Fritzville . . .

You have heard of Margaritaville, well we have Fritzville here. For several years we have had a lizard live in and around the back patio of the house. They are commonly known as "Fence Lizards." The proper name is Scroplosis Undalitus Undalitus or Hyacintha. They are found from Northeast coast of the US as far North as Massachusetts and across the South to our area in Texas. They are not found very much futher West than Palo Pinto County right next to us.

Their coloring matches very closely to a pile of old oak limbs we have stacked up to burn by the patio. So they often sun themselves on the wood pile and are hard to see as they blend in so well with old wood and lichens. You have seen old wooden fences with age growths on them like lichens and moss, and that is where you find them. They are not Chameleons and do not change colors. And they are bigger than Chameleons. Yes, we have Chameleons too.

Well we have Water Well Fritz, he lives at the water well. I believe he lives under the pressure tank. It is a great place to find insets, their primary diet. They love crickets.

We have on the other side of the yard near the faucet and hose storage container yet another Fritz. He lives under the hose roll up box, a big plastic assembly that we crank the hose pipe back into when finished spot watering. He roams the "mound," a left over pile of dirt just barely in our yard. It has a Crepe Myrtle growing on the top of the hill and a large one growing next to the hose storage container.

And we have the front porch Fritz. He lives out front. He roams the bushes, Crepe Myrtles. We see him infrequently but we see has leavings here and there.

And we discovered little Fritz, about a inch long body with a tail about the same length, residing in the flower bed by the main bedroom back windows. His turf is shared by Fritzina (who is probably his mother). She is quit a bit bigger than he is or any of the other Fritzes.

Fritzina lives under the big green storage cabinet that is on the patio pushed up against the rear windows. We store bird seed and other paraphernalia there. It is on rollers so there s quite a bit of clearance for her underneath the green box. We see her often in the AM on the patio, she ranges all the way into the garage, so she moves about. She also climbs the Hackberry Tree next to the main bathroom. We suspect it is cooler and yet another population of insects residing there.

This is Fritzina's second year with us. There was a Fritz but I think she ran him off, not enough food for both of them. She is bigger so she won to the turf.

Our neighbors are jealous in that we have so many Fritz's around us. We all use pest control a lot so there is no reason for us over them but we seem to be the preferred location.

So it is Fritzville.