Rabbit proofing a garden space is a serious pain in the hindquarters.

Just remembered that Purp beat me to showing off a hyla versicolor wayyyy upthread back in january. My little froglet wasn't even a twinkle in his daddy's eye at that point...indeed his progenitors were deep in hibernation at that point.

I hope nobody's sick of these lil' guys yet. I'm fascinated every time I find one this small, couldn't be more than a couple wks old, tops. On Euphorbia tirucalli (pencil plant.)

Jumped over to Euphorbia tithymaloides (devil's backbone, formerly Pedilanthes.)

If your euphorbia are the same scale as mine, that little one may be hours/days old!

what a great find!

Here is another pic of Lucky Lindy from my dracaena pruning thread...

Please bring those bunnies back inside and contact a rescue or even a human society or an exotic vet. Those are domestic bunnies and should not be outside. They are susceptible to disease and things like mites and ticks. I really hope you see this, bunnies being released outside is actually becoming a huge problem!

These rabbits never lived inside, they lived in a chicken coup that was never cleaned. The wife said it was about a foot thick with feces. I didn't want to keep them in a small cage so I let them loose in my backyard. I have bout 6 acres so they have plenty of room. I put out water and food for them and they are doing fine, we see them everyday. We also have wild rabbits here. Yes they are domesticated but if I took them to the humane society they would either get picked up for someone's kids then probley get forgotten and neglected or possibly put down.

These animals also should not be in a chicken coop. Euthanasia is a less cruel way to die then being hit by a car (which happens very often with released rabbits, youd be surprised how many bunnies we see next to their dead friend on the road), These rabbits wont have a proper home in the wild, and will live in fear until they are killed by either a predator, car, or disease. I can tell you there is no kind way that these bunnies will die out in the wild. Please contact a rescue, or vet. rabbits DO need vet care and need to be seen by a vet every year anyways. If you can give me your general location I could find a rescue near by you that will be happy to help these bunnies in any way they can. I've seen bunnies in worse conditions that have recovered to be lovely house rabbits. The ones I have now were full of ticks and mites, living in horrible conditions with a lady who owned many other rabbits, and weren't even accustomed to humans at all. They are very thankful for their new home :)

Also try the binkybunny website for more information on house rabbits, and how to build enclosures for your rabbit, or how to have them free run in your house, if youre interested. Many bunnies get along with cats and dogs much more than they do with foxes and bears ;)

IDK who this tiny butterfly is. About 3/4" across I think.

The smallest tree frog, EVER! Barely bigger than a drop of water.

This is where he jumped to.

We took a few pics & put him back where he was after about 3 mins. SOOOOOO cute!

You're soo lucky you didn't stand behind that poison fart tree frog, one of the LBS&D group of lethal amphibians. Glad you're still with us!! Take care.

Al

Probably a newly morphed frog, definitely cute.

Tropic is correct in that assumption.

It's yet another versicolor. That's their coloration when they are brand new froglets. Once they lose the green coloration,they can slowly change color ranging from near black to near white,so they are like anoles in that...except that the change is like a million times slower. I had one in the house many years ago that got lost. He was grey when he got away,but was nearly white when I found him in the shower.

Anyhoo,..speaking OF,..

...my little visitor is growing bigger and rather quickly all things considered. He looks so mature now compared to the pics upthread,though he's still got a way to go.

Seems the white phase he's in may be meant to blend in better with the wall.

...worked too!

It was a little while before I noticed where he was perching for the day.

While out on a cane toad patrol in the garden the other night I disturbed this little fellow, Spangled Drongo, Dicrurus bracteatus. They usually perch higher up during the night, except when the Rufous Owls are on the prowl. The red eyes aren't "camera red-eye", that's their normal colour. They're a bird of rainforests so it's pleasing to have them around. The theme of the main part of my garden is rainforest.

Cute visitors everyone !! I finally have one to share, this teeny weenie froggie, he was here for a few days on my cannas & hostas and then he was gone, I think something must have had a meal of him :>(

Also possible that he is still alive and well...they are REALLY good at hiding. They have a nocturnal activity cycle and hunker down to snooze during the daytime.

Don't be surprised if you see him again sometime soon. :)

Found this tiny white frog on a heart-leaf Philo leaf yesterday. He's less than an inch long.

Hope I didn't mess him up taking the pot from the back yard to the front.

Is that a Cuban tree frog? If it is, I'd recommend removing it from the habitat. Maybe feed it to a garter snake or something?

(Osteopilus septentrionalis)

Apart from in Cuba they don't appear top be very popular, LOL.

This was a visitor yesterday, came in for a drink from a pond. Used to get a lot of them around when I had a very large Raintree. Some sort of borer was in the tree and they were always busy digging them out. But the tree eventually died . Now they mainly come around when the mangos are fruiting.

So, you're in Australia! I've been wondering where you were from to have the climate you do.

you know....now I'm remembering that I already knew that from the dragon conversation.

Not a cuban. It's another hyla versicolor,just in a white coloration this time. As I mentioned above,they can do that.

Love the 'too Tropic.

