December 3, 2008
They’re everywhere!
A couple of weeks ago I had to buy crickets for the Jackson’s Chameleon I captured after Lance cornered it in the yard. I couldn’t find any food for him in the house or yard, though insects are usually available in abundance. I turned the Jackson’s lose after I found out what all the keiki in the neighborhood already knew: I couldn’t sell him because any kid that wants one just needs to beat the bushes here on the Waianae Coast and will surely find one for free. Now that I don’t need insects they seem to be everywhere again. A couple of nights ago I noticed something strange about the antenna on my car.
I had to get a little closer to make sure my eyes weren’t deceiving me. Sure ’nuff, it was a praying mantis, pretending his brilliant green coloring was invisible against the black of the antenna.
Tonight’s special visitors include this giant grasshopper (he’s about four inches long,) swarming ants and some small black beetles that have been swarming on the carport for the last week.
I haven’t seen the chameleon since two days after I tuned him loose. He’s probably still wandering around the garden, but I wouldn’t mind if he wanted to patrol the inside of the house for cockroaches every now and then. He might as well make himself useful if I can’t sell him for cash. There’s not even any sense in getting life insurance quotes for him or his gecko cousins out on the carport. They’re all outlive me and be fat and happy for a long, long time if they stay around here.
[tags]Hawaii, insects, Jackson’s chameleon[/tags]
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