrap lumber pile by the back door and doesn't seem to get up till sometime after noon. If I go out and whistle for it, it'll come up to be fed. It is amazingly comfortable sitting in my hand.
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While I was sitting on the low wall feeding the light colored iguana, the other one heard me whistling, which I do all the time while feeding them to reinforce the connection, and came across the yard. I held a mealworm up at the edge of the wall and tried to get its attention, but it just kept nipping at my toes instead.
The spiny lizards, like Bill and Cutie, regularly nip at my fingers and toes if I run out of worms, but this is the first time an iguana has done it.
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The zebra tailed lizard is being very skittish this year. It'll take worms if I throw them a couple feet away but I haven't got it to eat out of my hand yet like last year. The short little video shows it waving it's distinctly zebra striped tail, indicating that it is feeling uncomfortable and sees me as a potential threat.
To a potential predator, the tail is a big flashy distraction that will break off easily if something were to bite it. When the lizards are comfortable, they will keep their tail down so that they blend into their surroundings better.
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Well, today's lizard report had some surprises. I didn't see Bill or Donna all day but I fed Cutie in the morning Then Don/Donna's apparent girlfriend, the very light colored iguana and the other one, with the regrowing tail, both hung out with me on the wall.
The fourth iguana, a medium sized adult, took some worms I tossed to it and then skedaddled to the backyard scrap lumber pile where it lives, along with Cutie and the tiger whiptail.
The furthest one away in the photo is the very pale one that I'm calling Don/Donna's girlfriend. Note the regrowing tail tip on the closest one. It doesn't have the spots or banding of its original tail.
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Well, today's lizard report had some surprises. I didn't see Bill or Donna all day but I fed Cutie in the morning Then Don/Donna's apparent girlfriend, the very light colored iguana and the other one, with the regrowing tail, both hung out with me on the wall.
The fourth iguana, a medium sized adult, took some worms I tossed to it and then skedaddled to the backyard scrap lumber pile where it lives, along with Cutie and the tiger whiptail.
The furthest one away in the photo is the very pale one that I'm calling Don/Donna's girlfriend. Note the regrowing tail tip on the closest one. It doesn't have the spots or banding of its original tail.
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Well, today's lizard report had some surprises. I didn't see Bill or Donna all day but I fed Cutie in the morning Then Don/Donna's apparent girlfriend, the very light colored iguana and the other one, with the regrowing tail, both hung out with me on the wall.
The fourth iguana, a medium sized adult, took some worms I tossed to it and then skedaddled to the backyard scrap lumber pile where it lives, along with Cutie and the tiger whiptail.
The furthest one away in the photo is the very pale one that I'm calling Don/Donna's girlfriend. Note the regrowing tail tip on the closest one. It doesn't have the spots or banding of its original tail.
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Well, today's lizard report had some surprises. I didn't see Bill or Donna all day but I fed Cutie in the morning Then Don/Donna's apparent girlfriend, the very light colored iguana and the other one, with the regrowing tail, both hung out with me on the wall.
The fourth iguana, a medium sized adult, took some worms I tossed to it and then skedaddled to the backyard scrap lumber pile where it lives, along with Cutie and the tiger whiptail.
The furthest one away in the photo is the very pale one that I'm calling Don/Donna's girlfriend. Note the regrowing tail tip on the closest one. It doesn't have the spots or banding of its original tail.
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Well, today's lizard report had some surprises. I didn't see Bill or Donna all day but I fed Cutie in the morning Then Don/Donna's apparent girlfriend, the very light colored iguana and the other one, with the regrowing tail, both hung out with me on the wall.
The fourth iguana, a medium sized adult, took some worms I tossed to it and then skedaddled to the backyard scrap lumber pile where it lives, along with Cutie and the tiger whiptail.
The furthest one away in the photo is the very pale one that I'm calling Don/Donna's girlfriend. Note the regrowing tail tip on the closest one. It doesn't have the spots or banding of its original tail.
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My little porch lizard friend was the first up this morning and, as usual, came strolling into the house like it owned the place. It now seems to be hanging out with a slightly larger new spiny lizard on the far end of the wall.
Bill and Cutie seem to be spending their nights in the little scrap wood pile.
Here's Cutie, giving me the side eye after being fed.
