Well I'd bet about anything that they are eating bugs...I think that's what they prefer...I've never seen lizards do harm to any of my plants and I do see them around. When I lived in San Diego, I had some living in an orange tree I had, because my cat liked to eat them...I think she cleared out the entire lizard population for at least one or two block radius!! These other few that survived adapted to being tree dwelling lizards ;)

I have lizards all over the place and welcome them in my garden. Heck I leave little coasters with water for the,.

I love seeing lizards. I call all my kids out there to check them out.

It is kind of weird to hear the "rustling" when I open the garden gate, because I'm kind of afraid of snakes.

I love lizards, though. I think they're cool-looking and I'm pleased they're enjoying my garden. They remind me of summers in Mexico as a child.

They are wonderful to have in the garden, definitely a sign of a healthy ecosystem. They are eating insects, possibly crickets, and others too I'm sure. If you spray any insecticides, it could be harmful to the lizards.

I wonder how I could attract some. Takes a pretty big predator to eat a squash bug, and I bet lizards would fit the bill.

They are a very good thing to have. They love caterpillars, hornworms and all types of bugs. Unfortunately, my terriers catch and kill the ones in my garden. But they also catch and kill rodents, so you can't have it all.

Ania

I am NEVER going to spray again. I used Roundup once and it was disastrous.

I've never used anything other than that, the one time. I learned my lesson, and it was a hard one.

Why was it disastrous? Another thing that we have is a couple of families of Roadrunners. they are always on the look out for lizards and for snakes. The only snake I have actually seen, with the exception of very small ones in my garden beds....was one in the mouth of a roadrunner. he was beating it against the ground to kill it ...fun to watch but I felt sorry for the snake but I didn't really want him in my yard. They eat lizards too so they are always around...Mind you I live in the country so I have lots of critters around.

Ruthie,

We have a family of road runners. I love to watch them run. They run just like the road runner in the old road runner cartoon with the head straight out and full speed ahead.

Ted

One of our neighbors left for a vacation and left their two cats outside to fend for themselves. Saw one of our nesting, parent mocking birds trying to scare one of the cats. We have at least one liz. scouting about and sure hope he keeps safe!

Ooh, ooh! Today, I thought I had rabbits in my garden, but it turns out.... it was bullfrogs! Plural! I bet they're going to go to town on the bugs. :)

I don't know where they came from -- there's no ponds around here. Come to think of it, this year was also the first year I've had dragonflies -- no clue where they came from, either.

So many predator benefits from having a pond -- dragonflies, frogs, etc. If I had more space, I'd be sorely tempted to add one in. I'd have to BTi it three out of four seasons, of course, but it'd be worth it. I wonder how much water I'd need to convince frogs and dragonflies to breed?

Karenrei - you don't need much space for a pond. Mine is a 3ft x 6ft rectangle and is full of frogs. Birds drink from it and gather mud to build nests. It has dragonflies too My entire garden (ie 'yard' to you) is about 25ft x 15ft. Just buy a piece of pond liner, dig a hole and off you go. We don't have many mosquitos over here luckily but any larvae there are get eaten by the tadpoles anyway. If it is in balance there is no need for any aeration pumps etc.

Speaking of roadrunners, it was a sad day when I saw one running off with my two biggest lizards. The week before he/she destroyed a wasp nest that I had been filming for the last few weeks. The larvae were about to emerge as new worker wasps. :(

Nice of 'her' to stop and pose for this photo though.
{{gwi:75575}}

I've got a couple little, green friends -- green anoles -- hanging out near parts of my garden.

One lives near the bed where the eggplant and yardlong beans are. The other hangs out around the workshop building near my 3 Sisters garden.

They're bug eaters so I'm very happy to see them.

Flora_UK: That raises a question I've always wondered about. What we call a yard, you call a garden, right? Well, what do you call what we call a garden?

Hmmm. Now I want a backyard lizzard. . . .

we call it a garden! sometimes veg patch (for veggies obviously) and (lawn) for grass, but Gardens (Yards) are small in the UK so we don't have a whole lot of names, no need! I had a really big garden (yard) by uk standards, but not even appropriate to put in acreage! I lived in the countryside and flora as far as I can tell lives in town, so she will have most likely have a smaller plot than I did, and after patio, small lawn area for kids to run on and jungle climber, no garden (UK sence)left for veg (get this, we got the jungle climber for free as everyone who viewed it, said it was too big for their garden and so the person selling it put it up as free, to get rid of it)
I know in cities this space problem is the same (USA), and appartments, but even country people have small gardens, land prices are so high (UK), that if you have a big garden a lot of people sell it, for house building.
for example my gargage foot print and bonus room here is bigger than our house my first house in the UK, and the last we had before moving, we where the envy of a lot of friends due to it's size (approx 1500 Sq foot) so imagine the garden size (yard)
hope this helps, and to think I am from a nation of gardener's, hats off to the Brit chaps and chapesses.

LOL@ UK 'garden' speak.

My inlaws have a bit of a posh gated house in Surrey and we had a very Laurel and Hardy-esque dialogue about their 'garden' (I am American).

Let's go sit in the garden.

The patio?

Yes the garden.

Then what do you call the garden? (The flower specific parts, that looks like a garden to me)

The 'gardens'.

Then what is the front 'garden'?

The lawn.

What is the lawn in the 'garden' then?

*Pause* The garden.

What about the vegetable garden?

*Silence* Did you want a beer or something?

I wish I had lizards! All I have is squirrels and groundhogs and chipmunks and all things warm-blooded and cute-but-bothersome.

Lol, thanks ;)

I do that to my neighbour all the time, "shall we sit in the garden", look of horror! now I know, I realise she would have been thinking I wanted to sit in the veg patch! LOL.

Two live in my compost heap.

When I gardened near Palo Alto, California, I was blessed with lots of lizards. I accidentally encouraged them at first, by leaving some of the debris from my initial cleaning (mostly branches) on the side of the garden. They apparently loved the shelter, and lots of baby lizards soon appeared. By the time I left 3 years later, there was a large population... a veritable pest control posse.

When I moved to San Diego, I again had a garden, this time at the edge of the desert. I tried the same lizard habitat strategy, with a brush pile. It worked... but also attracted snakes!!! YIKES!!! I had young children at the time, and didn't want rattlers around, so I cleared all the debris from around the garden. Had a really great garden there, but mostly grew only what I could cage or trellis... didn't want to chance reaching under foliage.

They aren’t always a good thing! I have a raised veggie trug unit and it even has an insect cover..and the darn S.C. anoles keep coming in and eating the seeds(tiny lettuce or even zucchini seeds) or eating the new sprouts. I am going to spray and they can find a whole different yard to go in. Might try “Deer-off” by doing a scent first to exterior and lower screen(they can get in anywhere like bats!). As I’ve tried simple Dawn dish soap/water spray...so there are no bugs and the screening too proves that. Nope...they come for veggies in coastal S.C.

This thread is eleven years old!!

Some people are just shy about starting their own thread. FWIW, they eat all manner of garden pests. They almost never eat dead or immobile things, like plants. They sometimes like fruit.