Texas

[galanie]

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?  

Oh yes! She brought a few too me, too. One with a leg eaten off already, another with an open belly, but the first was only dead. Now though she's too fat to catch them.

 

[galanie]

[COLOR=FF0000]Did you know?[/COLOR]​

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

Used to see those when I was a child in Corpus Christi. Haven' seen one since. They are sweet, wonderful things. I love "horny toads" as we called them. Another cool Texas critter is the Road Runner, or Piasano. Yes, they are real, but they don't bedevil coyotes and stick out their tongues to them hehe.

 

[RachaelS]

Another cool Texas critter is the Road Runner, or Piasano. Yes, they are real, but they don't bedevil coyotes and stick out their tongues to them hehe.

Have you ever spent timing just sitting and watching and listening to Road Runner's? I think the makers of Jurassic Park used them as models for their Raptors. They move and sound SOOOOOOO much alike it is crazy. I have a pair that live on my property. I love them

!

 

[Jungleexplorer]

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

The word dinosaur comes from the greek and means "Terrible Lizard". The word terrible in this case is used more in sense of fearfully great. But as to where the dinosaurs went, they did not go anywhere. They are still here. Sure, just like many other types animals, some varieties are no longer around, but they many still are. Take this huge crocodile that was captured in the Philippines in 2011 for example.




Or take the Komodo Dragon that grows to 10 feet long and gets up to 150 pounds. It only lives around 30 years though. Image if it lived 100 years.




I think these would qualify as "Terrible Lizards" don't you?

But not all lizards have to be large to be considered. Even many of the extinct varieties were no larger then 20 pounds. Many of the lizards that are alive today, if given the right conditions could grow many times larger then they do.

 

[TammyTX]

I caught (and released) a Garter Snake the other day. This particular snake was larger than the average Garter Snake and continually tried to strike me. He was for sure a Garter but his aggression and size surprised me. Must have been an old one getting her belly full from the mice in the dead tree pile.

....speaking of mice and rats....have you all noticed an increase in them this past year? I began to notice it last Fall, but today I heard a coworker mention it too. What about y'all?

 

[Teri Metcalf]

I caught (and released) a Garter Snake the other day. This particular snake was larger than the average Garter Snake and continually tried to strike me. He was for sure a Garter but his aggression and size surprised me. Must have been an old one getting her belly full from the mice in the dead tree pile.

....speaking of mice and rats....have you all noticed an increase in them this past year? I began to notice it last Fall, but today I heard a coworker mention it too. What about y'all?

We've pretty much always have had an indoor/outdoor cat, and have never had a problem with mice indoors. However, our cat has caught a few rats/mice in the yard in recent weeks. It makes me happy, because I think it means he's not bothering the birds as much.

 

[Little Wing]

I caught (and released) a Garter Snake the other day. This particular snake was larger than the average Garter Snake and continually tried to strike me. He was for sure a Garter but his aggression and size surprised me. Must have been an old one getting her belly full from the mice in the dead tree pile.

....speaking of mice and rats....have you all noticed an increase in them this past year? I began to notice it last Fall, but today I heard a coworker mention it too. What about y'all?

I had a terrible rodent problem until I started using fermented feed. That stopped the rats in the coops at least.

 

[ronniewayne]

Anyone on here breed livestock guard dogs? I want a pup to raise up with my birds.

I don't have any puppies but I do have a great pyreenes and a a half pryeenes and half Anatolian sheppard ..they are life savers literally love them with my chickens...u do need to realize that they will have to get over 1 yr before they will be good for what u want...the younger ones will chase and play with your chickens ...and when a100# puppy plays with a chicken usually the chicken doesn't come out so well...it has been my experience u have to monitor them with the chickens until they are over a year .the good news is the dogs are nocturnal and if you pen them in the day and let them out at night u will get almost as much protection and no problems they wont bother the chickens on the roost..

 

[LBejaran]

Anyone else feeling the Autumn warm & fuzzies coming on? Mom and Pop bought me four small pie pumpkins, so I cooked those suckers up and pureed them. Today, I got the ingredients and made some tasty treats!

And as you know, my ultimate goal is to make you all very hungry, hehe!




Thanks to an unsuspecting TammyTX for providing the recipe for pumpkin bread on this post. It is delicious!

I think I have another quart of pumpkin left. Let's just say that this girl is going to make some experimental pumpkin butter. And let's just say that this girl is following this recipe to make said pumpkin butter (and this girl is just going link crazy in this post, haha!).

It's been a really good day.

 

[Heidisgran]

Anyone else feeling the Autumn warm & fuzzies coming on? Mom and Pop bought me four small pie pumpkins, so I cooked those suckers up and pureed them. Today, I got the ingredients and made some tasty treats!

And as you know, my ultimate goal is to make you all very hungry, hehe!




Thanks to an unsuspecting TammyTX for providing the recipe for pumpkin bread on this post. It is delicious!

I think I have another quart of pumpkin left. Let's just say that this girl is going to make some experimental pumpkin butter. And let's just say that this girl is following this recipe to make said pumpkin butter (and this girl is just going link crazy in this post, haha!).

It's been a really good day.

yuuuummmmy