Was wondering if we'd get a look at one of those eventually.

Every time you post a new pic it makes me want to visit down under,which given my financial capabilities will never happen but at least I can live vicariously through this thread. :)

Asleep don't didiscount it!

You never know what the future holds for you. For all you know, you can just transfer your current financial situation to over there. AAt least there, you can keep most of your plants outside for most of the year.....can't really import any thing though, isnt that the case, tropic?

I'm glad it was H. versicolor. :)

I haven't seen any toads this yaear...or last year...do you think if my chickens ate the toadlets they'd trip? Maybe that's what happened to my favorite chicken (she liked to cuddle, especially once it got cold).

"do you think if my chickens ate the toadlets they'd trip"

No,..they wouldn't.

Colorado river toads are the ones that humans were using for that purpose.

Have you seen the duck that eats mushrooms in the yard every year and totally incapacitates herself? It was on youtube.

the person was concerned of the duck's behavior around the same time of year, every year...then they caught her eating the mushrooms, I guess?

I had to look that up to see what you were talking about.

From what I read in the comments section,the mushrooms in question were panaeolina. foenisecii,which apparently contain a small bit of psilocybin...a naturally occurring hallucinogenic compound.

As many submissions of pics of hyla versicolor as there have been on this thread,I'm a little surprised that so few are connecting the dots that these are all the same species.

I guess to some,a frog is a frog is a frog. lol

Oh goodness, amphibians are so diverse. It puts us humans to shame. Some of them can even regrow limbs. Can anyone of you grow back that oh-so-useful opposable thumb? Didn't think so. Although....prosthetics are making leaps and bounds. (This time, no pun intended as that would be humor driven by able-ism and that's no Bueno muchachos.)

IDK any binomial names for critters, enjoying the discussion though!

Mantis protecting a pot.

That is quite a lovely Mantid, Tiff!

I love those things but I don't know what happened to all mine, I had some oothicae hatch this spring but stopped seeing them before it got hot.

They actually make excellent captives, if you have the time to spend with them.

They are very....there's something so.....sentient about them once you get to know them. Looking in their eyes reminds me a little (I said a little) of looking a horse or a wasp in the eye. Yes, I let wasps know that I know that they know that I know they are there.

Young female wasps also take to captivity well and can become quite accustomed to human interaction. Again, that's if you have the time to devote to her.

I get some crazy ducks coming around my place, maybe they've been on the magic mushrooms as well, LOL.

Asleep, really thankful for the internet, it's made travel very affordable, virtually.

Laticauda, you're right, I'm in Australia, in the north west, climate is equatorial savanna.
You mentioned Dragons, this is another of the ones at my place a male Northern Water Dragon, Gowidon temporalis, in his "pyjamas". They change their colours quite dramatically from day to night. These photo's were taken at night when it was roosting in a Pygmy Date Palm in the garden. As you can see in the photo they have a very long tail. The snout to vent length is 100mm and the tail is 3 times that length.

He's pretending to be a dead palm frond, lol.

i love the fauna there, it's always so interesting!

Landed on a dracaena leaf this afternoon after chasing the neighbor's cat under my deck.

Al

Al, I give up. What is it? lol

Looks like a puppy with a lady bug's body.

Somebody's Photoshop abilities are very good!

I think it'sa lady beagle - rains hell down on cats & squirrels, I tell you. Actually it's half pug and half lady beetle. We have this Casanova pug that roams the neighborhood looking for anything to mate with. I wish the neighbors would keep it home!

This thing's (a pugrilla) been raiding my fruit trees for 3 years now:

Al

This one is interesting, fairly common around the garden, a carnivorous butterfly - Moth Butterfly, Liphyra brassolis. Eggs are laid near the nests of Green Tree Ants (sometimes called Tropical Weaver Ants) Oecophylla smaragdina. On hatching the larvae make their way into the ant nest. They have a flat shape and a very tough skin so the ants can't grab hold of them. They then eat the ant larvae. The chrysalis stays within the last larval skin which protects it from the ants.

They hang up the "meat cleaver" when they pupate and after emerging as butterflies stick to a diet of flower nectar. The newly emerged butterflies are covered in small white scales. When the ants try to grab hold of them they end up with a mouthful (mandibles-full) of fluff and the butterfly makes its escape.

Tropic...the moth butterfly eats ant larvae. Please send a few this way. lol Toni

Sorry, only Green Tree Ants. It's got to do with the ants nest building practices. They stitch together green (living) leaves of plants to make their nests, mainly up in trees but sometimes on lower large leafed shrubs. I think these nests are easier for the butterflies to escape from.

Green ants? Do they have green bodies?

The only ants here in IL are dark brown or red and make a home anywhere they feel safe. Don't know where they nest in winter. Red ants aren't fire ants.

However, I've never intentionally allowed a red ant to crawl on me, but doubt they're the fierce fire ants.

Your green ants sound quite interesting. IL has 'boring' ants.

Most (IMEHIO) red ants are sugar ants. The small black ones too.

if you plant potatoes in ground, they'll take over.

