A timely reminder

[Baccus]

Not exactly shrimp related but still aquatic..... of a sorts

Hubby and I where draining the 1000L pond and he lifted it to get the remaining water down to the drain hole, I happened to see underneath and got a quick glimpse of something serpentine under the pond. I calmly told him to drop the pond and step backwards (and yes it was calmly snakes don't bother me but scare the hell out of hubby) while I reassessed the situation. From the quick look I got I was 99% sure the creature we where dealing with was a harmless but very healthy legless lizard. The shadow of doubt was the red and black looking head which could have thrown its identity into two species of snake. Either the Red Naped Snake or even a juvi eastern brown snake, both species that are found in my area. The main reasons I suspected a lizard tho was the head shape, blunt tail and the fact that it was quick to burrow into the sand under the pond.

We kept an eye on it (and kept the ultra curious, but klutzy dog/pup way) while I got a bucket to trap the resident in so I could better identify it safely without it making a break for it into the surrounding gardens.

Lucky for everyone (including the critter) it was/ is a legless lizard. Lucky for us because ourselves and our pets don't have to be worried about getting bitten. And lucky for the lizard in that I prefer to identify things rather than just kill everything that looks remotely snake like on the off chance. Once I have got the pond all back in order I will let the little guy go back near the pond and he can go back to doing what ever he does under the pond. I am hoping that he eats the evil malicious metallic green lawn ants that had a nest under the pond too. Anyone who has been bitten by the vile creatures knows the pain I am talking about and will understand my desire to find a natural predator of them.

The timely reminder I guess is always be mindful of what else is sharing our yards, especially places that are not often disturbed, not everyone will always be so lucky to find a harmless garden friend. Also be sure you can identify your local snake and snake like inhabitants it could just save 2 lives.

And little legs

You cant see them in the pictures but he also has even smaller back legs.

[VickiH]

Very cool post [emoji16]

I agree identifying is better than killing Willy nilly but I'm a chicken for slithery things & not as brace as you [emoji4][emoji51]

I also know the extreme pain those horrible metallic green ants can cause [emoji30][emoji36] so it's great if you can have a symbiotic pest control like this fellow.


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[Baccus]

A few weeks ago I was flooding the floor of my bird aviary and came across 3 other legless lizards, I tried to rescue them but the quail got at least one of the lizards.

Actually because I am a stickler for not poisoning everything I come across my yard has quite a diverse range of undergrowth critters. One of which is a species of Banjo frog that many people mistake for cane toads and kill the innocent (and beautiful) frogs. I have  even often found at least 2 other species of native frog/ toad hunkering down and living in the same hidey hole as pest cane toads.