A big Skink

BY SKEETER
Do you see what I see in my Georgia Garden? Look on the stump.
Now can you see it?
Now you can! This Skink lives inside the hollowed out stump. Wrens have built nest's in this stump several times. Then OJ kitty discovered them. I would see him sticking his paw inside trying to get to the baby's. I feared seeing him get one of my beloved birdies so after they safely fledged, I closed the hole with a piece of Tin. The Wrens can no longer nest in the stump. Now this Skink has taken up residence.
He looks big doesn't he? That is because he IS BIG! A bit intimidating to walk upon him and spot it from the corner of your eye. Look at those neat feet.
This is a 5 lined Skink that can get up to 8 inches long. His face is bright red/orange during mating season. He comes out and suns on the stump each day. He is a brave thing as I can get really close to him and he only watches me.
Today I added a plant into the pot on the stump and he never flinched. I kept my eye on him though as I did not want him to become startled and jump on me. I would have done a major Pee Pee dance! I think it looks like a snake in this picture.
I am still weeding and mulching away in the Gardens. I keep running into these huge roots in the butterfly garden. I must get the large shovel and dig them up. I have no idea what type of root this could be. Do you? I am dealing with Big Roots and A BIG SKINK, In the Garden...
Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

We Were Overrun....!

This tree frog obviously liked our tall windows on the covered porch. He was a joy to see and the Jimster had fun playing with him. He is one of the largest tree frogs I have seen here.

Disclaimer: No frogs, toads, skinks or bugs were harmed in the making of this post, though one egg did perish.

What kind of bug is this? Hint: It is a favorite of kids in the summertime!

This is an update of tad. They are all doing fine and growing up very fast. As of the publish date of this post, all have 'flown the coop'.

Mr. Fix-it was helping me to dig out a clump of grass from a large wooden planter when we came upon a funny looking organic pea sized 'thing'. What could it be? Actually there were many more than just this one. We had no idea what they were so I squeezed one just to see if it was a seed of some sort. It squirted-oops!

Upon further investigation and digging we found the mama responsible for laying the lizard eggs-there she is above. We felt really bad for disturbing her and gently placed her back in the pot after we planted a little redbud. Seeing this part of Mother Nature was really cool because neither one of us had ever seen lizard eggs.

Our dozens of resident bull frogs LOVE our swimming pool. Poor Mr. Fix-it spent about four weeks trying to replace the liner and skimmer in our pool. It took a while because he only has time to work on these things on the weekends. All the while these bullfrogs were croaking and swimming-even with the pool pump running!

Here is another one I got up close and personal with. Their throats expand so much you can see through the skin. They are not bothered by people but only come out at night.

Here is another one floating on a noodle. They were literally ALL over. I think the rains this spring made a bumper crop of frogs and toads and lizards. What do you all think? Even as I write this the bull frogs are still croaking by our pool, though I hope they are not in it anymore since the pump is running.

This is some kind of tree frog. He was in the way of progress during the liner change out. Tree frogs are fairly common if you know where to look for them!

This last little toad/frog (not sure which) might be kind of hard to see. He is located in the middle of the picture a little below the midpoint directly under the middle purple leaf of the upper leaf. He is brown and blends with the leaves. Geri could not believe how many of these buggers we have in the garden. They were EVERYWHERE during the first two weeks of June or so! I don't see them as often now. But we do have huge toads. I know where most live and am going to begin naming them soon. Any suggestions for names?

in the garden....

Unexpected Visitors

Garter snake, aka Thamnophis sirtalis. A snake commonly found in gardens and backyards in North America. As a child I used to capture these guys and handle them with no fear. We used to have a grass snake as a pet for awhile, but not a garter snake. This particular fella was napping under a piece of plywood in my vegetable garden. I was certainly shocked when I picked up the board and found him. I grabbed my camera and had the Jimster pick up the board while I snapped away and researched this type of snake. This snake has eaten fairly recently. If you look closely you'll see a bulge about 6 inches away from its head. The website I used said garter snakes eat all kinds of things, small mammals, insects, toads, earthworms, snails and slugs. I hope its meal was a vole but I am betting it is a toad. We have tons of them in the garden.

