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bajajudy
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6886
Registered: 10-4-2004
Location: San Jose del Cabo,BCS
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Zoe
He/she is my wallpaper too. On a 19" screen, he/she is indeed scary.
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Osprey
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3694
Registered: 5-23-2004
Location: Baja Ca. Sur
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Flowers? Again?
I'm old. I am not under oath. Don't press me on this. I do not remember where, when or how I learned about hypnotizing lizards. It could have
been that one of the dirty-faced, shoeless members of my rag-tag platoon of future Florida "crackers" showed me or told me about this strange ritual.
We spent every daylight hour exploring a swampy part of Broward County near our homes and we brushed up against more than our share of lizards, newts,
"gators", turtles and snakes. I also got a chance, a time or two, to visit the tourist traps known as "Alligator Farms". At these rustic amusement
centers, along the Tamiami Trail, "Alligator Alley ", I stood, with a little less amazement than the crowds of bug-bitten yokels ooing and gasping
while some hungover, potbellied, sweaty Seminole Indian (or deranged Cubano) turned the toothy alligators on their backs, rubbed their shiny tummies
and sent them to temporary dreamland. Even then I knew that the tummy rubbing was just for show.
It is a very old trick. Reptiles that spend most of their lives horizontal have little protective bone, muscle or tissue between the part of the
brain directly behind and above the eyes, and the bony structure above.
If the animal is turned upside-down and pressure is applied to that sensitive spot, the simple and primitive portion of the brain which controls
motor nerves, the reptile is incapable of movement. Respiration continues but is slowed as in aestivation. The eyes close but it cannot be said that
"the animal is asleep"... it is simply unable to move. Obviously the trick works better with animals who spend most of their time on the ground or in
a horizontal mode. Chameleons, anoles, live in tropical plants and eat, mate and scamper about on every surface of all the parts of the plants. The
trick works least on these kinds of animals, able to walk about on the underside of things.
On a priceless, one-of-a-kind day, aboard a real yacht, slowly sightseeing the marinas around Newport Beach, California, I spotted a sleek sailing
yacht. The name of this teakwood beauty, gold-leafed across the stern was "Comfortably Numb". I could imagine two or three old gentlemen, leathery
skin and sun bleached hair, sitting comfortably on white canvas deck chairs on the afterdeck/salon/sun bridge/weather bridge (depending on the wind,
temperature and humidity that hour), cold "Boodles" in hand, watching the sun go where suns have always gone, -- down (below the yardarm); becoming
comfortably numb. The stuff retirement dreams are made of.
Retirement plopped me down on latitude 23N, right on the Tropic of Cancer in Mexico where I am very seldom numb but nearly always comfortable.
I am also surrounded by reptiles very like the ones I encountered in Florida.
Just a few days ago, jeeping near the beach with one of my Mexican pals, Luis, I spotted and captured a very large Iguana. It was curiously
different from any I had seen before. This animal was over a foot long and weighed almost two pounds. After we noted its spiny tail and fat, smooth
body I showed Luis my lizard trick.
The pressure on the brain worked its magic and the iguana's eyes closed, his breathing slowed noticeable and he lay unmoving in Luis' hands. After a
few minutes I put the lizard on the ground and we waited for it to regain its full capacities. In less than a minute he scurried off into the brush,
none the worse for the experience. Luis queried me about the lizard not being harmed by the experiment and I explained, in my best Spanglish, that,
although I had never witnessed a lizard flopping on his back to press his little head on a rock or stick for "juegos o diversi?n" as they say, I did
not think they were adversely effected in any measurable way. Now that I think about it, this Iguana got a break in what normally passes for a life
of, find a flower, eat it, poop. Do it again. (most land iguanas are herbivores)
Retirement is not all tea and crumpets. While I have captured the core of the business, returning to all the things I did when I was ten years old,
this life of leisure has a downside.
With no income, save good ole Social Security, one must watch one's pennies. The day might come when I have no more money for booze. Calls for a
little planning. For some time now I have been training myself to sleep on my stomach. The plan is devilishly simple -- over time I may lower my
brain that silly millimeter necessary for the lizard trick. Without a dram of gin in the house, just before dinner, my wife Lynda can roll me on my
back, a little pressure under the chin, my brain presses against my brain pan and I'll be "Comfortably Numb". Dreams come true. There is a God (even
for lizards). I can only hope that occasionally she will (for old time's sake) rub my tummy.
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Eli
Super Nomad
Posts: 1471
Registered: 8-26-2003
Location: L.B. Baja Sur
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Mood: Some times Observing, sometimes Oblivious.
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Osprey, ya did it again, left me chuckling with the ironey of your humor. Dad would have loved that one, wouldn't he?
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zforbes
Nomad
Posts: 334
Registered: 4-11-2005
Location: Bahia Asuncion
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Mood: Living the dream
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Osprey
I don't see how your wife could possibly want to miss rubbing your tummy when you tell such good stories.
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bajajudy
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6886
Registered: 10-4-2004
Location: San Jose del Cabo,BCS
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Good one, Osprey
Do you remember the stuffed gators they used to sell up and down all the Florida highways. When you turned them over there was, what could have
passed for an open heart surgery scar, on their bellies. My daddy always told me that was where they had rubbed the gator to put him to sleep before
the killed him. For reasons known only to a child, that seemed like a good idea.
