Comments 1 - 17 of 17 Search these comments
We (SE TX) had only green anoles until about 3-4 years ago, then the brown ones came and now it is a mix of 30% green and 70% brown, which are invasive ones from Caribbean. The brown lizards eat green and vice versa, but brown ones are more aggressive.
We (SE TX) had only green anoles until about 3-4 years ago, then the brown ones came and now it is a mix of 30% green and 70% brown
They are sweet little lizards
The Texas variety bite. Doesn't hurt though. Sort of cute.
In San Antonio the green and brown are the same lizard. They change colors like a chameleon. I just watched one do it Labor Day weekend in my parents yard but also when I was a kid in the 80s. Maybe there is some new sort of Anole I'm not aware of?
Maui has some cool ones. Not only the neck flap but they have a fringe along their back. When they fight the look like tiny dinosaurs. I can never find them when I search online so maybe they are invasive. There are others that come up that are native.
Curly Tail update, he finally gave up the ghost. Nudged him and he moved as one solid cohesive piece.
Another CV-19 victim.
Down by the Inter-coastal near the boat ramps, State parks on the water, and the Dockside Bars and Restaurants. I would occasionally see a species of Lizard, that I would only find near the water. The Hispaniolan curlytail lizard. I thought they were interesting Lizards, look like a Skink with a tail that curls up over their back. I thought they were interesting, because we didn't see them in our yards further inland West a mile from the Inter coastal waterway. I never gave them much of a thought after that. Until a few years back, they started popping up in odd random places, going further and further out west. I would see them at an office building out past University in Sunrise. I started seeing them around my neighborhood when I would walk my dog. I would see them in the same yards as I would walk my Dog. And think they seem out of place, we're not near water.
But still never saw any in my yard.
We did have a lot of Brown and Green Anoles though. Throughout the year, you would see them on the patio screen flipping their dewlap trying to attract a mate. Or to show rival males they mean business, "don't make them extend my dewlap!" as they would posture. Until this Summer, one day I started noticing some large Curly Tail lizards on the East side of the house, where the garbage and recycle cans are kept. After a week or so, I started noticing, that I don't see any Anoles on that side of the house anymore. And there were loads of the Curly Tails taking over that side of the house. Then a month after that, I noticed one or two on the Screen Patio. By that time, I started noticing the Anole population was dwindling. Then within a week after that. I noticed there wasn't anymore Anoles anywhere in my yard. There was always hundreds of them.
So then I started wondering, why were the Curly tails marching? They are an invasive species apparently. But for decades they were always confined to the other side of US1, and was always near, what ever insects that consisted of their diet.
I think all of the over development on the water, killed their food source, the first refugees found palatable for so many years. After their food source was killed off. I think they turned to eating the Anoles. As they march they decimate the population of Brown and Green Anoles. The Anoles posturing with their extended dewlap and doing push ups and bobbing their heads, were no match for the Anoles flipping their tail up over their head like a scorpion. The Anole was trying to establish territory, while the Curly Tails were trying to establish dinner. These Curly tails were getting big, the bodies were 4 to 5 inches long, on the largest ones. I didn't remember them growing to be so big.
By time they fully took over my patio and yard. I started to see them a nuisance as they liked to burrow under concrete, rocks and stones. They were undermining my patio stones and sidewalk. So I started to think about how will I get rid of them. They also seemed to have ran off the Bufo Toads.
Then as soon as they came and conquered, they left. Last week I started noticing, I'm not seeing them anywhere in my yard. Not on the sides, not on the Patio. They are gone, I think they ate or ran off the Anoles. If they ran them off, why would they give up such prime location. They didn't eat all of the insects here. We still have a steady diet of what ever bugs the Anoles have been eating all of these years. There certainly wasn't a larger population than that of the Anole. They must have eaten the Anoles, and after they cleaned them out. They moved on. We've been Anole free now for about two weeks, and now the Anoles are starting to return. Not in the numbers as before, but I'm starting to see them.
After the curly tailed lizards ate the adults and youngsters. They couldn't wait for new ones to hatch from clutches that the Anoles laid 85 days ago.
The Curly tails are on the March, hide your Anoles.