Home Improvement is unexpectedly grody

 

As part of our home improvement projects, DMP had to remove a plug plate thingy.  This is what he found inside- a complete gecko skeleton and her (?) eggs.  This could help explain the explosion of dead geckos last summer.  Also, ew.  The skeleton came out totally intact and DMP now has it and the egg shells on the work bench in his garage.

The kids and the Elders (who came for a visit shortly after it was found) were very impressed. I'm more grossed out.

Big 'Ole Hop Toad

The day before my birthday it was windy and rainy. We came home from dinner and found this guy on our porch.  We caught him and he hung out *just* long enough for the kids to get a good look at him (and a couple of pictures).  I frequently see these guys (bigger ones) when I come home from doing RS stuff at night. I'll be walking up the sidewalk and think it's a big leaf until it moves.  We certainly see a lot of "backyard" wildlife here! 

Sneaky Snake

Can you spot the snake?  I noticed this guy in the bush outside our front window. It was cool to watch him.  He would inch out a little bit at a time. Every time he moved out, he would sway back and forth a bit so he looked just like the twigs and leaves moving in the wind. Very sneaky!

A sad story about a lizard

One Sunday when we were coming home from church, we saw a cute, tiny little house gecko on our porch.  In the 12 years I have known him, DMP has NEVER not attempted to catch any lizard, crab, or snake we've encountered. This was no different.

He captured this little guy and I rushed to get my camera so I could show y'all our cute, tiny geckos (whose presence in the house I tolerated during the great roach infestation, but would probably be less happy about them- we'll see if they show up in the house this summer- I'm totally OK with them around the house- they are bug eaters!!).

Just after DMP picked him up, this guy did a tail-thrashing thing (you can see the tail action in the first pic) and then went really, really still (below).  Uhh... He didn't move and so we told the girls that maybe geckos "play dead" as a defense strategy (we thought maybe).  So we set him on a rock on the porch to see if he would "wake up".

He didn't.

***One gecko was harmed in the making of this blog post. Sorry.***