It's not a great picture, but...

[GabeU]

I was able to catch these beauties in the side yard earlier this evening.  There were four more to the right of the area in the picture, and a slew of them in the woods, as well.  One day, a few years back, I had over a dozen of them on my lawn, with six of them being in the front.  One was so close to the house I could have reached out the window and nearly touched it.  🙂  There are perks to living in the country.  

[GabeU]

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@maratsade wrote:

It's not the weirdest thing I've found in my wallet. It once had a very weird beetle type thing in it, something I had never seen before. It took me a LONG time to find out what it was.  It was a wheel bug. VERY weird.

https://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/ent/notes/O&T/shrubs/note65/Adult2.jpg 

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Oh, wow.   I've seen those before, but I had no clue that they bite.  Creepy looking things, that's for sure. 

I think the biggest bug I've ever seen here is one of these...

Giant Water Bug

Those bite, too.   

[maratsade]

@GabeU, The wheel bug didn't bite me -- it just emerged from my wallet and I was mesmerized, trying to figure out what it was.  I had never seen a bug with a volume wheel on its back, LOL.  I've never seen a water bug either. How big are those things?? 

[GabeU]

Here's a sizable one.  I've never seen one quite this size, but close.  

Edit:  I changed the picture as the one I originally had was not from the US.  A different species.  

[maratsade]

@bare65, how big are those tortoises?  Turtles and tortoises are amazing.  There are a lot of turtles in my area, and I've been known to stop the car to pick one off the road and take it across,as some people drive over them on purpose.

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@bare65 wrote:

You all got some amazing photographs...

I'll have to dig through some of my youngest sons digital albums and see if I can post a few more for you all...

He always had a knack for photography...me, not so much, LOL

Here is another one of his pics...this one he took about 3 miles down the road from our house.

A desert tortoise

Although I see these all around where I live, I'm always in awe at how truly magnificent they are.

As you can see, they are easily camoflagued when attempting to cross the paved sections of roads out here, and often get run over.

New road signs were put in place out this way to help warn motorists of possible tortoise crossing the roads..

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[MarkJFine]

Speaking of tortoises, found this guy hiding underneath some moss once:

[maratsade]

@bare65,  I didn't know any of that, so now I'll be extra careful -- It's quite amazing they store water in their bladder to use to stay hydrated -- we humans can't do that at all, that stuff just wants to come out!

"You have to be extremely careful though when moving a desert tortoise. Don't life it too high and always keep the tortoise level.

Believe it or not, tortoise actually store water in their bladder...thus the reason they can travel great distances without stopping for water....BUT, if you go picking up a tortoise suddenly and scare it, it will pee and lose all of that precious water it has stored for it's travels. That is almost certainly a death sentence if the tortoise cannot find a suitable water source nearby to replace the loss."

[maratsade]

What.The.Fork.  You can walk that thing on a leash, @GabeU.

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@GabeU wrote:

Here's a sizable one.  I've never seen one quite this size, but close.  

Edit:  I changed the picture as the one I originally had was not from the US.  A different species.  

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[maratsade]

I get ladybirds (what you call ladybugs) at the beginning of the winter. They come inside to spend the winter -- they leave when the weather's warmer. 

[GabeU]

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@bare65 wrote:

@GabeU

Every year, around the late August and September months, we have thousands of tarantula's coming through our yard...it's their yearly migration..the males are seeking out female companionship. Horny little buggers, hahaha...

We don't see too many Ladybugs over this way...

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EEK!!!!   You can keep your tarantulas.  What I get are just wolf spiders, and though somewhat large to me, they're nothing compared to those hairy buggers you get!  😛  

[MarkJFine]

hahaha... still get a chuckle at the idiots that thought "cheeky little monkey" was a racist comment.

[Amanda]

Not exactly the wild.. but spotted this little guy a couple of months ago in the parking lot here 🙂

[MarkJFine]

His name is Alvin and he's addicted to Armour-All.

[Amanda]

@bare65 - yes but I know the owner of that vehicle so I told him to check around and under his car before taking off today  that day. Though I think this little guy is a seasoned veteran of our parking lot. I am pretty sure I saw him about 2 years ago scurrying across the sidewalk.

His name is Alvin and he's addicted to Armour-All.

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Yes... here he is hard at work on his weekend project...

 

(from http://thedailymini.com/daily-mini-interview-miniature-sets-friendchips-photography-christie-pierce/)

[GabeU]

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@Amanda wrote:

Not exactly the wild.. but spotted this little guy a couple of months ago in the parking lot here 🙂

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That's cute.  I don't see too many chipmunks around here these days, though I grew up only ten miles away and used to see them all the time as a kid.  Heck, I used to see chipmunks more often than squirrels.  🙂   Now it's raccoons.  Too many raccoons, the sneaky critters.    

[maratsade]

@Amanda, those are cute little buggers -- I like how they hold their tails straight up when they run across the road.

[GabeU]

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bare65 wrote: 

Have you ever heard the expression.."Cheeky wee bugger"? 

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Cheeky, but not cheeky wee bugger.  My mother's family (and herself) is from England, and I would hear that word every now and again, though not much anymore.  

[maratsade]

I've used cheeky monkey and cheeky bugger.  Not so much wee, though.  That's more Scottish or Irish, in my experience.

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@GabeU wrote:

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bare65 wrote: 

Have you ever heard the expression.."Cheeky wee bugger"? 

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Cheeky, but not cheeky wee bugger.  My mother's family (and herself) is from England, and I would hear that word every now and again, though not much anymore.  

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[maratsade]

I have, yes. 🙂  I use the expression "bugger" all the time.

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Have you ever heard the expression.."Cheeky wee bugger"?

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[maratsade]

Wow, that's a great spider, @GabeU.  C0rr0sive should adopt it.

[maratsade]

Those are some AWESOME lizards and snakes, @bare65. Very cool. 

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