Texas

[Jungleexplorer]

Did you know?​

Did you know that reptiles have and indeterminate growth rate. What this means is that reptiles have no limit to how big they can grow. They can grow throughout their life span. Their growth rate is only limited by three things, climate conditions, food availability and longevity of life.

Under ideal conditions some reptiles can grow to enormous sizes. Take the Saltwater Crocodile that reaches over 20 feet in length, or the Anaconda that reaches lengths over 30 feet (60 feet in some reported cases). Now, the crocodile and the anaconda have one thing in common, they both live in equatorial regions of the world. In fact, all of the largest reptiles on earth today live in equatorial regions. The reason for this is simple, reptiles are very sensitive to temperature change and they tend to live longer in areas where the climate is stable with very little temperature changes throughout the year, such as the conditions that exist in equatorial regions. Also, there is a generally a more abundant food source in those regions as well. So the reptiles in these regions tend to grow larger because they live longer and have more to eat.

So what does this have to do with Texas? Well, over here in central and west Texas we have a little lizard known as the Texas Horned Lizard. It is quite rare these days as a result of the fire ant envision. I have quite a few of them on my place though. They are very interesting to look at. But they are very small, because they unfortunately have a very short life span do to the climatory conditions here in Texas I did some research a while back about the growth rate of the Texas Horned Lizard. I found it interesting that, considering the growth rate of the Texas Horned Lizard, if it lived in perfect conditions and it lived for 300 hundred years it would grow to be as large as a Volkswagen Beetle. I sometimes sit on my porch and imagine looking out over my land as seeing a huge Texas Horned Lizard walking along. What would that be like?

Scroll Down

 

[Teri Metcalf]

Yep, that's horseherb or horseweed. Awful stuff IMO. That is, if you get it somewhere you don't want it. If it's just in the yard, eh, who cares lol.

My birds are all very cautious about the cat. Kitty used to hunt for a living and so really did want to stalk them but a cross word from me a few times was all it took. Very smart cat. Now, however, I have a 20 week old pullet that pecks the cat and runs her off! It's so funny to me to see a cat that in her past (wild) days would have easily taken this bird down but now just lets it cow her and make her run off!

But kitty knows that squirrels are still game on and stalks them with my wholehearted approval, when she's not too busy snoozing in the house trying to get nice and fat.

That's funny. Has Kitty ever caught a squirrel?

 

[jajeanpierre]

Looks like Horseherb

http://www.greatstems.com/groundcover/

You might be right. Thank you. Will chickens eat it?

 

[Italia]

You might be right. Thank you. Will chickens eat it?

They are right, that is what it is. It is edible but I never see animals eat it.

 

[hungnguyen]

Wow, look at Jungle's posting, I imagine Texas to become Jurassic Park !

 

[TammyTX]

You might be right. Thank you. Will chickens eat it?

My horse will munch on it.

Some people plant it for ground cover. We didn't plant it but we don't plant lawn...just landscaping, if that makes sense!

 

[TammyTX]

Did you know?​

Did you know that reptiles have and indeterminate growth rate. What this means is that reptiles have no limit to how big they can grow. They can grow throughout their life span. Their growth rate is only limited by three things, climate conditions, food availability and longevity of life.

Under ideal conditions some reptiles can grow to enormous sizes. Take the Saltwater Crocodile that reaches over 20 feet in length, or the Anaconda that reaches lengths over 30 feet (60 feet in some reported cases). Now, the crocodile and the anaconda have one thing in common, they both live in equatorial regions of the world. In fact, all of the largest reptiles on earth today live in equatorial regions. The reason for this is simple, reptiles are very sensitive to temperature change and they tend to live longer in areas where the climate is stable with very little temperature changes throughout the year, such as the conditions that exist in equatorial regions. Also, there is a generally a more abundant food source in those regions as well. So the reptiles in these regions tend to grow larger because they live longer and have more to eat.

So what does this have to do with Texas? Well, over here in central and west Texas we have a little lizard known as the Texas Horned Lizard. It is quite rare these days as a result of the fire ant envision. I have quite a few of them on my place though. They are very interesting to look at. But they are very small, because they unfortunately have a very short life span do to the climatory conditions here in Texas I did some research a while back about the growth rate of the Texas Horned Lizard. I found it interesting that, considering the growth rate of the Texas Horned Lizard, if it lived in perfect conditions and it lived for 300 hundred years it would grow to be as large as a Volkswagen Beetle. I sometimes sit on my porch and imagine looking out over my land as seeing a huge Texas Horned Lizard walking along. What would that be like?

Scroll Down

...THAT's what happened to the dinosaurs!!

 

[Teri Metcalf]

...THAT's what happened to the dinosaurs!!

You're right. That is indeed what happened with the dinosaurs!

 

[LBejaran]

That's wonderful! It is so interesting to see the inter-species dynamics play out with backyard chickens. Our cat moved in with us 3 years ago, so he is well used to our chickens and they're used to him. A year or so ago one got very curious about him, and walked around him to inspect and stepped right over his tail. The only time I worry about Smoky is when there are baby chicks around. When he gets into the stalking position, I bring him back in the house.

I introduced my kitten to a broody hen on purpose. It was the calmest broody we had and she didn't attack, but she certainly scared Gunther enough to prevent him from chasing them around. We have so many game hens that are just mean little buggers. They are so protective, I had a game hen attack my rat dog mutt, Rosie, when she got too close to her chicks. Of course, Rosie tried to attack right back, but Sandy got her by the scruff to stop a scuffle. Rosie was so mad, haha! She wasn't raised around livestock, as far as I know. We picked her up off the street near my Grandma's house (she was really malnourished, so we got her healthy again). However, she's pretty good around the birds so long as they leave her alone, which they do.

Kimchi, Rosie's daughter, is really great around the chickens, as well. Having been trained, mostly by Sandy, she handles mean chickens really well and doesn't chase them much unless I'm trying to shoo them off the patio. At that point, she'll chase them off for me, haha! The only problem we have is that our duck, Che, likes to chase after her. Now, though, she knows to run to me as fast as possible whenever Che tries to attack her. Or she'll jump up on the pile of firewood if I'm not around. She knows not to attack.

Cats are a whole different thing, though. Sometimes, it feels like you have to instill the fear of God of them to prevent attacks, haha!

 

[LBejaran]

I have a mama goat who routinely provides chauffeur services to the younger birds. They just hop on her back and she strolls around the pasture with them on there. It is the darnedest thing you ever saw.

We had a rooster that used to jump up on our Shetland pony's back for rides and to gain a little height for crowing. Of course, Bologna (the pony) wasn't very happy with it, so he'd swat the rooster with his tail, making him squawk, haha!