Reptile Whisperer

[Tuesday]

I'm just now writing about this, though it is far from the first time this has happened, and I wondered if anyone else's Cairn exhibited this behavior.

The entire back of our house/pool area is screened in, and during the spring/fall/winter we keep our back doors open all the time. This allows Murphy to patrol the backyard without supervision, getting out and getting into big trouble.

He likes to lie in the shade, sleep, and pretty much stay lazy during the hottest part of the day.

So, he sleeps, then all of a sudden, he's up and indicating/barking at something outside of the screen. We'll follow him and there is always either a snake or a gopher tortoise out there. It's pretty funny, and it amazes us, because the snakes are always silent, and unless the tortoises are coming through the greenspace area, they, too, are silent.

Aren't these little animals amazing?

[DemiSheep]

We don't have many snakes or turtles here. But I have been pretty bummed out lately. We have woods right behind our house which basically allows us to experience every kind of creeping thing that exists here and I thought for sure that I'd run into at least a garter snake if not a black rat snake, but nooooo. After living here for a year and a half I have not run into any cool creatures like that...

Shhhh don't tell my wife.

[Tuesday]

OK, Demi, kind of weird, but hey, it's your woods. I'm a city girl transplanted into the country. I've gotten used to the quiet, the giant buzzards, but man, I CANNOT get used to the snakes. I am so grateful for the cage, because I know Murphy would love to thrash one.

The black snakes here are HUGE! Like 4 feet long, and when you run into them, they jump. It's a great stress test for the heart, but normally I just stay within the confines of the cage and stick to sidewalks this time of year.

We don't discourage them though, because black snakes keep the poisonous snakes (especially) rattle snakes away. I surely don't want to have to tangle with one of those while walking my Murphy.

The tortoises are awesome though. They vary in sizes and are actually pretty fast movers. They are protected and it's ginormous fines if you mess with them or their habitat. The gopher tortoise is actually the only tortoise in North America.

[DemiSheep]

Very cool. Bit we don't have but maybe one poisonous snake here and it's confined to bodies of water. If we had rattler snakes I may sing a different toon... But then again my favorite show is the discovery channel...

(null)

[cairnfan]

My kids love taking Bear on hikes in the woods because he always seems to root out a salamander, skink, or other little creature. Demi, in addition to our Cairn we have a crested gecko, 2 bearded dragons and 2 very large tree frogs. Sometimes I feel like my home is the Discovery channel.

[DemiSheep]

Last spring (late) or early summer I discovered dozens and dozens of baby toads in our back yard (1/2 - 1 inch body). Well Attila wasn't free in the back yard then, so...well now he is. I'm not quite sure what to do, he's either going to have toad snacks or not allowed to be loose in the yard.

I have not seen any toads yet, but it's still early spring. It's funny because the toads that survive grow up to be 2 to 3 inches in length without be stretched out. Walking at night last summer I almost stepped on one in the street. They like to roam the street at night, they're all over our neighborhood. I wonder how they reproduce, where their eggs are etc. The mysteries that need to be solved....

[kieiras mom]

we also have toads that live in a protected space under the edge of our patio/ porch. Keira is so funny, she jumps away quickly when the hop. Hasn't yet caught one and i hope she doesn't. They have been here about 5 years,4years before Keira was here.

[Hillscreek]

Angus hasn't seen a toad yet but in the past when my dogs have first encountered toads they want to pick them up. They find out that toads have a VERY bad taste. After that they leave toads alone.

I can only speak about the toads in Norther PA - can't say it's the same everywhere.

[DemiSheep]

Well I hope our toads taste very bad.