First up to say, "Howdy," or I guess he would say, "Jambo," since he's from Africa, is the Sudan Plated Lizard. As far as I know, he has no name. He is called a plated lizard, because his scales are plate-like.
He is VERY fast and swings his upper body back and forth when I first pick him up. He calms down almost immediately though.
Next up to say, "Hello," is the Chuckwalla. He is found in the Mojave desert area. We call him Chuck or Charles if we're being formal. Chuck isn't really as fat as he appears in the picture. When a chuckwalla is scared or nervous, (which for Chuck is every time he is picked up,) he inflates his lungs so that he swells up. When threatened in the wild, a chuckwalla will run into a crevice in the rocks and blow himself up. This makes it difficult for a predator to pull him out. Chuck apparently mistakes humans for coyotes on a regular basis.
Here comes the Common Basilisk saying, "Hola." He doesn't have a name, but KJ calls him, Basil. He is found throughout Central America. Basilisks are also called Jesus Christ Lizards, because when chased by a predator, they can run on water for short distances. I just love his beautiful green color. See those claws on his front foot? Well, they're on all his feet and are extremely sharp.
When I repositioned him so David could get his long tail in the picture, one of his back feet got away from me as HE tried to reposition himself where he wanted to be. The result was several bloody scratches on my wrist.
Oh by the way, please ignore the large bruise on the back of my hand. I had to have an MRI last Thursday (another post for another time), and when the tech finished injecting the contrast, my vein blew out.
Last, but far from least, we have Petunia, a Virginia Opossum. She is soooooo sweet and my baby. Opossums are found just about anywhere in the United States. Petunia had gotten quite fat, but has lost back down to a reasonable weight after being put on a diet and exercise program. When it was cooler, I walked her outside on a cat leash. Now I just let her run around in the Ranch House while I'm there. Because of her diet, she is always ravenous when it's time to eat. I feed her half her food first, then take her out to walk around for 45 minutes before putting her back up to eat the other half of her food. If I try to get her out BEFORE she eats something, she bares her teeth and glares at me. I think she suffers from LBSCBDO. (low-blood-sugar-cranky-butt-disorder)
3 comments:
Wow, I really like "Basil" (nice name) What a beautiful colour. I am quite partial to lizards and have always wanted one. But I really need to get over my fear of snakes. I dont know why but they make my skin crawl. Last year i had a picture with a large python but I was shaking in my boots the whole time.
These posts are always so much fun.
Hey, if you need some moral support, please lmk. In the meantime, please know you're in my thoughts and prayers, okay?
dy
Great pictures, I love Basil, the color is incredible. Blake would love to have some kind of lizard but we still can't get Rusty on the same page with us about it. He things they are too much like a snake and he is the original snake slayer. My brother had a snake while we were growing up so they don't bother me, now a spider on the other hand that's a completely different story. I can become like Basil and run on water when confronting a spider.
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