Animal Photography + A Big Thank you to my now over 1000 Followers (Mostly bots I guess lol)!
The other day I discovered that some lizards have an awfully hard time sticking or "grabbing" onto certain plastics. I found this little lizard (4-6" in length) stuck in a plastic container sitting outside. I only heard it move after walking by, but then after a closer inspection, I noticed it was actually incapable of sticking to the walls of the container it was in. I decided to get a few pictures first and then let it get on its way.
Let me know what you think!
BIG THANKS to my "REAL" followers/supporters.
After a couple decent waves of what looks like fake/bot accounts I now have over 1000 followers!! Yay!?
I should be excited, and I kind of am, but I also despise the rampant fake/spam/bot/upvote accounts so if you read this far AND you can tell me what kind of lizard this is in this post I will send 1 SBD to the FIRST person who answers correctly in the comments below.
This #silentcontest is being sponsored by @enternamehere.
Good luck!
BTW: Congratulations to @vanessazune2 for winning the Identify this bird contest last week!
One of my most recent photography posts: Texas Sunset
Hope everyone had a safe and fun Memorial day weekend!
Looks an awful lot like a Western Fence Lizard to me. Just guessing. Though could be an Eastern, that wandered to your neck of the woods. I have heard they are good, and eat ticks, which are a hugely growing problem in the U.S. Nice photos, I hope he/she got away in the end.
I think you could be right, however, this is a tough one since they all look so similar and I didn't actually get a shot of the belly/underside (I didn't know it was that important for identifying). I googled around for some reference pictures and it seems that the West/East Fence lizards (Sceloporus-occidentalis/S-undulatus) do look similar to this one. The only other one I saw that it could be is the Texas Spiny Lizard (Sceloporus olivaceus), but this one doesn't look all that spiny. Thanks for the reply and compliments, I have a new camera now so hopefully I can grab some clearer pictures soon! He/she was let free (unharmed) right after these pictures were taken.
BTW: I checked out the wikipedia for the western fence lizard and learned something very interesting about them. So, not only do they eat ticks but...
Interesting stuff nonetheless!
Since you're the only one who commented I'm still sending the 1 SBD your way. Thanks again!
That is really interesting about the ticks. I thought they just ate them, basically. That's more amazing. As for the ID, it might be hard to usually catch them, to get them to 'belly up'. I wouldn't be very familiar with the Texas lizards, as I've not spent much time down yonder. But that is what it looked like, our Western Fence. Do you get the blue tailed skinks? They're pretty wild, I've only seen a few.
Thanks for the SBD, muchly appreciated. Have a nice night, and keep an eye out for the lizards. (I imagine they come in the house now and then)
Yes, getting the underside might be difficult. I'm probably not gonna bother with trying to capture them just for a better picture of their belly.
I've never seen (or heard of) a blue tailed skink. I looked it up and WOW those look like some crazy cross between snake, lizard and an iguana or something. I hope I get to see one someday! @enternamehere said she thinks she has seen what appears to be a yellow tailed skink before. It sounds like they could be around here.
You're welcome, thanks and will do!
Ha haa, it probably is better for them anyway to not be flipping them around to look. If you COULD catch them. Fast little buggars they are and all. It's definately hard on any animal stress wise when we mess with them.
I've never heard of a yellow tailed skink, but that would be cool. Not that I'm even CLOSE to any sort of lizard expert anyway. Plus, I wouldn't argue with @enternamehere on the outdoors info. She knows her stuff ( :
I wonder if a lizard lost it's tail, if it would come back a different color and smoothness, etc? Who knows. Like I said, a renowned Lizardologist I am not.
I DID see a glass snake/lizard in Arkansas once. Really cool, a lizard that looks like a snake and has lizard characteristics. Like sometimes vestigial legs. I think you have those down your way. Ever seen one there? Maybe ask ENH if she has seen one in her vast east to west travels. They are gorgeous and a really mellow looking snake.
Yes, exactly. As a kid I didn't understand that important FACT about stressing out the animals very well. I remember I had this "great idea" to catch a bird by simply putting a fishing net over the entrance hole of a birdhouse right after I saw that it had flown into it and then tapping on the back to scare the bird back out the front, straight into the net. I had built a small cage complete with food/water etc (with my grandpa's help of course) to put it in and my plan worked out great, but then I also remember shortly after I started feeling bad about holding the bird captive (from flying as well as potentially away from their babies) and after a few hours I let it go. I also learned about how birds carry mites too around this time, if I remember correctly lol. Anyways, I now give them their respect and do my best to not mess with or scare any of the animals/wildlife I come across.
Good question about the lizard tail, I wonder this as well now! If I have seen a glass snake/lizard I didn't know that it was anything other than a snake. ENH says she might have seen one but not sure when/where. She at least already knew about it. I have neither heard of or seen anything like it that I remember. I agree though, from the pictures I saw, they do look amazing! I'll definitely keep my eye out now that I know what to look for!