Hi Mike! Well, I'm glad you wouldn't...LOL! And my plant.. Thanks..:) this is in the small garded i've posted in another thread with my golden barrells. Yes, I have actually gone Rattle Snake hunting with Dan and Mike, We didn't get any, but they say it tastes like chicken. ROFL!! And havent tried Buffalo Balls.. LOL! The leafed plant is a weed. :) LOL! And no, I don't feed it to the lizard. He only eats bugs!! Mainly ants. He's sitting in front of part of my Aviary. I actually found him today hanging out with another one! I hope they are a pair... The babies are so cute! Thanks for stopping in..:) Miss you too, don't be a stranger! JoJo

I am a biology instructor and know a little about CAM. It is a physiological trade-off that allows plants to conduct gas exchange at night, in trade for being a bit less efficient at using light energy. Most plants conduct gas exchange (which involves opening up little pores called stomata) during the day, at the same time they are gathering light. This leaves plants at risk of dessication, because water is lost through the stomata, particularly when it is hot and dry. If gas exchange happens at night, water loss is reduced because it is cooler and the sun is not out. Plants appear to wait until the temperature is right at night to open their stomata, and then "breathe". At night in Phoenix, however, it is usually above 80 and sometimes 90, and some plants must never encounter that temperature threshold at which they decide to open their stomata. If this goes on for long enough, they suffer and die. When I lived in Phoenix I noticed all my Crassulaceae would die if left outside in the summer, as would some Aizoaceae and Mesembs. By the way, the deserts in southern Africa where many Aloes are from are hot, but not Phoenix hot. Their summers are often in the 90s and low 100s in the day, and 60s-70s at night. Quite hot, but not like Phoenix (or Baghdad!). More like Tucson, as somebody mentioned above. I also There are apparently several variants on CAM physiology. Some succulents can't hack Phoenix in the summer (as above), but some large cacti grow when it's really hot (Cereus, saguaros, etc.). A number of smaller cacti go dormant, and wait until the worst heat goes away. I lived in Phoenix for a couple of years and had some (small) tree cacti in pots. They seemed fine, but I gave them part shade. The Desert Botanical Garden also has several Aloe dichotoma growing happily there in the middle of Phoenix, so it obviously can be done.

8/2--During the day found some Slevin's Bunchgrass Lizards, Yarrow's Spiny Lizards and a Desert-Grassland Whiptail. Like Keith I had a good night on the roads. I found a gorgeous and very large green Mojave Rattlesnake (3 feet plus with 10 buttons on the rattle) at 7:45PM. I was thrilled as it was my first live Mojave in the wild. Twenty minutes later I found a 15-16 inch subadult Mojave rattlesnake. Toads were also in force and I saw many great plains toads and a couple of spadefoot toads. 8/3--no interesting herps today. Saw an Arizona Woodpecker and a Sulfur-Bellied Flycatcher for a couple of lifelist birds. 8/4--hiked to the top of a mountain with my wife and dad in the Portal area and nearly slid off a steep point where the trail was partially eroded. My mom had turned back because of the hazardous trail quality in some places. Saw lots of lizards and had fun seeing the species change as we gained in elevation. Start of the trail was dominated by whiptails, then Striped Plateau Lizards and a Clark's Spiny Lizard and finally Mountain (Yarrow's) Spiny Lizards. Saw an enormous 55 inch snake skin at lower elevation on the way back. I imagine it belonged to a Western Diamondback by size alone. If it is a Blacktail Rattlesnake it is a remarkable specimen. My mom saw a Green Rat Snake down at lower elevation. Wish I'd been there for that instead of going on the mountain ledge balancing tour. The night road cruise that night was disappointing and only produced two DOR snakes. A Western Diamondback and a juvenile Mojave.

Well, plumbing has been over the last two days, fighting with the monsoons off and on. As you can see, the nice clean porch is no longer. Not too excited about the pool equipment being so close to the pool, but we didn't really have many other options. Some creative landscaping should take care of it. For those in the know, the city of Gilbert wouldn't allow us to put it on the side of the house because it would block the fire access... A big muddy mess... Now I can see why there's caution tape.