Common lizards

[xp29]

My main residence is a city apartment.
But I have a summer house about 30 miles outside the city, there is a forest around there and there are these beautiful lizards.
I can't always see them either, but only when I'm there, which usually happens on weekends in the summer.

That just makes it more special when you do get to see them. We start to take stuff for granted when it's easily accessible.

 

[NickAVD]

That just makes it more special when you do get to see them. We start to take stuff for granted when it's easily accessible.

I agree, it will always be something special for me, that's why I shared the photos with everyone.
You also posted lizards that live in your area (Eastern & Western fence lizards), do you see them often? Or do you need to go somewhere to see them?

 

[xp29]

I agree, it will always be something special for me, that's why I shared the photos with everyone.
You also posted lizards that live in your area (Eastern & Western fence lizards), do you see them often? Or do you need to go somewhere to see them?

The fence lizards aren't close now, but there are several desert varieties that I can come across and some geckos as well. When I go to lunch I'll see if i can find pictures of what's local here. Some are friggen awesome

 

[xp29]

The first one is my absolute favorite of the native lizards. I'd love to keep a pair, they also happen to be venomous

The  Gila monster/beaded lizard. These guys are stinken gorgeous... and fairly large.
The next is the Horned lizard/horny toad

The little one is a hatching we found out in the desert. It is a Regal horned lizard.
The next on is a yellow back spiney. They are beautiful

Next is a Western Whiptail. I really like these guys

This is a cuckwalla, I havent found one yet.

Next is the Desert Collard Lizard. I really like these to.

This next one is probably one of my favorite lizards in the whole world. We've encountered a few in our adventures. They are AMAZING. The Desery Iguana. They get pretty big also.

That's just a few that are native here. There is a bunch more, and I didn't even get into the geckos. There are some beautiful geckos here as well.

 

[NickAVD]

I caught myself thinking that I don't know what smiley to put or ! They are all so beautiful and different from each other. It's really cool that you live in such a lizard kingdom!
I won't be lying if I say that I've never seen any of these types of lizards. Now I'll finish this answer and carefully review it again.

 

[xp29]

I caught myself thinking that I don't know what smiley to put or ! They are all so beautiful and different from each other. It's really cool that you live in such a lizard kingdom!
I won't be lying if I say that I've never seen any of these types of lizards. Now I'll finish this answer and carefully review it again.

Everyone thinks of a desert 🏜 as harsh and lifeless, they couldn't be more wrong. I grew up in a place with abundant forest and I love that, but I Choose to live in the desert. The beauty here is subtle and stark but once you see it, there's nothing else like it. If you take the time to get out and explore there is life and beauty here you just can't find anywhere else.

 

[NickAVD]

The little one is a hatching we found out in the desert. It is a Regal horned lizard.

I really liked the baby horned lizard. He's so cute

 

[NickAVD]

Everyone thinks of a desert 🏜 as harsh and lifeless, they couldn't be more wrong. I grew up in a place with abundant forest and I love that, but I Choose to live in the desert. The beauty here is subtle and stark but once you see it, there's nothing else like it. If you take the time to get out and explore there is life and beauty here you just can't find anywhere else.

I think that any place on our planet is amazing, you just have to look closely. The main thing is that we have time to stop and see it.

 

[ChileanTaco]

@xp29
With the chuckwalla, I was lucky: Joshua Tree national park. I've seen most of the above; just with the gila monster I was not lucky. I had aaaalmost seen it: Was attending a conference in Tucson, and over dinner somebody showed me a photo on their phone of the "fire salamander" they saw before.... Ups.

Everyone thinks of a desert 🏜 as harsh and lifeless, they couldn't be more wrong. I grew up in a place with abundant forest and I love that, but I Choose to live in the desert.

I agree on that! Had the same feeling when living in Southern California, when visiting Nevada, in Arizona also... But some deserts, I would even say, are that: (almost) lifeless. Here in the Atacama, I can hike for hours (!) and the only life I might see is maybe a vulture high in the sky. (However, the ocean is just so abundant here because of the Gulf stream.) There is life even out there, but mostly microbes. My university has an institute specializing this, to utilize methods that can detect these microbes in order to find the subtle traces of life maybe still existing or gone for long on rocky planets and moons.

 

[xp29]

I really liked the baby horned lizard. He's so cute

Christina wanted to bring it home so bad. I've never seen her want anything that bad. But their diet is strictly Carpenter ants They have an acid that the Horned lizards require for digestion. There is no way to source enough to feed them so I made her leave it. We gave it a drink of water and left a dish with more in it next to an ant hill.
The very next day we found the acid they need in a reptile store. She very nearly murdered me.

 

[xp29]

I think that any place on our planet is amazing, you just have to look closely. The main thing is that we have time to stop and see it.

We stopped trying to find time, we both MAKE time. We all only live once for sure. Christina and I are damn well going to make the most of it. And if there is a god and a heaven well then we are ahead of the game when we get there

 

[xp29]

@xp29
With the chuckwalla, I was lucky: Joshua Tree national park. I've seen most of the above; just with the gila monster I was not lucky. I had aaaalmost seen it: Was attending a conference in Tucson, and over dinner somebody showed me a photo on their phone of the "fire salamander" they saw before.... Ups.

I agree on that! Had the same feeling when living in Southern California, when visiting Nevada, in Arizona also... But some deserts, I would even say, are that: (almost) lifeless. Here in the Atacama, I can hike for hours (!) and the only life I might see is maybe a vulture high in the sky. (However, the ocean is just so abundant here because of the Gulf stream.) There is life even out there, but mostly microbes. My university has an institute specializing this, to utilize methods that can detect these microbes in order to find the subtle traces of life maybe still existing or gone for long on rocky planets and moons.

I love Tucson and the saguaro are my favorite commodity out here. Joshua Tree is probably my favorite park anywhere except Arches and Canyon land in Moad Utah.
I think I would enjoy your work. I wish I had gone into something sciencey.

 

[NickAVD]

We stopped trying to find time, we both MAKE time. We all only live once for sure. Christina and I are damn well going to make the most of it. And if there is a god and a heaven well then we are ahead of the game when we get there

Oh, how right you are. For some reason, everything is different with us. Sometimes it seems to me that we are in some kind of wonderland. Remember how Lewis Carroll wrote in Alice in Wonderland?
"My dear, here we must run as fast as we can, just to stay in place. And if you wish to go anywhere you must run twice as fast as that."

 

[ChileanTaco]

Christina wanted to bring it home so bad. I've never seen her want anything that bad. But their diet is strictly Carpenter ants They have an acid that the Horned lizards require for digestion. There is no way to source enough to feed them so I made her leave it. We gave it a drink of water and left a dish with more in it next to an ant hill.
The very next day we found the acid they need in a reptile store. She very nearly murdered me.

You were (still) right with not bringing it home. Accordingly to what I know, they are not only requiring the acid (that is used by people who keep them) but more ant-specific things that are not even well known. So, they usually die soon.
I'd not keep one, even with the acid available, if the ants cannot really be provided.

 

[xp29]

Oh, how right you are. For some reason, everything is different with us. Sometimes it seems to me that we are in some kind of wonderland. Remember how Lewis Carroll wrote in Alice in Wonderland?
"My dear, here we must run as fast as we can, just to stay in place. And if you wish to go anywhere you must run twice as fast as that."

I used to feel like that also. But Christina and I have learned how to get away and destress.
All we need is a dirt road and a tank of gas. Here in Vegas we can be out of town in less than 30 minutes, then the stress just starts disappearing.