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Critter Alert

We were out working in the yard.  Vince was doing something in the back and I was pulling weeds in the front.  He came around to the front and said “Get your camera and come see!”  I started with my 20 question routine . .

  • Is something wrong?
  • Are the chickens ok?
  • Is there a critter back there?
  • Did a chicken escape?
  • Is it a snake?
  • Is it going to scare me?

Just get your camera and follow me!

  • Does it bite?
  • Are you sure it isn’t going to scare me?
  • Does in involve cows?

When I got to the back, Vince said he was walking by this pile of dirt and he noticed a hole that hadn’t been there.  I tell you . . I mostly think he doesn’t pay attention to details but I’m obviously wrong.

Vince said he squatted down to see what was in the hole and saw eyeballs looking back at him.

It’s some kind of a huge lizard . . I don’t think it’s a horned toad but I really don’t know.  It didn’t have any real “horns” on its head but it kinda has spines down its back.  It wasn’t real fat like horned toads (which really are lizards) but I think they puff up when they need to scare a predator and maybe she just didn’t feel that threatened.  We don’t look very scary, do we?  Maybe she thought we hadn’t seen her and she was trying to blend in with the dirt.

If you enlarge the picture (this is right back by the tail), there’s an egg!  There were several but I couldn’t see how many and I really didn’t want to disturb the critter.

After a while, we walked back past the dirt pile and he/she had completely covered the hole . . you’d never know it was there, and we saw him/her scurrying off towards the shop.  Great . . probably to move into my sewing room!  🙂

So, I’m wondering, did she lay eggs and she’s done and they’ll hatch on their own or did she just run out for a bite to eat and she covered the hole to keep us away, and she’ll come back and remove the dirt to get back in?  Sounds from this article like they do lay their eggs and then leave them alone to hatch and dig themselves out.

Don’t we see the neatest things!  What were the chances that Vince would happen by that dirt pile just when she had dug the hole and he would notice the hole and we would see the eggs and then we’d see that she had covered the hole and see her leaving at breakneck speed?  Now I want to know how many eggs she laid but I’m not going to disturb the nest.  I want to know how long it takes for them to hatch.  I want to see the baby lizards!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. She is cute, but I was surprised to read that she grows to a maximum of 4.5 inches, not very big at all.
    Noticed they did not state the gestation period so I guess you will have to walk down there every day to check on them, they will be very small when they do emerge from the eggs I expect.
    You really are having fun in Texas Judy, so much more fun that you expected to have I think, especially for someone who was NOT going to live in Texas. Your blog is my MUST read every morning.
    Cheerio, Marie

  3. This is lovely, How often you got a chance to see something like this.
    I guess you have to start a nature blog also………
    Happy wednesday

  4. how cool is that? awesome! i get a kick out of that kind of thing myself. i just posted a pic on my blog of a groundhog. he was just standing by the side of the road so i had to stop the car and take his pic. i think he might even have smiled for it…. lol

    really glad you are loving your home and property and everything else. you deserve it! 🙂

  5. The fire ants have been reducing the population, you don’t see as many of them anymore. Hope she keeps producing!

  7. Of course she was heading to your sewing room She’s in search of scraps. Her babies need a quilt too! LOL. Our kids had one for a pet for years. His name was Duke. Very cool critters.

  8. I’m glad you think this is wonderful; we are over run with California lizards. We can’t even open a window for fear of the house being invaded. The ground always looks like its moving when you walk outside. Gives me the willies!

  9. Looks to me like you found a Texas Spiny Lizard (a cousin of the horned toad). How cool! I lived in Texas for years, but only ever seen them in pet stores. I grow more jealous of your ranching adventures every day! Thanks for sharing!

  11. I’m so happy to hear you two are loving the country life. Isn’t it fun.

  12. Very cool! The last time someone came running for me to get the camera, it was because they found a squeaking snake. And then there was the three-legged deer who we’ve seen a few times. But usually it’s a snake…

  13. Nature is so fascinating, isn’t it? Just be glad it was a lizard and not a rattlesnake!

  14. Looks like Cheryl did the ID for you. Def. not a horny toad (haven’t seen one since I was a kid). We had a batch of eggs hatch a few years back….baby lizards are much more fun that snakes! Thank your lucky stars on that one.

  15. Larry found a snapping turtle in our field laying eggs. Will definately stay away from her, as I guess she was a pretty big turtle. My momma groundhog is back again this past week. She always seems to have her babies under ur tool shed. And they are so cute when they are little. Have baby racoons and foxes, too and I live in town. Go figure!!
    By any chance, did you get pretty warm down there today? Heard it hit 104 not to far from you. Take care!!

  16. Comparing the pictures of your lizard and the one of the link, they’re not the same. Yours has different eyes, a longer snout and in the one picture you can see the tail up crossing back over by her neck indicating a long tail which horned toads don’t have. And yours has stripes. Might be this one (Texas Spiny Lizard): http://www.herpsoftexas.org/content/texas-spiny-lizard the stripes on the back look the same. Regardless of what it is, it’s pretty cool to actually get to see her when she was at or just after having laid her eggs. I’ve never seen lizard eggs before, but when the babies hatch and start showing themselves, they are the cutest little things. We get alligator lizards here. Most are only about 6 – 8″ long including tail, but bigger ones have occasionally been seen. Last year I removed 3 at different times from my living room sofa…how they got there, I have no idea!

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