taralynna.......those are beautiful fish. They sure do look like they have some Koi in them...maybe Butterfly Koi. I have a little guy that I picked up a while back. When I got him, I thought I was buying a Koi, due to the barbells and his shape. But he was a solid golden brown, the reason why I chose it. I am always looking for the rare colors. Now I am starting to wonder what type of fish I got, because his body is becoming very fat, more so than that of a female. Seems like he is a mix of koi and goldfish maybe. But yours look skinny enough to be koi. My guess is they are Butterfly Koi, maybe with some goldfish mix. But they sure do resemble my Butterflies. Amanda

That's a scary thought. I'd probably get rid of it. I know turtles lay eggs in the sand for the most part, and most of them have oval shaped eggs (same with some snakes), that looks completely round. It could also be a lizard egg. Remember that not all eggs are fertilized though. It could be a dud. If you pick it up, and cup it in your hand in a dark room and shine a flasklight under it (don't touch or heat up the egg), you might see what is growing inside of it, or at least a dark or red spot where the embryo is.

In my opinion best advice is to seek treatment for phobia. I had a severe phobia of dogs that I had to get treated and it is very worth it and I think a lot of people that have more "socially acceptable phobias" (e.g. spiders or snakes rather than beloved dogs, people thought I was evil for being scared of dogs! even though I have been up to cottonmouths before and been fine, didn't bother me,... but as a kid I got CHASED DOWN by dogs and attacked so...). We share this world with a lot of creatures, it's something to get used to. Desensitization&exposure therapy is best to build yourself up first before you ever see one. That being said, eliminating brush piles in areas you frequent/maintain a lot, keeping it open will keep snakes out of those areas and make them favor more wild spots. Keeping things open tends to be best for the more cultivated areas of the garden anyway, to maintain airflow. ALSO snakes are often not very active in the day except after rains. They don't like being out in the open especially in the day because one of their main predators, hawks, can see them. I rarely see snakes around my house and I have a bunch of brush lol I've only seen them out at night (there's the cutest baby kingsnake but i digress). avoid times when snakes are most active and you'll be a lot less likely to see them. anyway best of luck treating your phobia, it's a hard road but very worth it to be free of it

That is a BIG turtle and is a different variety than my 'ornate box turtles'. Do you have a creek nearby? I wonder if it could be a water turtle. They get much larger than the box turtles. Once when we were on vacation my brother found a water turtle that washed down the normally dry creek near my house and he put it in my back yard. It was huge. I took it to the Salado creek, a permanently running tributary of the San Antonio River where there were many turtles, and let it go.