Photo Essay
The Diversity of Midland's Urban Forest: Reptiles
The 2008 class of the Llano Estacado chapter of the Texas Master Naturalists and other volunteers took thousands of pictures of wildlife in the urban landscape of Midland. We have selected the 250 best photos. Among the photographers are R.L. Orth, Sharon Long, Nina McCart, Chris Cherry, Randall Rogers, Leslie Harman, Taffy Armstrong, J.D. Drissel.
Related: Essay | Birds | Insects | Mammals | Plants
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Horny toads are rare in town because people kill the harvester ants they feed upon.
Some people keep red eared sliders in their back yards if they have a water feature.
Everybody knows someone with several backyard box turtles. This male is the boss of his backyard.
Whiptail lizards are found in backyards and vacant lots. They run over 25 miles an hour, so few predators can catch them. They eat beetle larvae underground and other insects above ground,
The same lizard suddenly realized it was being closely watched and became alert.
This tail was wriggling on a patio.
The Mediterranean gecko that used to have the tail was not far away, having successfully escaped the house cat.
Baby horny toads are tiny!
A few hognosed snakes can still be found in town near the playas that have become parks. They eat toads, and play dead when disturbed. Notice it has voided some feces, to make it even more unattractive to a predator.
The feces has a rank odor!
A big dog had disturbed the hognosed snake!
Southern prairie lizards climb on fences, house walls, trees, and even ocotillo!
Some homeowners are proud of their horny toads, and do not poison the harvester ants in their yard.
Horny toads are more common in vacant lots.
A great plains skink ate a mouse in one homeowner's yard. It normally eats insects and smaller lizards.
Box turtles love fruit, and cats love to watch turtles!
Some people have small lily ponds and sometimes a leopard frog will find the little pools.
The leopard frogs are good for the garden as insect predators.
The gecko wandered off and climbed a wall after the photographer took a picture and left.
How did he spot it on the brick fence?
Sometimes a kingsnake will leave a vacant lot and slither through a well-kept lawn.
Another great plain skink skulked along a fence - they usually live underground, but when someone sees them, they think the foot long lizard is a gila monster (which live 700 miles west)!
Wadley-Barron Park has dozens of red-eared sliders. Several other species of water turtle have been found there after someone brings them home after a fishing trip and then after tiring of them as a pet, takes them to the park and let them go.
Southern prairie lizards are the most common lizard in town, but are not seen as often as the geckos. The geckos come out at night and catch insects coming to the light coming through windows.
It is disconcerting to step out at night and find a kingsnake on the porch!
Homeowners knows they are great turtle keepers when baby turtles begin to appear.
An average backyard should have one male and three female turtles, no more. Any more turtles than that, the turtles suffer from disease brought by competition and overpopulation.
One homeowner tamed her whiptail lizards to feed out of her hand. (Read the essay about her!)