The Green Tree Ants are mainly green, they're very territorial and aggressive. They don't sting in the way most other ants do. They grab (painfully) hard with the mandibles, arch their abdomen over and spray the poison on the wound. Sometimes if you look too close to them they can spray you in the eyes. Nests are only made from green living leaves. In the garden they like the largest leaves, so Philodendrons are quite popular. Unfortunately the leaves soon die. The ants just move out and stitch up another set of fresh leaves. One colony will have a lot of nests in its territory. Nest building is done by them forming "ant pyramids" on the leaves to be joined until they link their legs and then pull the leaves together and stitch them up. It's a fascinating process to watch. Couldn't find my good photos of it happening, they're buried "somewhere". This is a small "outlier" nest already constructed. The main nest is quite large and usually high up in trees.

Al, thats a good one, sorry I didnt see it sooner, I had a good laugh this morning!!!!!

Tropic, yikes, nasty ants makes me squirm just seeing the pic...

Tropic, green ants appear quite large, and 'sorry,' creepy.

Spray your eyes? With what? Is the ? harmful? Cause blindness?

Indeed, the survival of ants is interesting, but to be honest, I can do without them.

I must say though, you have some unique insects in your part of the world.

Forgot to say, I can't believe this thread is still around...and going strong.

There's so many gorgeous photos posted.

Brings back good memories.

Toni, they're a medium sized ant (or perhaps fairly large if you're used to very small ones in your locality) about 20 millimetres long. Most Hymenoptera (ants, bees and wasps) have the sting in their tail with which they inject toxins into their 'victims'. The Green Tree Ants don't inject, they spray it. If they get agitated and you look too closely some droplets of the toxin can get into your eyes. It stings, but no actual damage. They are incredibly fascinating creatures. For thousands of years they've been used by gardeners in Southeast Asia as biological pest controllers. The Chinese would place bamboo poles between the surrounding bush and their gardens to encourage the ants in. The indigenous people here ate them. The queens (bigger than a European Bee) were eaten whole. Or a nest would be crushed in water and the water drunk. A very tangy taste and considered a medicine. This is a better photo of an 'outlier nest'.

Tropic, your tree ants are interesting for sure. Are the guys and gals in the photo nest in the foliage?

People eat ants? Are they a delicacy? During WW2, I read the soldiers ate ants because they were starving. I'd have to be extremely hungry, too. Near death hungry.

Spray toxins. They should be called skunk ants. lol.

We have a few type of ants here. The more common is black, about 1/8-1/4" There's also an ant I've seen in the outside garden that's about 1/2-3/4", with a reddish hue.

Tropic, if you don't mind me asking, do you bring any plants in during winter? If so, how do you control pests?

I'm not worried about standard plant bugs, 'mites, meal, scale,' as much as the huge spiders that live in some of my green.

For instance, there's a black spider, 'sorry, no name,' that's 3-5.5", counting legs. Its body is very thick as well as its legs. '5.5" are rarer, but we've spied them.' They're super-fast. I tried removing one from a Hoya that's still outside because I'm terrified. I wonder if Grandpa-Spider lives under the soil.

Would you know if spiders live under soil? 'Container plant.' I've literally poured semi-boiling water in plants before...I know, not good for the roots. But, it's the plant or me. lol

Thanks for the cool bugs and info, tropic!

IIRC, the only "carnivorous butterfly" in the Americas is the Harvester (Feniseca tarquinius). Mostly Eastern USA, up into SE Canada. The cats eat Woolly aphids (some say scale too). Photos from the net:

cats chowing down (some known to protect themselves from ant-buddies of the aphids by making a blanket of aphid carcasses to live under)

distinct pupa - variously described as snake/lizard/monkey-faced

adult

(Wish they could've changed their diet-preferences and been a "visitor to my plants" to eat the hoards of oleander aphids that stunted and killed the Swamp Milkweed I planted this past summer.)

Toni, the ants are usually crowded inside the nests but "pour out" if the nest's disturbed in any way. It's a good trick to always be in the lead when hiking here. The first person to brush past a nest gets them out and the next person brushing past gets covered in them. It's funny watching someone desperately trying to get a backpack off along with clothing to get rid of the ants. I've provided that sort of "amusement" many times for my walking companions, as they have for me. No one really takes it seriously, apart from the ants.

I don't keep any plants indoors at home, they stay out all year. But no matter how much you try, there's always all sorts of bugs and spiders getting into the house, they don't wait for transportation by pot plants. A lot of spiders live in the soil, some near the surface but others burrow deeper. Generally I don't worry about them, I'm more interested in what they are rather than where they are. Over the years I've found spiders, scorpions and centipedes in my bed, but I just evict them. They can go buy their own bed, LOL.

Horti, that's interesting about the Harvester Butterfly. Butterflies aren't usually associated with being carnivores, but yet there are are dining quietly away.

What happens when one visitor to the garden meets another visitor to the garden?

Bump

Dragonfly resting on a hard-pruned Ficus microcarpa.

Al

Adam ..... show-off extraordinaire.

Minnie - drunk again on fermented virginia creeper berries.

Al