What Lizard is this?

[aceisback]

Please don't double down on defending ignorance. Wild animals are not a house roach and most importantly, they are where they belong, and not in your house. And before you feel like I'm calling you stupid, I'm not. We are ALL ignorant on some things. Like me and off roading or many things mechanical for example; but I'm endeavoring to learn. I do know a lot about native wildlife, and you could probably teach me so many things about my Jeep and mechanics that it would make my head spin. This is a learning opportunity and shouldn't be a fight.

I maintain that this could have been an incredible opportunity to snap a photo and google
what it might be. Oh, a harmless broadhead skink? You could have safely picked it up without gloves if you were gentle about it and had a really cool teaching moment for your daughter. Not only both learn something (and pass that knowledge down through generations), but assuage fear of things that live outside that you can't readily identify. The knee-jerk reaction to seeing wildlife you don't know what is can be figuring it out rather than destroying it. I don't want to be an ass and I am really trying here not to be condescending.

Good words for sure. I’ll take this opportunity to inform my fellow Jeep peeps, and inhabitants of earth, that there is an awesome app available for your phone. It’s called SEEK. Point your phone’s camera at an object, snap a pic, loads of information about said item come back instantly.
Try it out. Really cool for us old folks and even more fun with a granddaughter around. Particularly when they’re at that age where everything is WHY!

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[NC_Overland]

we have plenty more. Our ecosystem won’t miss this.

“Killin’ is m’business, and business is gooooood!”

PS just killed a few moccasins at our HOA pond. We left the look-a-like water snakes alone.

PSS your daughter is afraid of something? Even if she knows it’s harmless? You take it out.

PSSS you must not have daughters.

Please make water moccasins go extent. I hate those evil, agressive spawns of satan, but please leave skinks alone.

 

[Barnaby’sdad]

Please make water moccasins go extent. I hate those evil, agressive spawns of satan, but please leave skinks alone.

That’s where I draw the line (venomous snakes). My backyard was like a NatGeo special when we moved in before I cleared the brush. Millipedes, centipedes, beetles, ribbon snakes, lizards, etc.

I would go out with a headlamp when I let the dog out just to see what was crawling around out there. It was really something at night…the place really came to life.

The only thing I’ve killed to date is a copperhead. We spend enough on vet bills as it is (the dog had another surgery last year). I’m not about to leave one of those crawling around with my dog exploring the lot (he’s an absolute ding dong that has to walk over and nose/nudge anything that moves).

 

[Blue Ridge]

Please make water moccasins go extent. I hate those evil, agressive spawns of satan, but please leave skinks alone.

I'll catch and remove any moccasins, rattlers, or copperheads if I'm near around enough to do it. I've literally caught scores if not over a hundred venomous snakes; used to do it as a side job when I was in construction. There's nothing aggressive about a water moccasin. They'll gape their mouths if threatened, but aren't quick to bite as a general rule. Your average water snake is far "bitier" as temperament is concerned. Their bite just doesn't do much, as can be seen with my dream girl here:


We are blessed in the United States to not have much in the way of animals that are actually human aggressive. Our snakes are as laid back as any on the planet if you don't deliberately stir them up, and of the venomous ones none are particularly deadly. Our bears tend to run if you stomp a foot at them. Moose and large herbivores are the biggest threat to a human.

I'll add that you can teach dogs snake avoidance pretty quickly and should if you live in such country. You could kill every one you saw for the rest of your life and not find the one your dog's nose will.

 

[The White Rabbit]

Good words for sure. I’ll take this opportunity to inform my fellow Jeep peeps, and inhabitants of earth, that there is an awesome app available for your phone. It’s called SEEK. Point your phone’s camera at an object, snap a pic, loads of information about said item come back instantly.
Try it out. Really cool for us old folks and even more fun with a granddaughter around. Particularly when they’re at that age where everything is WHY!

Here here! A little time and a little research before we just whack something over the head……….

 

[Barnaby’sdad]

I'll add that you can teach dogs snake avoidance pretty quickly and should if you live in such country. You could kill every one you saw for the rest of your life and not find the one your dog's nose will.

I’ve got a 10 year old Greyhound. He’s lovable, but he’s about as smart as a box of rocks. Attempting to train him to not go toward movement is essentially trying to “unlearn” generations of careful breeding to do essentially that (find and hunt stuff that moves). Fortunately, there are enough squirrels running around to keep his attention for the most part.

That being said…with his hunting tendencies, we never leave him unattended outside. That’s how I clocked the copperhead...he was going into his “I see something new/neat and want to meet it” stance.

In my case…clearing away a neglected backyard (10+ trips to the dump with a 5’x8’ utility trailer) with decades of piled leaves and brush made the property such that any critter like that is not going to feel any sense of cover and not likely to come around. I.e. I‘ve not seen a single snake of any kind since I cleaned up. That being said…yes…I’m sure they’re around somewhere.

 

[TwelveGaugeSage]

I saw a Gila monster on my MTB ride this past weekend. I always dig seeing them in the wild! Seems like I only see one every couple of years.

I was stationed at Luke AFB for 4 years, never saw a single one. I had a pet bark scorpion that I rescued from humans trying to drown it, a pet camel spider I found trapped in a plastic bottle out in the desert. The animals out there are fascinating.

 

[IamPro2A]

Reason #7,291 to move to NH.

We generally don't have scary looking wildlife, and even the things you teach kids to have a healthy respect for, like black bears, moose, and fisher cats, are damn cute.

 

[TwelveGaugeSage]

Their bite just doesn't do much, as can be seen with my dream girl here:

That's pretty wild. Any idea why they get so close? There was a great Dirty Jobs episode where they were catching water snakes and I laughed my ass off through the whole thing because they just kept biting Mike Rowe.

This little beauty of a garter was in my yard last summer. She actually got a pretty good bite on my finger after musking the hell out of me, lol.

 

[TwelveGaugeSage]

Reason #7,291 to move to NH.

We generally don't have scary looking wildlife, and even the things you teach kids to have a healthy respect for, like black bears, moose, and fisher cats, are damn cute.

New England has a surprising amount of awesome wildlife as well. We have security cameras on our house and we've seen all sorts despite being literally on the border of Springfield. We've had fishers, muskrats, raccoons, deer, a small moose, a huge black bear, turkeys, great blue heron, green heron, one of those crazy ass woodcocks, kingfishers, coyotes, and my favorite, a big bobcat that comes through every once in awhile.

Yesterday my wife called me outside because there was a pair of Canadian Geese chilling between our ponds with four adorable little goslings. I grabbed a box of dog treats and sat a few feet away from them tossing them some goodies. One of the adults kept hissing at me, but the other was super chill and even let the babies come right up to me. We probably sat there with them for an hour. The little things in life are the best things.

 

[Dryfly24]

we have plenty more. Our ecosystem won’t miss this.

“Killin’ is m’business, and business is gooooood!”

PS just killed a few moccasins at our HOA pond. We left the look-a-like water snakes alone.

PSS your daughter is afraid of something? Even if she knows it’s harmless? You take it out.

PSSS you must not have daughters.

I do. I just teach her that not only is it harmless, it’s actually good for the ecosystem. Unless it’s a big spider, then it dies no exceptions…

 

[Blue Ridge]

Here's a must-watch on cottonmouths in the wild. This guy tries to get them to behave aggressively.

 

[CerOf]

Here's a must-watch on cottonmouths in the wild. This guy tries to get them to behave aggressively.

That dude’s nuts!

But I bet he gets paid for his videos!

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