Persia's Stalking a Lizard
 

"Stalking", as best she can, through the glass door to the patio :) She
sure manages to spot them! She chatters at them like she does birds at the
feeder. It eluded her by crawling around under the cover to my fire pit.
She kept watching and sure enough, it came back out again. She was
fascinated!

Around here there are two kinds of lizards, anole which are rather small:

http://srelherp.uga.edu/lizards/anocar.htm

Anoles are usually bright green but if need be they turn brown. The males
have a pink spotted throat flap which expands when they are defending their
territory, or when trying to entice a female. That's cute to see. I
haven't seen may anole lizards around this year.

Then there are skinks, which can get pretty big. Skinks have alternating
stripes down their backs and have blue tails. Very pretty!

http://srelherp.uga.edu/lizards/eumine.htm

It was a young skink she was "stalking". Rumour has it they are poisonous,
but that's a myth. They just taste bad to predators.

Jill

Persia's Stalking a Lizard
 

"jmcquown" wrote in message ...

"Stalking", as best she can, through the glass door to the patio :) She
sure manages to spot them! She chatters at them like she does birds at the
feeder. It eluded her by crawling around under the cover to my fire pit.
She kept watching and sure enough, it came back out again. She was
fascinated!

Around here there are two kinds of lizards, anole which are rather small:

http://srelherp.uga.edu/lizards/anocar.htm

Anoles are usually bright green but if need be they turn brown. The males
have a pink spotted throat flap which expands when they are defending their
territory, or when trying to entice a female. That's cute to see. I
haven't seen may anole lizards around this year.

Then there are skinks, which can get pretty big. Skinks have alternating
stripes down their backs and have blue tails. Very pretty!

http://srelherp.uga.edu/lizards/eumine.htm

It was a young skink she was "stalking". Rumour has it they are poisonous,
but that's a myth. They just taste bad to predators.

Jill

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We have those same lizards here (East Texas). We also have little pink
geckos. They are actually quite pretty and and are almost translucent. I
enjoy having all of them around, and I get *lots* of them. They are great
for catching mosquitos and small insects. One problem is that one will
occasionally get in the house. I hate that because they won't last long
with two cats unless I get to them first (in which case, I place them safely
outdoors). When I first moved to Texas, I grabbed an anole by the tail in
preparation to placing it outdoors. Much to my horror, the tail fell off
and the rest of the anole went running! That's when I learned that the
tails will grow back on those lizards, although usually not to the same
length. I have been very careful since then not to pick one up by the tail.

MaryL

Persia's Stalking a Lizard
 

On Sat, 23 Jun 2012 10:16:41 -0400, "jmcquown"
wrote:
Then there are skinks, which can get pretty big. Skinks have alternating
stripes down their backs and have blue tails. Very pretty!

http://srelherp.uga.edu/lizards/eumine.htm

It was a young skink she was "stalking". Rumour has it they are poisonous,
but that's a myth. They just taste bad to predators.

Oooh, I think the anoles are the cutest, but the skinks are the prettiest.

Persia's Stalking a Lizard
 

MaryL wrote:


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We have those same lizards here (East Texas). We also have little pink
geckos. They are actually quite pretty and and are almost translucent.
I enjoy having all of them around, and I get *lots* of them. They are
great for catching mosquitos and small insects. One problem is that one
will occasionally get in the house. I hate that because they won't last
long with two cats unless I get to them first (in which case, I place
them safely outdoors). When I first moved to Texas, I grabbed an anole
by the tail in preparation to placing it outdoors. Much to my horror,
the tail fell off and the rest of the anole went running! That's when I
learned that the tails will grow back on those lizards, although usually
not to the same length. I have been very careful since then not to pick
one up by the tail.

MaryL

That must have been what my cats had trapped on the doorsill between the
screen and the inner door, one night. I was trying to persuade it to
head OUT, not IN, with cat paws competing with my efforts. When the
tail came off, it looked as though the hind legs came too. The front
part of the lizard took off, while the tail kept squirming wildly on the
pavement outside the screen-door.

Persia's Stalking a Lizard
 

"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in message
...



MaryL wrote:


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We have those same lizards here (East Texas). We also have little pink
geckos. They are actually quite pretty and and are almost translucent. I
enjoy having all of them around, and I get *lots* of them. They are great
for catching mosquitos and small insects. One problem is that one will
occasionally get in the house. I hate that because they won't last long
with two cats unless I get to them first (in which case, I place them
safely outdoors). When I first moved to Texas, I grabbed an anole by the
tail in preparation to placing it outdoors. Much to my horror, the tail
fell off and the rest of the anole went running! That's when I learned
that the tails will grow back on those lizards, although usually not to
the same length. I have been very careful since then not to pick one up
by the tail.

MaryL

That must have been what my cats had trapped on the doorsill between the
screen and the inner door, one night. I was trying to persuade it to
head OUT, not IN, with cat paws competing with my efforts. When the
tail came off, it looked as though the hind legs came too. The front
part of the lizard took off, while the tail kept squirming wildly on the
pavement outside the screen-door.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yes, that's it. The tail will squirm for awhile, but there are no legs
attached to it. It sounds like something out of a horror movie, but the
lizard will survive and grow a new tail. However, it is stressful to the
lizard, and it is more susceptible to predators during that period. The
term for the process is autotomy.
http://www.anapsid.org/tailloss.html

MaryL

Persia's Stalking a Lizard
 

jmcquown wrote:

Then there are skinks, which can get pretty big. Skinks have alternating
stripes down their backs and have blue tails. Very pretty!

http://srelherp.uga.edu/lizards/eumine.htm

Beautiful!

--
Joyce

If you can't operate your turn signal, what makes you think you can
drive the rest of the car? -- bumper sticker

Persia's Stalking a Lizard
 

"Bastette" wrote in message
...
jmcquown wrote:

Then there are skinks, which can get pretty big. Skinks have
alternating
stripes down their backs and have blue tails. Very pretty!

http://srelherp.uga.edu/lizards/eumine.htm

Beautiful!

--
Joyce

Aren't they pretty? There's a myth they are poisonous. Apparently they
taste bad to predators but they are not at all poisonous to humans.

Jill

Persia's Stalking a Lizard
 

On 6/24/2012 6:14 PM, Bastette wrote:
jmcquown wrote:

Then there are skinks, which can get pretty big. Skinks have alternating
stripes down their backs and have blue tails. Very pretty!

http://srelherp.uga.edu/lizards/eumine.htm

Beautiful!


They are! But they almost look like snakes so seeing one might make me
scream. :)

Persia's Stalking a Lizard
 

"Cheryl" wrote in message
.com...

On 6/24/2012 6:14 PM, Bastette wrote:
jmcquown wrote:

Then there are skinks, which can get pretty big. Skinks have
alternating
stripes down their backs and have blue tails. Very pretty!

http://srelherp.uga.edu/lizards/eumine.htm

Beautiful!


They are! But they almost look like snakes so seeing one might make me
scream. :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They are quite small, though--not the same length or proportions as a snake.

MaryL

Persia's Stalking a Lizard
 

Then there are skinks, which can get pretty big. Skinks have alternating
stripes down their backs and have blue tails. Very pretty!

http://srelherp.uga.edu/lizards/eumine.htm

It was a young skink she was "stalking". Rumour has it they are poisonous,
but that's a myth. They just taste bad to predators.

There are a lot of anecdotes out there in support of the "myth" if
it is one. And as far as I can see, no published investigation by
a qualified toxicologist to decide it either way.

The folks saying they're poisonous have *some* evidence even if it may
be tenuous and folkloric - those poo-pooing it don't cite any at all.

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