On Tue, 28 Apr 2009 00:19:16 -0400, wrote:



I think all of these crustaceans do just fine above or below water.
They ship live lobsters in damp seaweed. If you keep them cool and a
little wet, a blue crab will do fine out of the water too.
The other day there was a palmetto bug hanging on to my pool vac hose
about 6" under water. I watched him for a while and he seemed happy as
a clam. I flipped him up on the pool deck and he walked off like
nothing was wrong. Smashing him with my hand did relinquish his life
forces tho.
I think he may have been hiding from this guy who was also hanging out
by the pool.

http://gfretwell.com/wildlife/baby%20rat%20snake.jpg

I put him outside

I heard rat snakes get pretty big. Best not to keep him around, eh?
Lots of lizards down there too.
My uncle had a cushy retirement job cleaning phone kiosk glass down
there. Company car, gas, some rags and unlimited Windex perks.
Had a different route every day, about 3-4 hours per route.
Went with him one day on his Sanibel run. He wanted me see the bass
in the ponds of the gated places. There were some nice ones.
A lizard jumped on me at our first stop and I put him on the roof of
the car, a little Ford. Right up front by the windshield.
The rest of the route we could see his head facing into the wind as we
went down roads, sometimes doing 45 mph.
Don't know why he stayed on there. I flipped him into the grass at
the last stop. He was far from home and his family.
Still feel bad about that. But I don't lose any sleep.

--Vic

On Apr 28, 9:33*am, Vic Smith wrote:


A lizard jumped on me at our first stop and I put him on the roof of
the car, a little Ford. *Right up front by the windshield.
The rest of the route we could see his head facing into the wind as we
went down roads, sometimes doing 45 mph.
Don't know why he stayed on there. *I flipped him into the grass at
the last stop. *He was far from home and his family.
Still feel bad about that. *But I don't lose any sleep.

--Vic
Is that how the Geico commercials got started?

On Tue, 28 Apr 2009 12:19:42 -0400, wrote:

On Tue, 28 Apr 2009 09:33:53 -0500, Vic Smith
wrote:

I heard rat snakes get pretty big. Best not to keep him around, eh?

They don't hurt anything I want to have here.
I see quite a few rat snakes but the black racers tend to keep them
down a bit. This is an adult "yellow"
http://gfretwell.com/wildlife/yellow_rat_snake.jpg

That one brings back fond memories of a belt I had when Disco was
king.

I had a black racer in the screen cage for about 3 weeks. He ate all
the lizards, frogs and pretty much anything else that moved. I was
going to keep him but my wife said he had to go.

http://gfretwell.com/wildlife/Black%20racer.jpg
http://gfretwell.com/wildlife/Black%20Racer%202.jpg

These guys are pretty
not to be confused with the coral snake (that has a black nose)

Would have fooled me. I think I would be running too fast to check
its nose.

http://gfretwell.com/wildlife/scarlet_snake.jpg

Lots of lizards down there too.

Mostly anoles and a few gecko. The Cuban anoles pretty much ate all
the chameleons years ago. They are very rare now

I've only identified 2 lizard species down there.
Little ones with a whole tail and little ones missing some tail.
But I've never been in the brush.
Maybe the chameleons have adapted to the point of invisibility.

--Vic

On Tue, 28 Apr 2009 18:20:27 -0500, Vic Smith
wrote:

These guys are pretty
not to be confused with the coral snake (that has a black nose)

Would have fooled me. I think I would be running too fast to check
its nose.

The venom from a coral snake is bad news, a neurotoxin similar to that
of a cobra. Luckily, they are small and have a short strike, and short
fangs. I would rather step around one, than spot a ten foot rattler
five feet away. There is another snake that looks very similar, that
is not venomous. Remember, there are no poisonous snakes. They are all
good eating.

Casady