Say 'cheese'!

Lovely baby dinosaur ;o)

He does!! Nice to have you back Karen!

Hi TT! Hi Lil! It's nice to be back!
He does look like a little dinosaur, TT :)
Smiling or grimacing, Lil??? ;)

Not having been formally introduced, not sure I could say. You would be the better judge :)

Lol! After consideration, probably the latter...! :)

Ah, male then :)

Ah! Very perceptive, Lil! And just coming into full whatsitsname... :)

I think he's smirking!

He could be saying, 'Na na na na na, you can't catch me!'

But, I will - eventually! The campaign for the camera is not given up! ;))))))

It's getting pretty close to christmas now K....you should have added the camera to the list.....house...garden...car...maid...Camera!! :)

That's definately a smile :o)

love lizards! :)) Nice to see you Lil! :)

Thanks KS! Nice to be back :)

It's beautiful! Does it bite?

No, Delonix...they are quite shy - and they eat flies (always a good thing!)

That's great! Well, at least it's not like our native alligator lizards here. They can give a nasty bite...and they're not afraid of people. The alligator lizards are very good for the garden, because they eat a lot of bugs.

Ooh! Do they have teeth like alligators???
I'm hoping that I don't meet any of the poisonous snakes which are found in Nigeria....

Luckily, they don't have teeth or may just small teeth. They only grow to about 2ft/60cm long.

Big enough! There are monitor lizards around this area, but I haven't seen one yet...I think that they can be quite fearsome...

Yes, I've seen photos of the monitor lizards, many can be very large...looking almost like a Komodo Dragon.

The only deadly lizard we have in the Southwest is the Gila (the "G" is pronounced like an "H") Monster.

Here's a little bit about it

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gila_monster

My goodness! Do you get them in your garden??

We could come across a black spitting cobra, a carpet viper or a puff adder...but, thankfully, its not very likely!

No, most are in the desert areas of California and Arizona.

We do have a the dreaded, venomous rattlesnake, which is extremely common everywhere (and a big problem). The young ones are the worst, because they strike much more frequently and have the same amount of venom as adults. Sidewinders rattlesnake (which is different from the common rattlesnake) are a huge problem further inland and in the deserts.

I can't imagine cobras...that's scary...they are very, very deadly!

Thankfully they avoid heavily populated areas! But there's a snake charmer, in Lagos, who keeps over 30 assorted poisonous snakes in a box and persuades people to let the snakes slither up one trouser leg and down the other!!!

It sounds like you are much more likely to meet a rattler than I am a cobra. Is there always anti-venom on hand in case of being bitten?

That's very good news that your chances of meeting up with a cobra is very slim!

Yes, all the hospitals, vet hospitals and I think ambulences have the anti-venom for rattlesnakes. The Rattlesnake is the most common venomous snake in California. They commonly end up in people garages and in their shoes or boots. YUCK!!!

OMG! Puts a new slant on the term 'snake boots'!!!

It's definitely ALWAYS recommended to put on boot when hiking. Every year there's many rattlesnake bites.

The problem we're having now is the crazy mountain lions out in eastern San Diego County. They been causing a lot of school lock-downs over the last three days (because of many sightings).

My word, Delonix - you've got a lot more wildlife in town there than we have in the whole of Lagos State! There are some lion left in Nigeria but I'd have to travel quite far to see them. What is the policy on dealing with the mountain lions?
Not big on animal conservation here. Would you believe that you can still buy ivory in the markets? :(

Yes, bears and mountain lions are always problems...especially in the suburbs close to forested or wooded areas. With this being said...many of the people in the communities where the mountain lion sights have been, don't want the mountain lions killed...they say "the mountain lions have been there much longer than the houses and people!" which is very true!

That's HORRIBLE! I can't believe ivory is still sold...I thought this practice was long gone.

I can understand that, Delonix...I saw a T.V. programme about the interactions of wild animals and humans - and there always seems to be a reason why the animals suddenly cause a problem...tho' it may not always be obvious at the time.

It is completely illegal to traffic in ivory...but there are clearly some people who are still prepared to do it. What is even more horrible, is that the tusks for sale are coming from young animals, teenagers even. :(((