Share pics of garden "friends"

ewwww, "slimey"! I should have taken a picture of the wood rat the cat slipped into the house on Saturday! Trapped him in the bathroom but yesterday morning he managed to squeeze under the door and we had two dogs, a cat and two humans trying to catch him in the bedroom! Rick was finally able to get him with a fishing net and release him back where he belongs - OUTSIDE!!!

Thanks for the link claypa, Rick knows what they are but I always forget :) Looking at the Bug Files, I should have taken pictures of all her eggs to post! LOL

I've seen a lot of unusual garden friends in my garden, but didn't always have a camera in hand to capture, for example, the huge toad I saw the other day. Well, I have this guy on another thread, but I thought all of you would like this one too.

Snug, :o)

So excited! Spotted this Spring Peeper this morning almost stepped on him but he is fast. I placed him in the planter hopeing he would stay there till I got the camera.

He let me pick him up to get a closer shot, he kept his eyes on me all the time as I moved my hand to get a good picture.

Last picture before he decided he had enough, bounced off my upper arm and into the tall most plant growth.

So cute! I love frogs too.

Tell Bec not to look at this...
Not quite so cute maybe but a big novelty here this year--a Worm Snake. The cat had her on the sidewalk so we grabbed her for observation. I had never seen one before! They eat worms. It was really wriggly!

We put her in a fishbowl with some dirt overnight , and the next day- voila, and that's why I said HER in the previous post!! and maybe that's why she was too slow to elude the cat.
Later she went in the garden with her eggs. Next time I tried to check the eggs, no evidence whatsoever so I don't know what happened.

Those long eggs came out of that little snake???

Seemed big to me too, but...Well, I couldn't think of any other explanation?? Doubt that hubby could have scooped them up with the dirt unnoticed.-? When I picked up the plastic bowl the next day, I lifted it and looked at the bottom to see if Ms Wormy was buried and saw these thru the bottom of the bowl.

Absolutely amazing Sally!! What a great fine!!
And Chris I think that's the cutest froggy I've seen...LOVE that coloring!!
Snug - I'm always excited to see a Mantis in the yard...just hoping they're gobbling up all the "unwanteds" i.e. aphids etc!!!!

Sally, your eggs remind me of Rick's "find" last month :( He had seen a turtle on the edge of the field and figured she was looking for a spot to deposit her eggs. When he went back the next day to check, sure enough he found "some" eggs and brought them home. When he realized a few days later that the eggs were getting a little rank he decided to toss them, BUT not before showing me what was inside. Surprise, surprise...they weren't turtle eggs after all they were SNAKE EGGS!!! Considering the area where he collected them was the same spot he killed the largest Copperhead he's ever seen a couple of years ago, the eggs were QUICKLY disposed of!

Found another peeper yesterday in a late blooming Stella'd Ora.

This is quit a distance from where I spotted the first one a week ago, the other side of the yard. But these guys can jump a long way.

You and those frogs! How do you do it?

LOL, Sally. They just seem to find me. I do have the water garden, and the sound of running water. Don't use pesticides, and I do have some weedy areas where they can hide from predators and the lawn mower.

I did a head count of my resident water garden frogs this morning. There are 7 ranging from small to large. I have to laugh seems when they see food on the fly they get excited and start to ribbit, as if to say "I got this one, lay off it's mine!"

Just one of my farorite froggie pictures.

This message was edited Sep 6, 2009 11:17 AM

Chris - I love it!!

That's a cute one, lady. This morning when I was working at my potting bench, I went to take a sip of my coffee and something in the cup hit my nose. It was a GRASSHOPPER!! No photos. LOL

Stormy, you need a mug with a lid on it, and a small mug for the grasshopper, he wants his caffeine too. ☺

I know Lady. If I use a covered travel mug, it makes it feel like a work day and not a weekend. Guess I'll pour an expresso cup full for the GH!

Friend

Jen - PERFECT pic....love it

Very Very pretty, Jen!

Great picture Jen --Better than one I took after chasing a buckeye all over my sedum-it was so fluttery.
Here's one we see only rarely- I think we get them when they blow in from some far off more woodsy area.

OOPS

This message was edited Sep 11, 2009 9:48 AM

Wow, That's neat Sally. Do you know what it's called?

A stick bug

Jen, I wanted to comment on you butterfly picture but I couldn't find my butterfly book for an ID right away.
I think it is a Painted Lady. Very nice picture.

Sally, nice Walking Stick, never seen one in the wild here. I should check on google and see if they live in the "Cold North" LOL
I should be spotting some Praying Mantis too, they are not an everyday sighting. If only they would not eat each other when they hatch, we might have more around.

I keep seeing bugs that look like baby Preying Mantis. They might be something else all together, but they do look like toddler Mantis.

I have never seen a Stick Bug before.

I've never seen one in real life only in "Bugs Life"

Thanks for the id on the butterfly Chris, I hadn't had a chance to look it up.

Hm, syormlya--maybe they can get two broods in one year? I saw a big one yesterday.
Hey jen--good work. LOL your entomology 'instruction' We got a huge stick bug/ walkingstick one year after a hurricane. I may have looked it up some info, I have the impression that they prefer deep woods
By the way--in spite of my threats I still have some common milkweed. I have pulled out some old stems and then get young new growth from underground, which the monarch cats seem to prefer. Yesterday I counted EIGHT of the cats!! Plus one chrysalis! So I think next year I will feel free to pull all the old stems until mid august and then leave little ones. I don't think the monarchs get up here till late summer.

Look what I just found. I noticed him starting to J as I was driving the car out of the garage. This is the planter between the garage doors. This part of the planter is in a safe spot under the eves so I think he will be fine there.

Ohhhh I LIKE him....pretty stripes and all

Ok maybe not a close personal friend but...

What a great shot, Catbird!

That is a very cool pic, Catbird

My camera didn't want to focus on this guy.

Jen, He looks like he's peeking at you.

caption Jen's
"Seen any crickets around here?"

You know how you walk into spider webs this time of year? I was shocked to see this thing on my arm--but decided that it was not the 'perfect time to panic' since it hadn't bit me yet. What a cool body! Never seen it before.

Neat! I think it's called an Arrowhead Spider, Verrucosa arenata. It's an orb weaver.

There are lots of tiny little salamanders running around here, but I haven't managed to get a decent picture yet.