Thread: What's in your garden?

I was looking at these small yellow flowers that are on some kind of bindweed, all over the place at the moment. They are small, maybe 1cm across, nonetheless attractive when you look closely. It was while I was doing that I noticed the spider lurking. Sneaky thing.

Well Mama Tortoise kicked out her first batch of eggs. she will cruise around for about 2 more weeks and kick out another batch.

My wife sold the ones from last hatch to an export broker in BKK.

Far less exciting than tortoise eggs, I see the occasional toad in the garden, or maybe I occasionally see the same toad, I'm not sure.

Toads always look a bit useless and clumsy. This one had successfully burrowed into the sand under a plant pot and covered the entrance from inside. It was very safe there until I moved the plant pot.

The dogs show an interest in toads but I have never seen them bite one.

What's in my garden? Weeds, mainly. They are simply plants in the wrong place and they are not all unattractive.
Apolgies in advance for the image quality. Small to tiny flowers and a mobile phone camera in an unsteady hand with image sizes reduced for posting dont add up to ultra-HD.


Mimosa pudica. This is touch-sensitive and would be an engaging plant if it weren't so prickly. Apparently it is deliberately cultivated in some places. I have pulled out hundreds of the evil things. If anybody wants any, I have a pick-your-own farm.

I have no idea about the names of the other weeds. I'd be interested to hear from anyone who is clued up about these.






Two pictures of the third weed because I notice that not all the flowers have the same number of petals. I have seen six, seven and eight.

This last one is a bit different. It is a small tree, still a weed that rose unbidden from the bare earth. The giant black bees seem to like it, so it gets to stay.

I have made an effort to find out what this is, so far without success. Even the neighbours, who have been here for ever and still forage around the forest can't tell me. They say they haven't seen it before, which seems unlikely because it must have come from nearby.

We have a few toads in the garden. I like to see them and they eat all manner of beasties that feed in our veggie patch. The only animals I actively evict are those dirty great centipedes and scorpions which go over the wall into the neighbour's garden.

Last night a small toad passed through the pack of sleeping dogs.

No reaction from Tommy, an old hand.



Another old hand, Yogi just continued scratching himself completely ignoring the intruder.



Next up was Maya, our new puppy...



Hello, what's this? Looks more interesting than a toy brick.



The toad gets briefly molested...



But is then left alone to hop past Max, another old hand who completely ignores it.



Maya gets a mouthful of toad juice for her efforts which she washes out, but guaranteed tomorrow night she'll let the toad pass on it's way, undisturbed.

Interesting story. One of my palm branches was about to fall with a striped dove nest in it. So I moved the nest to the higher branch and typically once they detect a human smell or interference they leave. The mother found the new location and they are growing along quite well.



With the temperature hitting 40C our new Yellow Lab pup takes a dive in the pool and then lays near the fan to cool...

My wife has a wah tree in our crowded garden. It never fruits and even if it did, wah are bitter little purple fruits that aren't very nice at all. I reckon the space would be put to much better use with another mango tree so I'm getting rid of the wah tree by stealth. Each week I chop off another branch until one day there will be nothing left.

I noticed this on today's wah tree branch. It looks like a preying mantis front end, but was short and stubby. This was only an empty shell, and I'm wondering if the preying mantis have a pupae stage and this was what's left after hatching. There's one of those b@stard red weaver ants for scale... many of it's colleagues bit me today.

Can't seem to be able to post photos yet, a couple of months yet at my rate of posting.
Im new so can understand.

They say every picture tells a story...

This picture says that if you're a gecko you shouldn't hang around door frames.

It also says that the wife ain't the most diligent of cleaners!

Originally Posted by Mendip

I'm wondering if the preying mantis have a pupae stage and this was what's left after hatching

I find casts like that stuck to trees from Cicadas.

I think some larger insects need to cast their exoskeleton just in order to grow bigger.

I don't think it is a metamorphic phase transition like a pupa

Originally Posted by Mendip

There's one of those b@stard red weaver ants for scale... many of it's colleagues bit me today.

If you want to know what getting stung by an ant feels like try one of these bewts

Myrmecia Gulosa - the Giant Australian Bull Ant

3.5cm long

Got heaps of these bar stewards in the forest

they have amazing eyesight and can spot you from metres away and react

3.5cm long... that must be an inch and a half?

Should have stuck something similar size there for scale.

^They are fookin monstrous

I ripped that pic off the net as could not be arsed digging through my photos but I have got some close ups took by my own fair hand

They are freaky coz they have such good eyesight

When they spot you from 2-3 metres away they turn and face you and then start squaring up by jumping from erratically from side to side (which is why they are also called Jack Jumpers)

I don't know if they are just psyching themselves up or intentionally trying to intimidate you

Either way you certainly get the feeling you are getting into a confrontation you need to take seriously

and with good reason since their sting feels like getting shot with a .22 air-gun pellet at close range

^ Ouch. I’ve heard about those nasty things.

I’m proud. Planted several but only one survived. It was the one planted close to the house and next to a dryer vent. Luck.

Three tries and still can’t get one right!

Originally Posted by Mendip

This was only an empty shell, and I'm wondering if the preying mantis have a pupae stage and this was what's left after hatching.

No they don't, the nymphs are the same as the adult but smaller. They go through stages of development where they shed their exoskeletons as they grow larger. The wings come with the final adut stage.

Praying Mantis Life Cycle – Facts, Diagram, Stages, Video - Praying Mantis

Yep, i was sat in mom & pop shop and was about to swat something crawling up my sleeve when i realised it was a baby mantis about 1.5cms but still did that staring at you and curling its bum up thing they do, i'd never seema baby until then.