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I also managed to renew acquaintance with one of these zebra tailed lizards. I'm pretty sure it was one that had been in the yard last year because they are normally incredibly skittish, but when I approached it slowly and whistled, it didn't run away and came close enough to almost hand feed it.
I don't recall the ones last summer/fall having this bright coloration on their undersides, so I am guessing that this is reproductive coloration. Gonna look it up later.
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Looks like snaky snek, the big gopher snake I caught the other day is hanging around. Went out to the back yard and found it hunting along the back wall where some of the salvage lumber is stored.
I really wish I had a mouse to feed it (sorry, mouse!). It would be fun to make friends with a big wild snake. How cool would that be? Go out in the yard and whistle like I do for the lizards and have a big ol' snake crawl up and hang out?
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Looks like snaky snek, the big gopher snake I caught the other day is hanging around. Went out to the back yard and found it hunting along the back wall where some of the salvage lumber is stored.
I really wish I had a mouse to feed it (sorry, mouse!). It would be fun to make friends with a big wild snake. How cool would that be? Go out in the yard and whistle like I do for the lizards and have a big ol' snake crawl up and hang out?
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Looks like snaky snek, the big gopher snake I caught the other day is hanging around. Went out to the back yard and found it hunting along the back wall where some of the salvage lumber is stored.
I really wish I had a mouse to feed it (sorry, mouse!). It would be fun to make friends with a big wild snake. How cool would that be? Go out in the yard and whistle like I do for the lizards and have a big ol' snake crawl up and hang out?
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Looks like snaky snek, the big gopher snake I caught the other day is hanging around. Went out to the back yard and found it hunting along the back wall where some of the salvage lumber is stored.
I really wish I had a mouse to feed it (sorry, mouse!). It would be fun to make friends with a big wild snake. How cool would that be? Go out in the yard and whistle like I do for the lizards and have a big ol' snake crawl up and hang out?
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Looks like snaky snek, the big gopher snake I caught the other day is hanging around. Went out to the back yard and found it hunting along the back wall where some of the salvage lumber is stored.
I really wish I had a mouse to feed it (sorry, mouse!). It would be fun to make friends with a big wild snake. How cool would that be? Go out in the yard and whistle like I do for the lizards and have a big ol' snake crawl up and hang out?
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Three iguanas today! This one here, which is getting pretty friendly at this point so probably will get named soon, ate more mealworms than seemed physically possible. Then it flooped out on the wall to digest.
Then Donna, whom I haven't seen in several days, and a smaller, light colored iguana that I have never seen before were cavorting in the driveway. Based on their behavior, I am suspecting that Donna is actually Don. Either way, the light colored lizard was having no part of Donna's or Don's overtures. It's a very pretty lizard and I hope it stays around.
#LizardReport #HerpReport #Iguana #Lizard #NeverADullDayInTheDesert
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Woo hoo, stepped out the back door and caught some hot Bill on Cutie action happening on the wood pile. 🤭
Cutie still has her silly sheetrock dust streaks on her back and legs. I wish she were tame enough that she would let me wipe them off. She'll let me pick her up when she's eating, but would definitely spook if I tried to wipe her off with a damp cloth.
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The little tiger whiptail came by the back door again today and ate its fill of mealworms while sitting on my hand.
Then it did this strange behavior I've never seen any other lizard do: it sprawled out on its belly with its hands and feet raised off the ground. It's a little hard to tell in the photo, but it has its fingers and toes raised.
It came back for more food, then went a few feet away and did this odd maneuver again.
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The little tiger whiptail came by the back door again today and ate its fill of mealworms while sitting on my hand.
Then it did this strange behavior I've never seen any other lizard do: it sprawled out on its belly with its hands and feet raised off the ground. It's a little hard to tell in the photo, but it has its fingers and toes raised.
It came back for more food, then went a few feet away and did this odd maneuver again.
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The little tiger whiptail came by the back door again today and ate its fill of mealworms while sitting on my hand.
Then it did this strange behavior I've never seen any other lizard do: it sprawled out on its belly with its hands and feet raised off the ground. It's a little hard to tell in the photo, but it has its fingers and toes raised.
It came back for more food, then went a few feet away and did this odd maneuver again.
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The little tiger whiptail came by the back door again today and ate its fill of mealworms while sitting on my hand.
