Little Man, the Shetland Pony. He used to be a fairgrounds animal who walked little kids around for a dime. He worked at that job for many years. Now he is retired to the hills, where he wanders from house to house begging for food. He comes to our patio and eats the cat food sometimes, besides digging in the trash cans.
Photo taken August 2001
Humphrey the Wild Boar. He was not really wild, although he was left behind by a wild herd when he was a little baby just a few days old. The neighbors found him by their pigpen trying to get in with the tame pigs. He had a hurt foot, they bottlefed him, and then gave him to us at a couple months of age. He was like a dog, following us around, and loved to root in the ground anywhere we watered. He would wander around the canyon and visit the other folks around here.
These Angora Goats were pretty good for us to have around. They would eat the poison oak and browse the oak trees so we could walk under them easily. But the mountain lion ate them.
California 'blue-belly' lizard, these little feisty fellows get really active in the summer. They are very colorful with blue bands on the belly. These lizards can be caught with a noose made from a long piece of grass stem. When captured they can be laid onto their backs, and their tummies rubbed with a finger tip. They will grasp with their tiny claws onto the finger rubbing their belly, but they will quickly cease resisting, and close their eyes and fall into a short-lived 'trance'. In this condition one can walk around with the lizard sleeping soundly on your hand. Note the bands of yellow on the inner thigh, and the highly reflective throat scales." HEIGHT=746 WIDTH=509>
Here is a gopher snake baby. These snakes are widely acknowledged as being great for eating gophers. They slide into the holes and hunt those pesky varmits down. We never try to hurt one of these snakes, we'll catch one on occasion, just to admire it, then we let them go near a brush pile it can scoot into to seek shelter..
Rivenrock Gardens