A snake was living my fishtank.
I have a couple of those 1 meter concrete water tanks on the property.
One of them is under the trees set up with a filter for tropical fish and a seating area for relaxing around.
On Friday last week as i was picking out the fallen bamboo and mango leaves that fall in i noticed the snake head poking up at me and it snuck back down to in between some bricks stacked up in the tank.
I could see the body of it curled between the inner tank and the bricks and a decorative old galleon was knocked over. The head was about 40cm wide and the body about 30cm round, white underbelly and brown on top.
I went and got the small fishnet for aquarium fish and a diggin tool.
I waited over the top of the tank because i knew it had to come for air sooner or later, sure enough after about 5-10 minutes it started to try and come up for air.
I pocked it down with the net and it tried to hide, then it tried to come up for air, I poked again and same happened after 3-4 times, Then it was desperate for air and somehow I managed to scoop it up in the little net and i flicked it out, it ended up going into the catfish pond and swimming across the top of the water(the pond is only about 2.5 meters round and 1 foot deep. I thought "you are gone now bud" But only 1 catfish made a lunge at the snake and it missed, then the snake dissapeared into the leaves around the bamboo next to the pond.
Then next day feeding the fish, i looked down and see the snake back in the same place in the tank, I go to get a machete, the net and and a bamboo poker, I manage to jam the bamboo onto the body so it cant get air and for several minutes it works, then the thing forces itself up the side of the tank to get to air, then I whack it with the machete and it goes down again and then up again, i slash at it again. All the time im I am putting as much weight as i can on the body with the bamboo poker.
It got out from the poker and started to dart around inside the tank, i slashed at it every time it came up for air, then it got over the far side of the tank and after i got a good whack on it, it slowly got out and then disappeared under the leaves again.
Still have all the fish in the tank, it didn't eat any. It hasn't been back in the tank yet(I think it died from injuries).
Lastly, I live in a farm area where snakes are prolific in the hot season, most of the brown ones are deadly. I potentially saved several tropical fish from being eaten.(including a pair of Archer fish)and(a pair of beautiful blue Gourami), Have had many green snakes on the property and they are easy to scare off.
I really wish that the catfish did the job when they had the chance, One was close i heard the "snap" but was too slow.

Why didn't you find a local who can handle snakes instead of injuring and possibly mortally wounding it? and get it released into the wild a long way from you. Snakes generally don't stay where there is no access to food so consider what you have and how easy it is to access.

Originally Posted by strigils

Why didn't you find a local who can handle snakes instead of injuring and possibly mortally wounding it? and get it released into the wild a long way from you. Snakes generally don't stay where there is no access to food so consider what you have and how easy it is to access.

Originally Posted by deeks

Lastly, I live in a farm area where snakes are prolific in the hot season, most of the brown ones are deadly.

The locals here will eat it anyway, Now ask me, why would you bother asking a local to take time from their farm/work to help a farang with a basic task on his property?

Originally Posted by deeks

Now ask me, why would you bother asking a local to take time from their farm/work to help a farang with a basic task on his property?

Like rescuing instead of killing a beautiful creature, coz you are either an idiot, have no friends or are incompetent.

Well only you can answer that if you don't know them well enough. If you've not built that kind of relationship then i guess "Bother" is the word you use. Generally there is someone locally who handles snakes, for good or bad, but of course living in a rural area you know that right. Now if you are going to randomly post merged sentences in a conglomeration that makes members eyes bleed, bait then bite, then i don't think you'll spend much time outside Deeks.

Originally Posted by strigils

Like rescuing instead of killing a beautiful creature, coz you are either an idiot, have no friends or are incompetent.

Well only you can answer that if you don't know them well enough. If you've not built that kind of relationship then i guess "Bother" is the word you use. Generally there is someone locally who handles snakes, for good or bad, but of course living in a rural area you know that right. Now if you are going to randomly post merged sentences in a conglomeration that makes members eyes bleed, bait then bite, then i don't think you'll spend much time outside Deeks.

No offence Strig, I gather that you have never lived on a farm, Fair play is that i stated that i live in farm area. Well here is my property description, South is the Moo barn,5 meters from the fence, Southeast is paddy fields for about 700 meters,east is paddy fields for about 200 meters then a jungle,Northeast is paddyfields through the valley for some kilo's,North is paddy for about 400 meters then jungle, Northwest is paddy for 800m then jungle, West is paddy for 200m then a jungle, Southwest is paddy 400m then mooban. In the over 8 years that i lived in this property i have been in contact with dozens of snakes,squirrels,geckos,birds and nests,scorpions,millipedes,frogs,termite mounds,marauder ants,longhorn beetles,Ferrel cats,Rats,mice,neighbors fucking chickens that dig up the gardens,on and on and on.
My story was about giving the snake a chance to go, i scared the shit out it and i didn't get bit. Then the fucker came rite back into the exact same place that i got rid of it from.
Now i will tell you story about a dog i saw when we were building our house, this dog had half a dozen deep scares on its head and body and a back leg that dangling about as it walked around, I asked the wife about the dog, she said that the dog was no good and killed chickens and the people would hit it with the machette.
As i said, absolutely no offense, its just life in the real world. Peace.

Originally Posted by Looper

Myrmecia

Got stung by one of these coonts today while working near one of the water tanks

Not the Gulosa varietal but one of its smaller 12mm cousins

They all pack a mighty sting but the Gulosa is the worst

They are a primitive ant in evolutionary terms and their societal bonding behaviour is not as developed as other species and they can sometimes be seen fighting with members of their own tribe

Proper hooligans of the ant world they are

There is a whole wikipedia devoted just to ants if anybody is interested

Myrmecia gulosa - AntWiki