Reptiles in the Habitat

I know to many people, attracting reptiles into your backyard may not sound appealing. Our family, however, happens to like snakes and lizards and we keep many as pets. We also like them coming to our backyard as visitors. One of the most common reptiles in our area are the little anoles, they live in plants, under leaves, and they eat loads of insects. We see them mostly by the fences, and in my butterfly garden, hiding among the plants, and running out to snatch an insect. I consider them one of the best friends a gardener can have, since they don't harm your plants. Besides the anoles, we get some of the exotic lizards that have been introduced into Florida. We have curly tails, a few small geckos of different breeds and the cuban knight anoles. So far, we haven't seen any iguanas in our yard, but sure in the next few years, they will be here, they are taking over South Florida. I am not sure what we will do when they arrive, they don't belong here, but so many now, not sure if they can ever be eradicated. We also like attracting snakes, snakes eat rats, and because of the garbage from the apartments behind us, for the last 5 years or so, we have seen rats. A nice hungry corn snake can clean out a nest, I know this because I have 5 captive born corn snakes, and boy, can they eat. Sadly, these snakes are being killed by many of our neighbors because they are uneducated about the environment around them and figure any brightly colored snake is poisonous, so as soon as they seen one, they grab something and kill it. The most common snake that we do see is the black racer, these snakes hunt in the day time, so you are likely to see one when you are out in the yard. They are fast, and if cornered can be aggressive. Luckily many of our neighbors are now learning that if they see a snake, to come get my son, and he will identify it and remove it from their yard. We have a brush pile in our yard to encourage the snakes to hang around our yard where they won't be killed.