Worm Bin Guardians

Paulo Silva
#1. October 25th, 2010, at 5:45 PM.

Hi, here in Portugal we have these http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podarcis_hispanica , I enjoy seeing them eating flies and spiders on my worm bins, one interesting feature is that they drop their tail when in danger, for example if a bird chase them they leave their tail behind wiggling just like worms do, birds go for the tail while they escape, the tail also regrows in a couple of weeks

Barb V.
#2. October 25th, 2010, at 6:35 PM.

RWC always finds a topic that piques my interest/curiosity or answers a question. My yard is full of lizards .. skinks? Including running over my in-ground worm pit. I wondered if they ate worms … happy to discover that they eat predators to my worm herd.

Mark from Kansas
#3. October 25th, 2010, at 9:08 PM.

and I thought I was cool by putting a ladybug in my bin!

Larry D.
#4. October 25th, 2010, at 9:36 PM.

I’m going to try and video it tomorrow.I had three today.This same one loves to stay on my vent for my bin.Today i noticed it waits until i spray water,and runs and grabs what is flying.Even though it was getting wet! Never thought i would have a lizard happy to see me!
Good to hear from you Paulo!

Anna
#5. October 25th, 2010, at 9:37 PM.

And now I want one…

Thanks Larry (and Bentley) for bringing this to my attention.

Heather
#6. October 25th, 2010, at 9:45 PM.

I have those anoles too, and I swear there were 2 watching me harvest worms earlier today. I had to shoo them out of the yard before I could shut the garage door. We had dozens of babies in our front foodscape garden this year. I really enjoy these beneficial critters.

John H. (from Orlando)
#7. October 26th, 2010, at 11:30 PM.

Cool. It appears that you have the native anoles patroling your bins. I wish we had more natives in central Florida, but alas they are rare due to their Caribbean cousins muscling into their territory.

John Duffy
#8. October 27th, 2010, at 12:56 AM.

Hey Larry,
I think the little fella needs an appropriate name…
Never a dull moment here at RWC;)
…Heather, Mother Earth News website has an interesting article on edible landscapes you might enjoy.

Larry D.
#9. October 27th, 2010, at 1:38 AM.

John H.-We actually have the most lizard species i have ever seen.I live directly across from a major shipping port.The anoles hold thier own here.But we have loads of odd looking lizards.

John D.-I actually named it Markus! It has been looking at my bin,and has been on the phone to someone by codename “MK”.I also heard a faint “I knew it!” on the other end!

Jason
#10. October 27th, 2010, at 8:19 PM.

I love seeing those guys around. I think the birds catch them around my garden though. The little translucent gekos are fun to watch too. I’ll leave a light on for those guys at night and watch them chow dowm on moths all night.

Heather Rinaldi
#11. October 30th, 2010, at 5:35 PM.

Thanks, John Duffy…all over that article like a red wiggler on a rotten pumpkin:)!

Kevin Jiang
#12. October 19th, 2011, at 1:06 AM.

You’re right. That is a green anole or called a carolina anole. They eat anything that moves and can fit into their mouthand can drop their tails of you pull realy hard. The males have a red dewlap on their neck and the females commonly have a light-colored stripe down their back. Themales also have two large scales behind their anus and are common in most parts of the Southern United States.