Lizardfest

Frogs, toads, salamanders and lizards

We've got 'em all here at Gramma's.

The frogs come out at night.

It's a real symphony.

Listen.

(It's dark, cuz it's nighttime.)

We recorded those froggies singing as we stood on the screened in porch.

They are LOUD!

(The frog sounds don't scare Fergi. But the nighttime thunder sure does.)

The lizards and salamanders are around all day long.

Everywhere.

This one lives somewhere near the bushes outside the windows

and makes multiple treks across the screen several times a day.

Most of them have really cool names.

Flatwoods, marbled, one-toed, spotted dusky and Gulf Coast mud salamanders.

Oriental garden, giant whiptail, rainbow, butterfly and Florida scrub lizards.

Ashy, reef, yellow-head, giant day and Tokay gekos.

Some of them are indigenous.  Most of the lizards have been introduced.

I've learned that it's the lizards (I think) that puff up their necks into bright red balloons.

They're weird.

Fergi ignores them. She's got good vision (she can see a treat from a mile away)

but she doesn't seem to even know these crawly, jumpy, skittering things even exist.

I, on the other hand, am developing a pretty good eye for them.

And every time I go out the front door, I make a dash for their usual basking places.

Moma says I'm developing my hunting skills.

But often I don't even see them.

I just have fun on the chase.

Actually, if I'm honest, I have to admit that I get sort of nervous, even scared when I'm hunting.

This is all still new to me.

Moma knows what my REAL preferences are.

And she tried to give me a bit of an advantage the other day.

I sort of thought it was too good to be true.

Finally, I actually captured one of those green crawly things.

Who cares if it was soft and stuffed?

Still, I was distracted.

I kept thinking there may have been some little crawlies in the bushes.

I kept listening. And watching. 

That's what I do.

Later, the real fun began when I went back inside the air-conditioned house.

And I discovered my new buddy hiding on my bed.

Now THIS is what I call a tropical vacation.

New stuffies. 

And a nice, soft cool place to play with them.