This is something I wrote, like, two years ago and I found it recently and thought it funny enough to post...
Letter to the World
(And everybody else, too)
Hello nicely to everyone! How are you? Is everyone still there and ok? Good! Now, we have to get back to what we were doing. What were we doing? I don’t remember. What will we do? I think we need to write down what we are doing, so we don’t forget what we are doing, k? Now we have to find out what we have to do now. Do you know what we should do now? How about you? Or you? Can you help me find out what we are supposed to be doing right now?........ This is going to be a long day. Anyway, maybe we are supposed to be eating, or drinking water, or walking, or swimming, or running, or taking a bath, or taking a shower, or drying our hair, or changing our clothes, or reading, or playing the computer, or playing outside, or training the dog, or doing schoolwork, or feeding the hamster, or feeding the dog, or feeding the cat, or feeding the lizard, or feeding the fish, or feeding the butterfly...
Is that weird or what?
At the time I had all those strange and odd and slightly unnerving animals, although I still have dogs, cats and fish, and had a lizard a few days ago. :-)
~~~
Now for what I usually post on, animals!
This particular post is on Lizards...
Most Missouri lizards are long, slender reptiles with scales, a long tail and four legs with claws on their toes. They are different from snakes because they have legs, ear openings and eyelids. However, as with other animals, there are exceptions: The western slender glass lizard, which lives in many Missouri counties, is legless, but has eyelids and ear openings, which snakes lack.
Habitats
Our lizards live in three types of habitats: forests, glades and prairies. Those living in forests use clearings, where they bask in the sun on fallen logs. Glade species bask in the sun on rocks, as well as take shelter under them at night. Prairie lizards have no problem finding places to bask, but they take shelter in animal burrows or under dead grass.
Lizard Skin
Missouri's lizards all have scales and a tough outer skin. Just like snakes, lizards must shed their skin so they can grow. A lizard's outer skin normally comes off in large pieces three or four times during the summer.
What Lizards Eat and What Eats Lizards
All of our lizards eat insects (grasshoppers, ants, crickets and beetles) and spiders. They are valuable as a natural control of destructive species, such as termites. Skinks and fence lizards are known to eat the winged life stage of termites (called "alates") as they emerge from underground in mid-spring. And, the eastern collared lizard is an important predator of other lizards!
King snakes and racers will eat lizards at every opportunity. The roadrunner, a bird that lives on glades in southwest Missouri, is a primary lizard eater. Hawks are important lizard predators. Skunks and badgers dig up lizard eggs. Unfortunately, house cats have proven to be a primary predator of all species of lizards.
Tongues and Teeth
Lizards use their tongue to pick up odors in their environment. They use their small, strong teeth to grab and crush insects. If you capture a large skink or a fence lizard, its bite will feel like nothing more than a pinch. However, collared lizards have a larger head and strong jaws and can cause a superficial bite that may bleed slightly.
The Tail Saves the Day
A lizard can release a part or all of its tail when it is grabbed by a predator. Once the tail is broken off, the lizard quickly runs for shelter and is safe for the moment, leaving a squirming tail to confuse or distract the predator. A lizard's tail has special muscles that constrict at a break point and prevent any blood loss.After a lizard has lost its tail, a "new" one will eventually grow back, but it will not be as colorful or elegant as the original. It may take three or four months to grow the replacement.Eggs and YoungAll Missouri lizards lay eggs. Most female lizards will lay their eggs in a burrow in loose soil, under a flat rock or in rotten logs and leave them.Skinks (common, shiny-looking lizards) and glass lizards are different. They lay their eggs under a flat rock or inside a rotten log and stay with the eggs until they hatch. They guard their eggs from being eaten by other lizards.The size of lizard eggs depends on the species. For example, our smallest lizard, the ground skink, lays from two to seven eggs that average under a half-inch long.Newly hatched lizards are small and are on their own, with no help or protection from the female. Ground skink hatchlings are only 2 inches long -- small enough to curl up on a dime with room to spare.
(This was taken from http://mdc.mo.gov/nathis/herpetol/molizard/, Thanks!)
~~~
Sorry for not posting more often, I've been sorta busy with other things.
I have no idea what "other" things i have been busy with, but anyways, I will post more often from now on. At least I hope so... :-)
So long!!!
