Snakes, Spiders and Other Small Creatures

Can you see the little creature using it's camouflage abilities, in the pictures below?
This is a Click beetle. We used to play with them when I was a youngster ;) They are harmless, we used to (I still do) get a kick out of how they jump and click when they're on their back. They do this because they can't turn over with their feet, so they arch their back and flip over making a click sound, they can be scary looking with those big false eyes! ;)



A baby praying mantis....waiting for a meal to happen by.

(Upper pic) A small blue tailed skink....trying to get a sweet meal :( If you look to the right you can see an anole lizard trying to do the same.

(upper pic) A garden spider in my chicken pen

A garter snake that was hiding under a bucket in my chicken pen. This isn't the one I was after, but I'm glad I caught her, she was way over five feet long, I took her and the one below far away in a much wooded area and released them. They are totally harmless, but they were eating all of my chicken eggs! I rearranged the coop and so far no more snakes have been in there. ;0)
(upper pic) This little one is the one I was trying to catch, when I discovered the larger one!
(below pic) The release.....I still worry about them being in a new location :(  

(upper pic and below) This little guy is a bluffer! Poor thing, it's a baby/juvenile black rat snake and it's trying to make us think he's a bad poisonous snake, so we'll leave him alone. The sad part is most people kill poison snakes and even sadder is they kill any and all snakes they see. Last week I posted about adult and baby black rat snakes, this one is most probably related to the one that was in my yard. My husband and I had just finished up working in the bee hives when my adorable neighbor called me to come over and help identify a snake they had just caught. At first I wasn't positive that it was truly a black snake until it flattened itself out like a cobra and hissed at me. I've ran upon the adults before in the woods and they will act just like a cobra!

It's just a scare tactic though......I usually run the other way ;) I have total respect for nature and that includes snakes. They are a vital part of our eco system whether humans like it or not. It's just not fair to kill something so natural and a part of God's creation, just to turn around and try to take care of things on our own with chemicals and such! Makes no sense to me how people think sometimes! I'm known as the "weird one" by most, and I love it! ;)

If it weren't for nature lovers like myself......this world would be SO EMPTY!!!!

(upper pic) A garden (banana) spider in my friends garden, the pic below is one on my Mom's porch, arent they lovely ladies?

I hope you will take the time when you're outside to stop and notice the little things God has created for us to enjoy. Don't be scared or afraid, learn about your surroundings, read about the things you find or see. You'll *bee* surprised at how much more you start to enjoy the great outdoors and the joys of nature that God intended for us to enjoy.

TTFN!

Until Next Time....

Explore your surroundings!

Julie ;)