While working on my computer in my second story room, this lizard calmly crawled around my window on the screen. I found out it is a male broadheaded skink, aka Eumeces laticeps. For more info on it check out this website. I have previously posted on skinks as well. They are VERY common in my garden. The website says these guys eat earthworms, grasshoppers, butterflies, cockroaches and small beetles. In my opinion they are good to have around! This skink can be differentiated from the blue tailed skink by being larger and having more labial scales. Their nests are found under rotting logs and in sawdust. Its appearance may be attributed to the recent move of a large pile of firewood in my garden. Unfortunately for this skink, it was not faster or smarter then my little pest control named Orkin. Orkin captured him and was playing with him when Mr. Fix-it intervened. We hope the skink moves on because Orkin is pretty good at her job. She was QUITE miffed when her toy was taken away.

Both of these unexpected visitors WILL bite, but they are not poisonous and will not harm people (other than what could be a painful bite if the critter is big enough). I was bit by a blue tailed skink but it more surprised me than hurt. It did not break the skin, but I think this skink may do more damage and I will not be handling it. As long as these visitors do not eat my plants and don't pose a threat to us, they are welcomed

in the garden....

Blue Tailed Skinks and Other Wildlife

I am making super progress on remaking my vegetable garden. By the end of today I should be back to I was when I began the project-complete vegetable garden with finished beds. Moving the vegetable garden has required moving railroad ties. These ties have seen better days as they have been in the garden for a very long time, but they still serve the purpose of identifying the boundaries of the garden. While moving the ties I came across some interesting wildlife. Under one tucked into some nooks were three of the largest slugs I have ever seen. I will leave their fate up to your imagination. I also came across a brown snake about two feet long. He slithered off none the worse for the disturbance.

By far, the wildlife I ran into the most was the blue tailed skink. I never knew much about these little lizards so I thought I would research them. They are very common and feed on crickets, spiders and even moths. They are a gardener's friend and I left them alone for the most part. But finally, after seeing my sixth skink I came across a small one I thought would be easy to catch to show to Jimmy. Catch him I did and was quite proud of myself. I am not very brave when it comes to catching strange critters I know nothing about. He felt really smooth and not slimy at all. I was carrying him toward the house to proudly show my son when he bit me! Needless to say he landed on the ground-unscathed as he scampered off. The bite did not hurt as I don't even think he had teeth. The bite just suprised me. It really was kind of funny. I will not mess with skinks anymore and Jimmy will have to find them on his own.

Another run in with a lizard occurred a few years ago. I was shoveling compost out of my compost bin when I spotted a black lizard with light orange-yellow spots. At first I thought it was a snake and was startled. I gently placed the lizard in a deep wheelbarrow to save him until Jimmy got home from school. The first thing Jimmy did was pick it up and hold it! It was a good thing this critter did not bite! I think we have identified it as a Spotted Salamander. Spotted salamanders eat earthworms, insects and mollusks. They live most of their lives on land and return to ponds for breeding. I guess this little amphibian found a good home in my compost pile which is full of its preferred diet. We let him go back in the compost and hope he is living a happy life somewhere in the garden. I have not seen another spotted salamander since this one visited.

While outside yesterday I kept hearing a knocking sound and knew a woodpecker was close by. I walked out front and found a downy woodpecker pecking on a bird house. It seemed like she was trying to enlarge the hole and my presence didn't bother her much at all. She would just move around to the other side of the birdhouse as I got closer. I encourage all birds in my garden. They are gardeners friends because they eat the insects. I once had a pileated woodpecker pecking on the side of my vinyl house. I am not sure what his problem was as I know there are no insects in vinyl siding!

in the garden....