Lizard Love

We have loads of lizards around here this year.  They are everywhere and love this heat.  It never seems to get too hot for them.  Hanging out by the plants is usually how they spend their days.  I imagine there are plenty of bugs to catch there. 

 A lizard crawling across the patio

 

Watching them is fascinating.  They are really aggressive when it comes to hunting for food.  But I’ve noticed a lot of animals in the desert are that way.  I imagine food is in short supply sometimes so you have to make sure you get a meal if you spot one. 

Two lizards hanging out on our block wall

The lizards will actually chase competitors away from their hunting spot.  They can really run if they want to.  They have to stop and “pump” themselves up every-so-often, but then they take off at a fast run again.

 A lizard on the house

 

It’s not uncommon to go out and count ten of them around the house, on the house, or the wall that surrounds our property.  Hubby caught these two getting snuggly so I imagine we’ll have more lizards added to the group pretty soon. 

 You can hardly see them in the rocks in the second photo

There’s a lot of mating going on.  Raven wanted outside the door the other day when he spied two lizards chasing each other around in a courtship ritual.  I didn’t get a pic of that because I would have scared them off if I went out on the patio.

Here's one hanging out on the storage shed on the patio

Such is life in the desert.  It keeps the cats amused to watch all the creatures passing by, or hanging out under the patio shade.  I guess 110 in the shade is better than being out in the sun.  Besides what choice do these poor creatures have?  I feel sorry for them having to put up with the extreme conditions of desert living.