What Lies Beneath

[Junebug]

My hubby has a habit of dislodging sprinkler heads as he's mowing the lawn and I'm the one designated to repair them. A few weeks ago he did it again, and because I was watching he quickly picked up the sprinkler head and made a half hearted attempt to reattach it. A few days later I did a follow-up inspection to make sure it was securely threaded in place. It was just sitting there, attached to nothing. I picked up the sprinkler head, accessed the damage and noticed a glass lizard coiled within the hole. He didn't look pleased to see me and it took several minutes of coaxing before all 18" of him slithered away.

[EdinAZ]

Very cool Junebug,

We have a nice variety of interesting lizards in our yard, but none of the legless variety.

By the way, I don't know if it's a general guy-girl thing, but my wife is also the irrigation system specialist at our house.

Ed

[Junebug]

Originally Posted by EdinAZ

Very cool Junebug,

We have a nice variety of interesting lizards in our yard, but none of the legless variety.

By the way, I don't know if it's a general guy-girl thing, but my wife is also the irrigation system specialist at our house.

Ed

I think my hubby knows that I'll be more inclined to mow if he continues to break the sprinkler heads.

[susiep]

Nice pictures Junebug! I have never seen one of those down here. Very cool!

[Junebug]

Originally Posted by susiep

Nice pictures Junebug! I have never seen one of those down here. Very cool!

Hi Susie,

They live in the soil and their diets consist of grubs and other insects. You'll rarely see one unless your digging. They sometimes get startled by lawn mowers and jump up in front of the mower which usually results in their death.

[SueK]

Hi June

He looks disgusting and scarey. How do you know he is a lizard? Did you ask him? He looks very much like a snake to me. Here in Australia we have lots of snakes and some of them are the most deadly in the world. When I see any one of them, it means run run run as fast as you can, and don't come near that place for a long long time.


Sue

[smweaver]

He (or she) is beautiful! Very nice to learn that you didn't have the reaction that many Americans do, which is to pick up the nearest large stick and start swinging. We have harmless garter snakes here, which frequently (and stupidly) get people all riled up because they're fast and you don't see them (and they usually don't decide to move) until you're right on top of them. Of course, if I lived in Australia I too would probably do as Sue suggests (have seen enough documentaries about the amazing number of deadly Australian snakes--which are at least cool to watch on television, Sue ).

Steve

[SueK]

Originally Posted by smweaver

He (or she) is beautiful! Very nice to learn that you didn't have the reaction that many Americans do, which is to pick up the nearest large stick and start swinging. We have harmless garter snakes here, which frequently (and stupidly) get people all riled up because they're fast and you don't see them (and they usually don't decide to move) until you're right on top of them. Of course, if I lived in Australia I too would probably do as Sue suggests (have seen enough documentaries about the amazing number of deadly Australian snakes--which are at least cool to watch on television, Sue ).

Steve

Hey Steve

I live in a semi rural area where people live on acreage so there is always the danger of snakes lurking around when you have lots of bush etc nearby.

There was the case in the newspaper recently, of some silly old guy who lived not too far from me. He saw a snake in his yard and he decided to get rid of it quickly by picking it up by the end of it's tail, and swinging it as far away as he could. Unfortunately for him is was a 'brown snake' - one of the most deadly in the world and it was way quicker than he was. It swung around and got him before he knew what had happened. He was a goner in no time at all. Isn't the male ego amazing? Silly old git thought he was quicker than the 'brown snake'. Sort of makes you feel sorry for men.

So my policy is "run run run as fast as you can'.

So Steve - keep away from snakes. Don't keep them as pets just in case the pet shop gives you a 'lemon'.

Sue

[smweaver]

Yes, Sue, I too sometimes feel sorry for my gender. And I would never advocate picking up (or approaching) a snake that I couldn't identify (and there's no way I would ever go near a brown snake--or funnel-web spiders, bulldog ants or any of the other more "exciting" wildlife you might have the opportunity to run into in your part of the world--even if a herpatologist went out of his or her way to assure me that it wasn't poisonous). But here in the US we have a number of benign reptiles (actually, the human population is infinitely more dangerous and unpredictable than our poisonous reptiles could ever aspire to be) that tend to cause people to act first and think second, usually to the detriment of the reptiles. I was just glad that Junebug didn't have the typical reaction that many people would have. And, on behalf of my gender, I'd like to think that not all of us would have been foolish enough to grab a brown snake by its tail and attempt to fling it across the yard.

Steve

[Jkelee]

WHY do you Call that thing a LIZARD???
Where's it's LEGS??

It fools me!!! I'd be screaming, still!!!

I'm not afraid of Lizards, I hold them, and they hang out on my chids, and eat my buggies on my babies! That thing doesn't fall for a Lizard to me!!!

SNAKE- YIKES!!!!!!
Ya all are brave for loving that thing!!