Our Forever Pet: Milk Snail

You might walk outside and see a garden snail climbing up your favorite pot,or eat escargot in pairs.  But have you ever seen anything like this? Snowball here is a milk snail. Milk snails are escargot snails and the newest and permanent guest of the Hotel 4 Lizards. 


Native Or Introduced Species?
The milk snail is an invasive species that is native to Europe and parts of North Africa.

Diet: 
We Feed our milk snail iceberg lettuce

Habitat/ Range:
We found this snail on a fence at a neighbor's house.

Any special behaviors? 
He had a slight crack in his shell. When snail's have a cracked or broken shell, they will cover up the opening of their shell with a calcium layer. When its time to come out, they will break the layer and feed.

Second Guest; Green Anole

This is an image of the green anole we caught. You might recognize this lizard, because they are very common throughout the southern U.S. 

Description: 

The Green Anole (Also known as the Carolina Anole) can range from about 5 to 8 inches long. Many people get confused with the green anole and the brown anole, because the Green Anole can change color (From green to brown). However, the Brown Anole is an invasive species from Cuba, and has more color markings plus a dinosaur- like wrinkle down its back. 

Native or Introduced Species? 

The Green Anole is Native to southeastern United States and some Caribbean islands. Many people catch them and keep them as pets, but they are available in pet stores. 

Diet: 

The Carolina Anole's diet consists of a variety of small insects like crickets and grasshoppers and even some grasses. People who keep them as pets feed them mealworms, grubs, and maggots. 

Habitat/ Range:

We found this lizard on the trunk of a crape myrtle near some iris plants. 

Any Special Behaviors? 

The Anole changes color when stressed, or when about to attack. When the lizard felt intimidated, he would raise his head, and expand this red pouch under his neck that only the males have. 

Release: 

We released the lizard right where we found him.. 

First Guest: Texas Spiny Lizard

Our first guest was a Texas Spiny Lizard. We caught him (or her?) in our back yard and kept him for one week.

Description
The Texas Spiny Lizard is a fairly large lizard. They can grow up to a foot long. They are in the same family as the horned lizard. Our guest was only 6 inches long from head to tail.

Native or Introduced Species?
The Texas Spiny Lizard is a native species. You can capture/collect them as long as you have a Texas hunting license.

Diet
We fed it crickets and wood lice (doodle bugs/rollie-pollies).

Habitat/Range
The Spiny Lizard is found in Texas, Oklahoma, and Mexico. It likes semi-arid regions. We found this one near a rotting stump.

Any Special Behaviors?
The lizard shed its skin on the third day that we had him. It was also fairly tame and we could handle it without it really trying too hard to escape.

Release
We released the lizard at the exact spot where we found him.