Stick Assassin

I was looking through a couple of old photos when I noticed a tiny strand of hair moving on its own, across my table. Upon a closer look, I realized it was actually a combination of two living creatures, a Stick Insect and an Assassin Bug!

The thin, slender and narrow legs and body makes it somehow a 'stick insect'. But then, take a look at its mouth parts. A long, thin sucker protrudes from its mouth. That made me realize it was indeed an Assassin Bug. So I called it a Stick Assassin.

Froggy

Waited for the rains to arrive and once it did, the frogs too started to appear. This was the first frog I spotted since the rains. He's a cute, tiny one.

He jumps off onto a small mulberry plant.

Looks like he's gonna take a bite off the mulberry...

A Skink that got Stuck

Found this pretty red-tailed skink scurrying beneath a door mat, trying to get out. This isn't the more common Dussemier's Litter Skink.

I helped it out soon after.

Random Day's Insects

Went out hunting on a random day and I came across a couple of insects, most of which I see commonly.

Spotted this beetle inside my room. Looks similar to a Tiger Beetle.

A Terrapin's Visit

I woke up one morning and walked down to the gate to get the newspaper. But I didn't walk back into my home with the newspaper alone - in my other hand I held this medium-sized terrapin.

Where did it come from, why it came here, and how!?! I had no idea. There was a possibility that it crawled all the way from the river, but why would it do that? And I have no idea why he chose our house to visit. Anyway, I took a few shots of him and kept him for the day. He was a shy guest as he hesitated to show himself when we went over to 'serve' him.

Here's a close-up shot as he retreats into his carapace.

That evening, I left to the river with him along and released him. He jumped in as soon as he sensed water.

Mornin' Old Toad

Captured a cool image of a common toad, looking gloomy in the early morning, wanting to go back to sleep. Must have been a busy night for him.

Home Creepy Home

Here are a bunch of weird little critters you don't see everyday. Whats more weird is that all of these insects were found inside my house! Here's a white beetle.

A big brown beetle, with a rhino-horn on his head.

A strange-looking slug.

A loop caterpillar.

An assassin bug.

And a creature that looks similar to a dragonfly or damselfly, but has feelers, and small eyes instead of big compound ones.

Mantises

Here are two mantises I spotted during the 3 days I had at my cousins'.

Frog Hunt Indoors!

Well you've just viewed a blog post of the frogs we photographed outside. Well guess what, we were able to find frogs even inside the house! Sure enough, the area was filled with frogs of all kinds, and some preferred to reside indoors during the day. These frogs were found under sofas, in between doors and by window sills. We got them out, however, to give the photographs a 'natural look'.

Frog Hunt Outdoors

Later that day, when the sun was almost covered by the clouds, and the day seemed more pleasant, my cousin and I went out again for a small hunt. This time, we walked around the lake hoping to spot and shoot some frogs. And sure enough, there were a number of frogs we managed to spot, though we couldn't photograph them all. Here's a tiny little one we found on a large rock.

This one's a toad I think, or maybe a Field Frog. We found it on the middle of an un-tarred road.

And best things last... Here's an interesting species, a frog with a long body, narrow front and smooth skin. There were several of these but I only managed to photograph one of them as they are really good escapists.

Crab

We wandered around the sides of the little lake and were astonished to find this crab in one of the little pools surrounding the lake. We never thought we'd find a crab in the tiny pool of freshwater.

Look at him as he raised his giant claws in defense. He sure was a tough guy as he wouldn't let go of the stick we were using to try nudge him out to land.

Eventually, we managed to catch him and get him into a steel bowl. Upon taking a close look we realized it was actually holding onto hundreds of baby crabs. Look carefully and you'll see the tiny, translucent figures of the baby crabs.

After taking a couple more shots we left him back into the water, back home. He still showed us his signature pose before he dipped in.