Please don't hate me for saying this, but when I'm faced w/ the dilemma of trying to control a pest vs. collateral damage - where the collateral damage seems to outweigh the pest control, I've often erred on the side of caution & done nothing. & guess what? I did this (nothing) about my whitefly-infested citrus trees - instead caring for the soil around them w/ mulches & amendments & spraying seaweed extract on the leaves I could reach.Before long, the pests were gone - replaced by native spiders, ladybugs & lacewings (I've always had plenty of anoles too). This was a number of years ago - when I 1st moved in & the trees had been on a 'spraying schedule' w/ a local yard service for many years - I discontinued the spraying/fertilising ASAP.Leaves/fruits had been covered w/ sooty mold & that went away w/the pests.(Fruit quality improved as well.) Anyway, you might try doing nothing but feeding the soil/plants & see what happens....patience is a virtue = J FWIW, HTH - my 2 cents

bgrose, I am deleting the pics, so they should be gone in a few days. I thought if I showed you my cute lizard you would stop being afraid of them, but I can see my idea did not help at all. I have to say that I am glad that I have lizards, and we let the garden spider stay most of one summer so our ten year old could watch a spider spin its web, catch bugs, and then spin a cocoon and lay its eggs in the fall. We watched the baby spiders leave the next spring. I don't want her to be afraid of spiders and lizards or snakes, either, for that matter. I want her to know the dangers of some snakes and to appreciate the other critters for the jobs they play in the garden and in the soil. I am sorry you have such a deep fear of these animals and hope that you have success in removing your lizard, if that will help you. Sincerely, Gean

judijune, be careful with all those snakes! We get some venomous snakes too. My scariest situation was maybe 5 yrs sgo at my old farm when our Lab had cornered a huge Timber Rattlesnake out by the chicken coop. It was all coiled up rattlling its tail -holding its black rattler up high. It had a different sound than other snakes and from a distance without contacts/glasses on, I thought it was a black hornets nest lol! The dog was barking its foolish head off in that snakes face! Im shocked it didnt bite her..or me! I was at a loss of what to do because the dog would not back off, so finally I walked around the coop and up behind her and grabbed her tail pulling her backwards, away from the snake, until i could get hold of her collar and back up towards the house. That snake took off into the woods quick. I later learned that although massive and one of the most venomous rattelesnakes, The Timber rattler is not aggressive and will sometimes even play dead rather than strike. Good thing lol. I dread seeing another one. Diane, I Love those goat photos and their guardian dog! Its a smart thing getting the goats out there to keep the wildfire risk down. The silly photo: We had just got a new overgrown pasture section ready for the goats, a few days ago. We let them out, into it for the first time and they were all going nuts running around tasting everything. Some goats were rubbing their heads on the tall weeds like a scratching post lol. Somehow, this little guy got a big weed stuck on his head. Then he went up to the girls and they would try to eat the weed, then would run and they would all chase him trying to eat the weed. He tried it with the older female goats and they were not impressed and would butt him. They kept us laughing with their goofy antics!

I've never seen a lizard in MY yard, I am in zone 6a Pa, so, I think the only lizards around in MY area are "mud puppies" that live up in the mountains, and some small lizards live in areas where there are creeks and small places with some freshwater tiny rivers. I had seen them as a kid a short way from my yard, in the woods nearby. So, they CAN live here, BUT, they must not like to be where people are. Plus, MY compost is in a barrel that you turn, so, IF they went in it, they could be crushed if I turn it without seeing them. I did see some nice BIG ones when I went to Puerto Rico, and the Virgin islands on a cruise. I was NOT afraid of them, BUT, snakes, I am fine as long as I know they can't "get me". And as long as they hadn't been TOO close to my house. Last summer I saw a BIG "black snake" on the driveway, and it was about 150 -200 feet from our house, so, I just watched it slither under a evergreen tree we have and into a drainage pipe. It was dark but it had a pattern on it that was slightly lighter or darker than the rest of it's color, so, it must have been a black snake. I had seen a "black racer" years ago up in a tree, probably trying to steal some bird eggs. I moved it with a rake into the field not far away. It was tired from my moms dog throwing it up and down, maybe even injured, so, it didn't even move as I carried it with the rake. I wouldn't kill it or hurt it, they eat mice, and with the fields near us, it helps, plus my moms cats do some of the mouse killing. BUT, ironically, some of the cats have brought mice IN the house to "play with", my brother has become an expert "mouse catcher" himself as a result of the cats doing that, BUT, they haven't done it in a while, but, they still leave some mouse carcasses on the porch now and then, even a squirrel 1 time. BTW, as far as people in Asia fearing snakes, I don't blame them, they have the Cobras and other venomous snakes there that can kill you maybe even blind you (spitting cobra) if the spitting cobras are in Asia, I know they have them in Africa.