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Natalie Ann
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 2819
Registered: 8-22-2003
Location: Berkeley
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Wow! This is quite the thread - outstanding photos and stories... my personal thank you to each and every contributor. I'm thoroughly enjoying it
all.
Be yourself, everyone else is already taken.
.....Oscar Wilde
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oladulce
Super Nomad
Posts: 1625
Registered: 5-30-2005
Location: bcs
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| Quote: | Originally posted by ursidae69
I've called them horny toads my whole life too! |
I just name all of the ones I find in the garden "Pino".
"Es-pina" for their spines, but they look like boys to me which would make them "Es-Pino".
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zforbes
Nomad
Posts: 334
Registered: 4-11-2005
Location: Bahia Asuncion
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Mood: Living the dream
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Pino
Yes, they do look like boys, don't they! That's probably why they did not like being dressed in ribbons as I would do. In retrospect, I was not really
a very good thing to happen to those poor horny toads.
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Sharksbaja
Elite Nomad
Posts: 5814
Registered: 9-7-2004
Location: Newport, Mulege B.C.S.
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You know a master has spoken.......when you find yourself believing all these great stories. I sure do! I am confounded by you Osprey! Thanks! 
One of the best "eye-candy" posts I've ever read!
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Cincodemayo
Senior Nomad
Posts: 725
Registered: 3-7-2005
Location: Pacific NW
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Here's one of the lowest reptiles around....forked tongue and all.
Don\'t get mad...
Get EVEN.
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ursidae69
Nomad
Posts: 275
Registered: 2-22-2004
Location: Youngsville, NM
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Cincodemayo
Here's one of the lowest reptiles around....forked tongue and all. |
Reptile for sure, but is he from Baja????  
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Cincodemayo
Senior Nomad
Posts: 725
Registered: 3-7-2005
Location: Pacific NW
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Ursidae....Not thinkin so but he sure slithered around LA a long time. He could have been hiding under a rock somewhere on the peninsula...
Don\'t get mad...
Get EVEN.
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Osprey
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3694
Registered: 5-23-2004
Location: Baja Ca. Sur
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All around the southland here Mexicans I know believe the horned lizard has poison it can spit from its eyes. They also kill every one they see since
it is believed one near a home where a pregnant woman abides will render her mammaries dry and she will be unable to feed her babies.
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zforbes
Nomad
Posts: 334
Registered: 4-11-2005
Location: Bahia Asuncion
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Mood: Living the dream
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curiouser and curiouser
So, do you know...or does anyone...DO the horny toads secrete a liquid from the eye? I don't remember that happening. Maybe I was
just lucky. 
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ursidae69
Nomad
Posts: 275
Registered: 2-22-2004
Location: Youngsville, NM
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| Quote: | Originally posted by zforbes
So, do you know...or does anyone...DO the horny toads secrete a liquid from the eye? I don't remember that happening. Maybe I was
just lucky. |
Yes, they do squirt blood from their eyes, but it is harmless. They do it when they feel threatened by a predator. Too bad they are killed for the
wrong reason, they actually eat a lot of ants and are really good lil critters!
Here is a cool link with tons of info on horned lizards!
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zforbes
Nomad
Posts: 334
Registered: 4-11-2005
Location: Bahia Asuncion
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Mood: Living the dream
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Ursidae69: Thank you so much for posting that link
I appreciate your doing the homework to find it
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bajajudy
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6886
Registered: 10-4-2004
Location: San Jose del Cabo,BCS
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Wow
Someone should make a movie with all the different horned lizards in some sort of territorial war. Wouldnt they make great sci fi characters.
I have never seen one here. Will definitely be on the lookout though from now on.
[Edited on 9-14-2005 by bajajudy]
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El Jefe
Super Nomad
Posts: 1027
Registered: 10-27-2003
Location: South East Cape
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Horny toad.
When I was a kid in Redondo Beach I found a horny toad out in the field near our house. I captured it and made a little home for it in a cardboard
box. I threw in some dirt, a few rocks and some lettuce (I had no idea what he ate) and put the box on the kitchen floor.
My mom was not happy about having that lizard in the house, but she tolerated my experiment, Boys will be boys.
The next morning I checked in the box only to find that my new friend was gone! I didn't want Mom to find out that there was a horned lizard loose in
the house, but she knew right away that something was up. Moms know all.
Soon the word was out and the whole family was put to work looking under every piece of furniture for the wayward creature. And I was in the doghouse,
big time. The mere thought of having that lizard creeping around the house had Mom in a tizzy.
We didn't find the horny toad so Mom told me in no uncertain terms to get rid of the damn cardboard box. I took the box out to the back yard by the
trash cans to dump the dirt. Lo and behold, as the dirt came out, so did my little buddy. He had burrowed under the dirt and was there all the time.
Although the good news at least got me back in the big house again, that was the end of my lizard catching days.
No b-tchin\' in the Baja.
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Sharksbaja
Elite Nomad
Posts: 5814
Registered: 9-7-2004
Location: Newport, Mulege B.C.S.
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Jefe,
When I lived in Manhatten Beach as a kid we used go over to the fieldsa above the El Segundo power plant and catch em by the boxfull. Small world.
I'll bet they're all gone now. (sniff)
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Ken Bondy
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3326
Registered: 12-13-2002
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Mood: Mellow
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Not exactly a Baja reptile but in the right direction
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