Garden Lizards

[Anniekay]

This is Hemidactylus Garnotii, or Garnot's house lizard. They're endangered because our commom salamanders, Anoles, drive them off or kill them. They're nocturnal and when I moved into this house my front porch ceiling was COVERED with them at night !! Alas, since I started adding hedges and plants to the yard, the common Anoles have moved in and I hardly see them anymore but...

Tonight, there he was on my back porch screen, wiggle-squirming along, looking at me with his big black eyes !! A baby House Lizard !! Here he is: is he not the cutest ?? He's only about 2 1/4" long but, if he doesn't get eaten, he'll grow to 5" long.

What do you have in your garden for lizards?

 

[Tetters]

Cor Annie, I love those little creatures. We don't see them here in the UK - our ''creatures'' are of a different kind. ..... however, when I lived in the bush in Australia - back in the year dot, I made a lizard hospital. Any stray animal seemed to turn up here for shelter, and the ensuing cats would attack and eat the small lizards before they had a chance. Any that had broken limbs, or other damage I did my best to mend, with increasing success after a while.
I left the bigger ones to their own devices though. It was usual to see the goannas wandering around, and those big ones with frill necks (can't remember the name unless I look it up) Fascinating creatures!My daughter's house near Brisbane is full of little Asian geckos. They eat flies!!

 

[Anniekay]

Cor Annie, I love those little creatures. We don't see them here in the UK - our ''creatures'' are of a different kind. ..... however, when I lived in the bush in Australia - back in the year dot, I made a lizard hospital. Any stray animal seemed to turn up here for shelter, and the ensuing cats would attack and eat the small lizards before they had a chance. Any that had broken limbs, or other damage I did my best to mend, with increasing success after a while.
I left the bigger ones to their own devices though. It was usual to see the goannas wandering around, and those big ones with frill necks (can't remember the name unless I look it up) Fascinating creatures!View attachment 1092My daughter's house near Brisbane is full of little Asian geckos. They eat flies!!

They are fascinating and so prehistoric looking. I can just see the lizards hobbling over to your house for tender loving care. Animals all instinctively know who likes them and who doesn't.
I hear the lizards can be very large downunder. I've never had the chance to visit there, though.

 

[petro011]

So cute! Anniekay's baby House Lizard is adorable! It's great to hear about Tetters' lizard hospital in Australia, where she nursed injured lizards back to health.

 

[roadrunner]

I think this is some type of gecko, which are nocturnal, but I'm always amazed at how they can take down large prey relative to their size.

 

[Anniekay]

I think this is some type of gecko, which are nocturnal, but I'm always amazed at how they can take down large prey relative to their size.


View attachment 1503

Yes, you can tell the Geckos because their whole body wiggles as they walk. Their bodies bend left and right with the side their legs are moving on. Kind of an icky feeling when one jumps off a wall onto your neck in the dark !! That happened to me once and I had the reaction of wanting to jump right out of my skin to get away from it !!

 

[Zigs]

We do have some native lizards in the UK but I don't remember seeing one since I lived in Wales.

We have got Newts in the garden though, they lay eggs in the pond but you find them all over the garden under flower pots and things, Here's one that was in the cactus shop last month, found him when I was out slugging at night.

 

[Anniekay]

We do have some native lizards in the UK but I don't remember seeing one since I lived in Wales.

We have got Newts in the garden though, they lay eggs in the pond but you find them all over the garden under flower pots and things, Here's one that was in the cactus shop last month, found him when I was out slugging at night.

View attachment 1520

Oh look !! He's waving hello to you with his little back foot

 

[roadrunner]

Yes, you can tell the Geckos because their whole body wiggles as they walk. Their bodies bend left and right with the side their legs are moving on. Kind of an icky feeling when one jumps off a wall onto your neck in the dark !! That happened to me once and I had the reaction of wanting to jump right out of my skin to get away from it !!

I don't mind the lizards jumping on me, it's these things that feel icky when they jump on you.

 

[Anniekay]

We have these, they're called squirrel tree frogs, they'll jump off trees and bushes onto you and they are VERY wet and slimey !!
* shutters at the thought*

 

[Tetters]

I'm very fond of geckos. I watched them all the time at my daughter's place in Queensland. They clear the flies out that manage to evade the fly screens, and keep it all nice and tidy. I made friends with a couple of stick insects too when visiting there.

 

[Anniekay]

I'm very fond of geckos. I watched them all the time at my daughter's place in Queensland. They clear the flies out that manage to evade the fly screens, and keep it all nice and tidy. I made friends with a couple of stick insects too when visiting there.

I love Preying mantis. I had one in the barn sitting on the equipment trunk just praying away. We had quite the conversation. He didn't say much but his little head rotated to me and it turned out he was an excellent listener !!

Eventually I took him outside and set him in a bush. he crawled right onto my hand and seemed to enjoy the ride.

 

[granjera]

I think this is some type of gecko, which are nocturnal, but I'm always amazed at how they can take down large prey relative to their size.


View attachment 1503

In the Virgin Islands, we had a similar type of nocturnal gecko. They weren't speckled and you could see the inner workings of their body. The black eyes were sometimes all you could see. They were called "wood slaves". Here in Texas I call them "the geckos that look like wood slaves, only less creepy-looking". My cat brought one in the house the other day. I save the gecko's life.

This is more typical of what I see in my yard. They like lounging beneath the cucumber leaves.