pete

Anole!

Cute litle bugger.

Interesting visitor, my son would love to have them in our backyard

Did he have an Australian accent?

I met a few of his cousins on I-10

All jokes aside,
I saw one near Miami last year while I was on delivery and it was approx. 15 inches long and it had the most spectacular colors I ever seen.

It was yellow and lime green in color but almost at a glow.

Just beautiful!

Gee y'all, I've got hundreds of those running around and guarding my fig trees and garden veggies. The other day I saw one running across the yard with something in it's mouth. It had just left the garden and was heading to my fig nursery. It had a large caterpillar in it's mouth, the kind that had been eating on my veggies. I love having them around. Each of my in ground trees has several in them at any given time and they love the potted one too. They are fun to watch.
"gene"

Anything that eats bugs and leaves the figs,fruits,and vegetables alone is my friend. :)

I have not seen one of those, but I do have geckos.  They climb up the dining room windows overlooking the garden.  I like to watch them stalk the moths.  I haven't seen as many this year as in previous years.  Maybe I disturbed them (or killed) when I tilled for the garden, or perhaps it was just the heat.  Hopefully it won't be that hot for that long like it was last year - fingers are crossed!

Jo-Ann

we have a lot of lizards around, but i haven't seen this one before. i said "aussie, aussie, aussie", but he didn't say "oy, oy, oy"..

pete

That's a real pretty lizard.  Ours are kinda greyish brown.    And they have gotten fat from hanging around the compost pile.  Lots of bugs in there right now.

We don't have anoles, but a few other lizards make their homes in the yard. My favorites are the desert spiny lizards--they often hang around within a few yards if we're digging or clearing out dead vegetation so they can dart in and grab any bugs that turn up. I called this guy the "Yardwork Supervisor" because he was often nearby, keeping an eye on me.

now.. that's an interesting looking lizard.

pete

Ken,

That's really cool that those little guys have learned to use yard work to their advantage.  The anoles around here are pretty shy, especially once they know you have spotted them.  I shot one by accident with some neem oil this AM, I think he'll be okay though, probably give him nice smooth skin like he's never had before...

Who knows--if he likes what it does for his skin, maybe he'll be back tomorrow for another shot!

When we first move into this house about 7 years ago all we had were geckos and we had them by the hundreds. If you went out after dark and looked on the outside walls of the house it was covered with them. Now I see one every now and then, the Anoles have come back in force. I rather the Anoles as they patrol my trees and garden all day long.
"gene"

We have lots and lots of lizards. At least 3 kinds, and a shy species of salamandar. Most lizards look like the one in the picture below. We also have large alligator lizards which commonly can be a foot long, including tail.

Our lizards can be trained to take food (grub worms) from your fingers. I know two different families who have outside, fat, 'pet' lizards that hang around their patios waiting for handouts...

The lizards can be startling when you come across them suddenly, but they eat all sorts of bugs and caterpillars.

Ken,

That is one awesome looking lizard. I'd love to have them here. We have the green Anole and the Mediterranean gecko. They geckos came in on boats from the Med that were dry docked here for repairs. Many years ago I worked security for one of the shipyards at night and they were hanging out around every light. I kidnapped enough to start a breeding population at my house and they have survived every since then. They compliment the Anole since they eat the nocturnal insects. I think leaving some outside lights on helps them as it attracts insects. I have noticed that some years there are a lot and some years just a few.

Some birds also will go for reptiles -  maybe that is what is depleting your geckos. We have road-runners here, and they will hunt other birds, small rodents, lizards, even small snakes. I once saw a local road-runner on the patio with a small gopher snake in its beak. The snake was about 16 inches long.

Noss,

I think the 09/10 and 10/11 winter were hard on the little guys. Most of them came from an Mediterranean climate.

This is another cute/slooow critter that I encountered while fig-hunting on
my own beautiful native tiny island, smack right in the center of the Med. Sea.

That's a great little chameleon! Love the backward glance.