I don't really garden to attract wildlife other than birds .... but some critters just seem to find their way into my garden. Some I don't mind whatsoever, others like snakes really scare me, especially the venomous type. Florida has lots of wildlife including the Black Bear, Coyote, Fox, Bobcat, Panthers, Snakes of all kinds, Lizards (both small ... and very large), and of course Alligators. Although some folks in Florida have found a Gator in their swimming pool at times I've been fortunate to never have that happen! I've seen Bobcats a few times over the years and a Coyote once or twice in the southern part of the state but I've never seen a bear, and that's fine with me, LOL. I'd be happy if I never saw another snake while on my hands and knees weeding flower beds but somehow they seem to be around at certain times of the year. The following are a few of the more docile critters I've had visit my garden/yard.
Armadillo .......................... Black Snake
Six Lined Racerunner Skink ... Green Anole Lizard
Anole Lizards are good to have around, they eat ants, roaches ... all kinds of bugs! A few years ago I put an anole lizard egg into one of my terrariums where it hatched, Since it was winter time I couldn't put "Lucy Lizard" outside because she would have surely died in the cold. So, we left the porch light on every night to attract moths which we caught and fed to little Lucy. When spring arrived I released her to the yard. If you look closely you can see Lucy Lizard on a leaf in the back of the terrarium:
We have a few different types of turtles here too that sometimes show up in the garden.
Gopher Tortoise ............ Florida Box Turtle (eating banana's)
And ... of course the squirrel's! A lot of folks think they're nuisance animals, and they do raid the feeders ... but they sure are fun to watch:
