Animals in your garden

[DeborahJane]

Dear old Max.
He keeps an eye on me in the garden, evev when he should be keeping an eye on himself.

 

[Beth_B]

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Dear old Max.
He keeps an eye on me in the garden, evev when he should be keeping an eye on himself.

I see Max is wearing the cone of shame! Hope he is ok.

 

[DeborahJane]

Yes Beth, Max's cone is due to 3 cuts on his side, one very deep. The vet thought he has either been attacked or stuck some where and hurt himself when freeing himself. Either way we are at a loss to explain. He sleeps inside at night, tied up when we go out and you would think I'd have heard something when we are home. Most likely a wombat, maybe when we let him out to the toilet at night but still no noise. But on antibiotics and healing. The cone is really disorientating for him, bumps into things but no complaints from him.

 

[Sheal]

I'm sorry to here about Max, I hope he heals quickly.

 

[Beth_B]

I'm also sorry to hear Max was hurt...as I recall he is your son's dog that you're looking after?

Last dog I had who wore a cone was a large Rottweiler with an eye injury. Poor guy had a terrible time negotiating doorways and hallways because the cone was just a touch bigger than the openings. He did figure it out eventually but it took a lot of getting stuck, re-aligning and maneuvering.

And here I thought wombats were cute and harmless! Another Rottweiler had an encounter with a skunk. (I don't know who ultimately won.) She was apparently blasted in the face with spray that made her eyes all red and messed up. And she was scratched across her snout and it got infected.

 

[DeborahJane]

I'm also sorry to hear Max was hurt...as I recall he is your son's dog that you're looking after?

Last dog I had who wore a cone was a large Rottweiler with an eye injury. Poor guy had a terrible time negotiating doorways and hallways because the cone was just a touch bigger than the openings. He did figure it out eventually but it took a lot of getting stuck, re-aligning and maneuvering.

And here I thought wombats were cute and harmless! Another Rottweiler had an encounter with a skunk. (I don't know who ultimately won.) She was apparently blasted in the face with spray that made her eyes all red and messed up. And she was scratched across her snout and it got infected.

I just caught up on this thread again and thought I'd share just how inventive Max was wearing his cone. He could still manage to sneak the cat food.

 

[roadrunner]

I get quite a few animals in my yard, which is in a heavily residential area, so my yard is kind of an oasis. One of the most common are lizards, but a lot of birds, but I once got a land crab in my yard; I didn't even know they existed. Here are a few pics









This Frog came down out of my Live Oak tree one night and then I watched him go back up it...biggest tree frog I've ever seen...

 

[LIcenter]

Are those lizards Anoles? I here they are a big problem down there.

 

[roadrunner]

Are those lizards Anoles? I here they are a big problem down there.

Yes, they are both Anoles, but the first one is a Carolina anole (other names: American green anole, American anole, and red-throated anole.) and is native to this area; they are a bright green color, but can change to a brown color.

The second one is a Brown anole and is an introduced species from Cuba and the Bahamas. They are brown in color and cannot change color; however, they come with various markings, so they are not just a simple brown color, some of the markings are very interesting looking.

There are some that say that the introduced anole is displacing the native anole, so maybe that's the "problem" you're thinking of?/. I think there's something to this, but it's not critical in my observations, I have both species and there seems not to be much of a problem. There is also some information out there that indicates that the Green anole is showing signs of fast-paced evolution, making them better tree climbers.

I have seen them way up on my live oak tree and the only way they could have gotten there was from the base of the tree (which is a very large tree). The other day I was blowing leaves off my roof and shook a branch to knock more leaves down and a green anole fell to the roof; I picked him up and put him back in the tree, he was fine.

Here's more on that: http://scitechdaily.com/rapid-fire-evolution-green-anoles/

 

[LIcenter]

Thanks for the detailed reply roadrunner. They certainly are cute!

 

[DeborahJane]

I have 3 plants in pots in my cats cage Cat Thyme, Cat Mint and Cat Grass.

But it's the Cat Grass she loves. She curls up next to it and you can see the spot where ATTACH] she buries her head.[/ATTACH]

Polly also another outside cage with lots of Cat Thyme but nothing comes close to the pull the Cat Grass has. It's quite funny to see.

 

[Fernsdaddy]

This guy was thinking that a chubby Chihuahua would make a great meal but not when I'm around. Not sure if this is a red tail Hawk but hes been hanging around for about 3 weeks now. With the warmer weather we been having I hes looking for fresh meat but it won't be Miss Fern.

 

[Beth_B]

Fernsdaddy, looks like a redtail...Easy to tell when in flight because of the distinctive, well, red tail.

No pics but I have a very small hawk (not much bigger than a pigeon); I think maybe a kestrel, that dive-bombs my bird feeder. Twice I've seen it get a bird, which makes me sad but hawks need to eat too.

 

[DeborahJane]

This guy was thinking that a chubby Chihuahua would make a great meal but not when I'm around. Not sure if this is a red tail Hawk but hes been hanging around for about 3 weeks now. With the warmer weather we been having I hes looking for fresh meat but it won't be Miss Fern.
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I'm sure you will keep Fern safely under your wing.

 

[DeborahJane]

Fernsdaddy, looks like a redtail...Easy to tell when in flight because of the distinctive, well, red tail.

No pics but I have a very small hawk (not much bigger than a pigeon); I think maybe a kestrel, that dive-bombs my bird feeder. Twice I've seen it get a bird, which makes me sad but hawks need to eat too.

That would be quite distressing to see Beth B. But you are right ofcourse. I quite often see a a huge either a hawk or eagle with a massive wing span circling high in the sky above me but i haven't seen it swoop down. Almost nightmare material.