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GILA MONSTER

5/10/2014

28 Comments

 
The coati came back with an injured paw.  I don’t know whether he was caught in a trap or stepped on a thorn or was stung by a scorpion.  Whatever happened, he is permanently disabled.  The foot has withered.  He comes to the door looking pitiful, and I give him two handfuls of raisins and two handfuls of peanuts.  But he is getting fat and rejects food not up to his standards.  I discovered that he walks a mile in one direction to get fed at one house and a mile in the opposite direction to a bed-and-breakfast.  And probably to all stops in between.  Smart animal.

We came home from a shopping trip yesterday to find a Gila monster on the front porch.  He was two feet long and barely moved when Harold came out to photograph him.  I know it’s a male because it is Gila monster mating season right now and the males taste the trail of a female with their tongues.  If the female isn’t in the mood she bites him and walks off.  Simple courting procedure, unlike the javelinas that put on a show on the front porch last week.  I can only provide one picture because the rest are unsuitable for ages 8 to 12.

Last night a bear murdered the bird feeders I forgot to take in.  She (I think it’s a female) got the feeders outside the town library, too.  This morning Harold was watering a flowerbed when a five-foot-long snake slithered between his legs.  It took a few seconds to tell whether it was a rattlesnake or not, and a few minutes to get his heart rate down.  It was a gopher snake drawn by the smell (or taste, because snakes hunt with their tongues) of water.  It lay under the water sprinkler drinking happily.  Harold came inside and had a drink, too.

The movie option for The House of the Scorpion was renewed for a further 18 months.  This means there is some interest, but they don’t have the money yet.

The photo of the gila monster tongue is from the internet.
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