Creepy Crawlies

I didn’t think that moving thirty minutes out of the city would make that much of a difference to our surroundings, but the creepy crawlies are definitely something else! First off, the hill behind our house where I have been enjoying walking the dogs apparently has venomous snakes.

 The warning sign was on the other side of the bamboo grove, so I didn’t see it for a couple of weeks. The snakes are pit vipers, related to the Okinawan habu. They are Japan’s second most venomous snake.

Then there was the little incident of the giant-hornet nest in the garden.

 It may actually have been a different insect, but I saw a very angry giant-hornet hanging around the nest for a couple of days so I’m assuming that’s what it was. Our land-lord came over to trim the hedges and pulled down the nest, then left it on the bush by the front door with the larvae still alive. The ants quickly got into the nest so I waited for them to deal with the situation for me. In the meantime the angry hornet mother was patrolling my front door and I snuck out of the garden window for the next day, before I got the chance to buy some spay.

Then there are the cockroaches, little frogs, big frogs (toads maybe? Sadly the only one I could get a picture of was deceased), stag beetles, mosquitoes from hell, cicadas, grasshoppers and gorgeous (but camera shy) little geckos. I can't get pictures of them all, but here are some random snaps:
 

Guess I wont use this peg until he's done!

The most brilliant green I have ever seen... shame he had to eat my parsley though >:/

Somewhat decomposed toad

Grasshopper??

Tiny tiny froglet