Then it did this strange behavior I've never seen any other lizard do: it sprawled out on its belly with its hands and feet raised off the ground. It's a little hard to tell in the photo, but it has its fingers and toes raised.
It came back for more food, then went a few feet away and did this odd maneuver again.
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The little tiger whiptail came by the back door again today and ate its fill of mealworms while sitting on my hand.
Then it did this strange behavior I've never seen any other lizard do: it sprawled out on its belly with its hands and feet raised off the ground. It's a little hard to tell in the photo, but it has its fingers and toes raised.
It came back for more food, then went a few feet away and did this odd maneuver again.
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Bill is a very handsome boy and he's wondering why you're bothering him if you don't have any food to share.
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The little tiger whiptail showed up again today out by the back door. I'm constantly amazed that this lizard lets me pick it up as long as I feed it a little bit. Whiptails in the wild are crazy skittish and it's hard to get within 10 feet of one.
I always think they look like the dachshunds of the lizard world. Compared to Bill and the other spiny lizards (Sceloporus magister), this little guy has a very small, delicate mouth and eats in a way that is almost dainty. I find it utterly adorable.
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Today's #LizardReport
Here's Bill showing off his push-ups. Such a big strong boy!
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I walked up to the snake, slid my snake hook under it, lifted it up and dropped it in the bucket. Quite a simple quick move, but unfortunately it was able to hook a small bit of its head and upper body over the edge of the bucket and then slither out before I could plop it in. At that point it got scared and tried to make it run for it and so it took me a couple more tries to actually get it in the bucket. It never once tried to strike or even rattle.
They really are quite docile creatures that mostly want to be left alone.
The neighbors were very grateful that I took it away.
By the way, I learned how to handle snakes like this by watching professional herpetologists. If you do it right it's quite safe. The snake hook I use is made out an old golf club with the head cut off. I fabricated a large metal hook that I epoxied into the shaft.
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CW: Bitey snake in a bucket!
I have some new neighbors across the street, from the Pacific Northwest. We've chatted a few times and yesterday I gave them a whole bunch of cuttings off of my cactus here to help them landscape their yard. I was talking about all the lizards and snakes that live here and how I had to catch and relocate a rattlesnake from under the crawlspace in my house. I suggested to them that they look into rattlesnake aversion training for their dog.
I also said that if they found a rattlesnake in the yard, I'd be happy to come get it and relocate it. Jinx, I guess, because she walked over this evening and said that there was rattler in their yard. A western diamondback, like the one that was under my house. Absolutely beautiful snake with 14 rattles! It's much bigger than it looks like curled up in the photos in the bucket.
Alt text in first pic has info about distinguishing western diamondbacks from Mojave rattlesnakes.
#Rattlesnake #HerpReport #Herpetology #LifeInTheSonoranDesert #Snake
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Last night after I posted the picture of the Sonoran Desert toad, it came back to the water dish for a little more toadly spa time.
What it is probably doing is "drinking", which they do by osmosis through a membrane on their lower abdomens.
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Last night after I posted the picture of the Sonoran Desert toad, it came back to the water dish for a little more toadly spa time.
What it is probably doing is "drinking", which they do by osmosis through a membrane on their lower abdomens.
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Last night after I posted the picture of the Sonoran Desert toad, it came back to the water dish for a little more toadly spa time.
What it is probably doing is "drinking", which they do by osmosis through a membrane on their lower abdomens.
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Last night after I posted the picture of the Sonoran Desert toad, it came back to the water dish for a little more toadly spa time.
What it is probably doing is "drinking", which they do by osmosis through a membrane on their lower abdomens.
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Last night after I posted the picture of the Sonoran Desert toad, it came back to the water dish for a little more toadly spa time.
What it is probably doing is "drinking", which they do by osmosis through a membrane on their lower abdomens.
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I have a round, plastic tray sitting on the ground for the birds and bunnies to drink from during the day, but at night, the large Sonoran desert toads like to come sit in it. This critter was sitting in it, but hopped out when I got close to take a photo. Incilius alvarius, also known as Colorado River toad.
This is rather early for them to be out, especially given how a dry it's been, but I think the fact that I water some of the bushes in the yard has brought this one out of hibernation.
#LizardReport really should be #HerpReport, I guess. These giant toads will also eat mealworms from my hand. If you're wondering, yes, these are the kinds that have DMT in the milky secretions from their parotoid glands.