Favoritos de gregpauly

Very hard to see--I didn't want to get too close for obvious reasons, though I suppose the snake was otherwise engaged... Appeared to be eating an alligator lizard, judging from the checkered pattern that you can see if you look closely at a few of the photos. But it's a bit hard to tell.

(duplicate of an observation for the rattlesnake)

The cats were all focused on the same thing, so I knew something was up. Found them all trying to catch this big lizard that was in our living room under a cabinet. I managed to get it to go into this wine gift bag so I could get it out of the house. Once outside, it started to come out of the bag but then decided to go back in. When it finally came out, it then hid under one of my tires.

Really big ring neck! Was calm, showed no signs of high distress before throwing up a large sharp-tailed snake. I put it back under the cover it was flipped under. Very thin, and in need of a meal now. I feel bad, hopefully it finds something to eat…

This is pretty horrible but... interesting. A King Snake (the second one we saw) returned to the pond area and somehow grabbed a lizard, and ate it. I was lucky to be there with my camera but felt sorry for the little herp - I like lizards
Strangely, the wild birds were coming VERY close to the snake, even hovering over it as though they were going to strike it and these were small birds of varying types. I don't know if they're curious or threatened but they aren't very smart! That King Snake is fast." - Virginia Tucker

Observation and photos by Virginia Tucker, sent to rascals@nhm.org.

Second day's efforts resulted in 3 adults and 4 neonates captured and sent to Bob Hansen. Nearby business owners shared videos and photos of other exotics, including agamas, beaded lizards, a crocodile monitor, and chameleons . @chrisdellith @gregpauly @jqrichmond

I came across this unusual scene while hiking back to my car this afternoon. What I think is happening here is that the racer probably tried to predate the alligator lizard, only to have the alligator lizard clamp down on the snake's head. When I came upon them, the snake wasn't moving much. I sat and watched for a bit, but then noticed a mountain biker coming down the trail. When I stood up so he could see me, I must have startled the lizard, because all of a sudden the snake got free, and zipped off into the tall grass on the side of the trail. After a second or two, the alligator lizard also dashed off, albeit in the other direction. I felt a little badly about disturbing the situation, but really there was a good chance one or both animals would have been run over by the biker, who was demonstrating his species' usual level of spatial awareness. (ie none whatsoever. I'm still not sure he ever saw me.) All in all, it was quite a surprising encounter.
(@gregpauly, I thought you might be interested in this one, since it shows the jaw strength of a Northern Alligator lizard from a different angle than the one we know from mating lizards.)

Eating Western fence lizard. Dropped lizard when tried to get closer picture of snake head. Didn’t even realize had lizard til dropped it. Lizard was still breathing, came by a bit latter and lizard gone as well as snake. Temp 61