Make no mistake about it, South Carolina in late June is hot. I kind of knew this before I went to Myrtle Beach. Now I really know it. It didn’t help things that the first day there I got probably the worst sunburn of my life boogie boarding the 3-4 foot waves that were breaking 300 yards from the condo we were staying at. More on that later.
Anyway, I was able to take portions of three different days (for a total of about 12 hours) and go out looking for critters. The thing about herping SC this time of year is that reptiles and amphibians are temperature sensative, and many tend to be active during the cooler parts of the day or at night. Most cool parts of the day and all of the nights I was either at the condo or doing something with family.
Nevertheless, I was able to encounter some of the herp fauna. Nearly every animal I saw was a new species for me, but due to some of the situations I was unable to get pictures of many. Please enjoy those I was able to photograph.
American Alligator/Alligator mississippiensis
Northern Green Anole/Anolis c. carolinensis
Rough Green Snake/Opheodrys aestivus
The boys viewing a gator.
Six-lined Racerunner/Aspidoscels s. sexlineata
Some sort of Sand Fiddler Crab that Winfield caught.
Other animals seen that I could/did not photograph include the Banded Water Snake, Southern Black Racer, Southern Leopard Frog, and the Southern Toad– all new to the life list as well.
I'm not sure why, but it's weird to me that you just saw an alligator while out and about. "Hey, look, there's an alligator" isn't standard conversational fare for most folk.
The souther you go, the standarder it is, I believe.
I have had a green anole for about 2 years, and he has usually been brown except for at night when he is sleeping. I just bought another female anole and put her in his cage. She was green at the pet shop and she was still green when I got her home, but when she got put in the cage with the other anole she is now brown for most of the time. I also put crickets in their cage and they did not eat, I hope it is not too much stress for both of them, does anyone know how to help?
Well, if the anole guide that you link above doesn’t answer your question, I’ll give it a shot. First off, the lizards being brown is not a sign of bad health necessarily, but if you can’t get them to eat, you should probably talk to folks at the pet store (or an online keepers forum like kingsnake.com) about your cage conditions. I don’t know much about that. Lizards can be tough to keep sometimes. Have to create the right conditions for them.