The green lizard below the Green Treefrog apparently thinks the frog might be dinner. That can’t happen since the frog is much too large. The green lizard, which usually eats fly-sized meals and occasionally grasshopper sized ones, is a Green Anole (Anolis carolinensis) sometimes known as the ... Read More
farm fauna
Gulf Coast Toad, Bufo valliceps
This pictured toad has been living for the last few months in one of our greenhouses. When we walk by it on the wooden walkways we have between rows of vats, it simply hunkers down and waits for us to leave. This is a young toad, about 2.5 inches long; large adults are twice the size. We have ... Read More
Red Eared Slider Turtle, Trachemys scripta elegans
One day recently while going to our greenhouses, I found a young Red Eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans) walking across our gravel parking lot. The parking lot is not a hospitable environment for terrapins, which are mostly aquatic. This one had gotten disoriented after hatching and was headed ... Read More
Black Widow
A common spider on the farm is the Black Widow (probably Latrodectus hesperus, the Western Black Widow). The pictured spider has been paralyzed by a Spider Wasp and is upside down. In the normal course of events it would have been dragged to a burrow where the wasp would have laid an egg on it. The ... Read More
Green Treefrog
That is a Green Treefrog peering from an old chain-link fence post in our yard. The frog likes it because it holds water making a nice damp home. We have four species of tree frogs on the farm. The Green Treefrog (Hyla cinerea) is the most common. The other three are Squirrel Treefrog (H. ... Read More
Wolf Spider – Hogna species
One morning in the warehouse I saw this wolf spider running across the floor with an American cockroach in its jaws. The surroundings in the photo include a cold pack (which someone should have put up…hint, hint, Ashley, a hatchery tech who should have put it away), an empty 5-gallon water jug ... Read More
Garden Spider – Argiope aurantia
A few weeks ago a young female Garden Spider (Argiope aurantia) found her way through our warehouse and shop into our office. We first noticed her and her web to the right of our 130 gallon display tank. She has since moved to the other end, probably because one end of web was anchored to a ... Read More
Texas Garter Snake
The Texas Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis annectens) is one of the three snakes that have established breeding populations in our greenhouses. All three species (the other two are water snakes) share a common characteristic: they are livebearers. Since there is no sand or soil in our greenhouses ... Read More
Copperhead in Tree
Around noon today I was walking toward the greenhouses in our yard when I spied a copperhead about 10 feet up in a redbud tree. I’ve noticed over the last 10+ years that it’s right about mid-July that our copperheads cease hunting cicadas and June bugs emerging from the ground and switch to hunting ... Read More
Scorpion and Greenhouse Ecosystems
This afternoon I was removing a broken vat and, Robyn, a hatchery employee asked, “Do you know there is a scorpion on the vat?” As a matter of fact, I’d noticed it when I pulled the vat out. I figured it could ride along to the dead vat cache. It was fortunate I’d seen it. I get stung by ... Read More