Often I've joked about how many species there might be living on our entire property. I wish they would all come out and line up alongside the road to introduce themselves to us. Would we really like to know?! Our felines once in a while do lift up a tip of the veil by bringing us yet another species we had not seen up close... Last week I had two of our garden critters being revealed to me. One was a skink, I don't exactly know which one it was. According to the New Georgia Encyclopedia, Georgia has only a few species of lizards, six of which are skinks. So I rescued one of those six! They belong to the reptiles.
I had to hold on to this one while making photos with one hand. Their toes are rather scratchy too.
Big eyes, a funny nostril and open ears...
Tiggy-Tiger had obviously wounded it a little, under its belly, as I have a bit of blood in my hand... But after all, I rescued him/her from a cruel death!
One last shot before I set it free, near the creek where it rapidly disappeared under the water plants. The creek is near dry...
This swamp snake I found curled up on the tiles of the staircase area... all by itself! But there are also some black cat hair so maybe our Spicy, Bandido or Barty did bring me this.
Georgia has a rich biodiversity of snakes, with forty-one native species now documented according to the same source; Georgia Encyclopedia. So I did squat down to take this photo of the dead snake for identifying it later.
I picked it up, behind its head and put it out on the retainer wall next to the driveway for Pieter to have a look at its full length. How in the world do those felines hold this in their mouth while pushing through the cat door?
It was a harmless Swamp Snake of some 45 cm. When Pieter did come to look at it, there was no snake on the retainer wall... Aha, lesson learned is that snakes play dead out of self defense and only move on after quite some time. We saw it one more time and then it was gone. Second chance in life I guess.
I have a small balcony with a bird sometimes passing by, I would swap your lovely garden with all it's creepy crawlers instantly..
ReplyDeleteI hated the scorpions in south of France though, I had to undo the bed to look for them before I went in.
They were everywhere.
Love,
Angela.
Ik ben niet zo'n liefhebber van die beesten in jouw tuin ... Mijn middelste heeft 'n wateragaam en een leguaan. Beide beesten logeren nu (in de vakantie) tijdelijk bij ons. Ik vind 't wel leuk om ze te bekijken, maar wel op afstand ...
ReplyDeleteWhat a blessing to have the opportunity to see some of Natures little inhabitants. There is so much beauty around us... wishing you and Pieter a fabulous day! xo HHL
ReplyDeleteik VINDT je stoer!!!! DUBBEL stoer.......dat je het dier vast durft te pakken EN voor het feit dat je je deur OPEN durft te laten ;)!!! BRRRRRRR........
ReplyDeleteLiefs,
Lynda(sch**thuis*
You can keep 'em all in Georgia!
ReplyDelete:) we have enough here in Va.
Thank You for your kind comment.
X's & O's
Jenny
Wow, I wouldn't have been as brave as you were with that snake. Even if it appeared to be dead, I don't think I would have picked it up! The little skink, yes, but the snake, no! :)
ReplyDeleteI think one of the best things about gardening is that we provide a wonderful place for so many creatures to live. I would love to see your garden someday, my friend! xo Gigi
Hello, and thank you so much for visiting my blog... I love all God's precious creatures, even snakes... xoxo Julie Marie
ReplyDeleteThe snake totally freaks me out, but the lizard is kind of cute. Yeah, you might not want to know all the creatures living in your yard. ha!
ReplyDeleteI,m impressed that you can hold the snake though to me even without of harm that I would rather not do it.
ReplyDeleteYou might likes all animals in the jungle too?:-)
Big Hugs,
Michiko
Mariette,
ReplyDeletees leben in der Tat viele verschiedene Tiere und Reptilien bei euch.
Die Schlage wäre mir nicht ganz geheuer - aber die kleine Echse ist wunderschön.
Liebe Abendgrüße schickt Dir
Irmi
Yikes Mariette! I am not as brave as you. I have to put a sock on my hand and then grab the lizard and run screaming for the door so I can release it back into the wild. I don't like the feeling of it wriggling in my hand, even with the sock on. :/ Hope you are having a good day. Tammy
ReplyDeleteHallo mariette,
ReplyDeletedu bist wirklich eine beherzte Frau. Aber eigentlich ist es paradiesisch, dass ihr all diese Tiere im Garten habt. Wie schön, dass eure Tiger sie euch bringen anstatt sie zu fressen und du sie retten kannst. Bestimmt war das eine Schlangenkönigin, die dich jetzt im Garten beschützen wird.
Schöne Grüße, Johanna
what a great post! I love thqt you rescued these critters and managed to photograph them close up. I must say i don't really like cats because they are vicious hunters of native wild life. I didn't know snakes play dead. Maybe here in Australia they don't need to because they are all highly poisonous.
ReplyDeleteLiebe Mariette,
ReplyDeleteSchlangen müssen nicht sein :-(
LG Bernhard