Rain gauge guardian

I think this cute chubby tree frog is guarding the rain gauge. Ot maybe making commentary on the lack of water. Or maybe mistook the stand for a tree. Anyway, he makes an adorable guardian.

Tree frog on a rain gauge

Critters

All sorts of little critters around the place! A little rough earth snake loves to hang out under the chicken’s foot bath. I’ve moved him twice. He looks very much like a little worm, but if the chickens spot him he will look like lunch.

Rough earthsnake

These little guys may be leaf footed bug nymphs, and were hanging out on the oregano.

Leaf footed bug nymphs

This toad likes to hang out under the rosemary. There are so many toads and frogs!

Toad under the rosemary

Fancy a drink?

Poor kitty cat, finding a scorpion in your water dish was probably unpleasant. I certainly found it unpleasant. But there is the matter of how it got in there, so perhaps you already knew?

Bugs in the cat’s water dish

Or perhaps it is because the suckers can climb on walls. I’m not sure how well I will sleep to night with this new information.

Scorpion on the wall

Question Mark

Possibly a Question Mark caterpillar

I found a very interesting caterpillar in the yard, definitely looks like something to avoid touching. I tried identifying it with an app, but there were no caterpillar pictures to compare to (turns out the second hit was a Question Mark butterfly, so my trust is restored). So I turned to image searches for “spikey caterpillar Texas” which lead me to butterfliesandmoths.org. Yup, bookmarked it, after finding a very similar looking caterpillar and cross referencing another image search on “question mark caterpillar”. I frequently do a kind of reverse search once I think I’ve found my answer. It is very interesting what I sometimes find. Mostly it confirms, but sometimes it debunks. This confirmed and gave more caterpillar pictures that matched my little guy.

Can this be my home?

I found a tree frog in my recycled can wind spinner

No, sorry dude, this “can” not be your home. Or did you just get trapped? Well, you are free now and I have rehung the home/trap elsewhere, where it spins better, and will be more difficult for tree frogs to climb in.

Tree frog, before finding him a camouflaged new hiding spot