North Georgia Butterflies, Moths, Flying Squirrels, Spiders, Insects, Bugs, Reptiles, Amphibians

The North Georgia Mountains are the perfect environment in creating beautiful Butterflies & Insects & the perfect temperatures for Salamanders & Skinks.  Did you ever stop and take the time to see how beautifully detailed the Butterflies, Moths and Bugs are?  Do they make you cringe?  Insects are every place you visit.  You can't avoid them, so why not learn to get along with them?  I am not asking you to be on "Fear Factor" and lay in an aquarium for hours with them, but notice their beauty! All of these photos I took in the North Georgia area.

Wait till you see these photos I took of Spiders, Snakes & Lizards.  Enough to make you run or climb a chair.  But, I didn't see any of these spiders, snakes and lizards inside the cabins, thank God! 

You might wonder, "Why does the Owner take so many pictures of these yucky bugs?"  The answer is that I find them very interesting.  From raising 3 boys, I have welcomed snakes, bearded dragons, iguanas, hermit crabs, turtles, Guinea pigs , fish, dogs & birds in our home.  I couldn't be skiddish and run away from these pets.  All the more reason for my children to pick up some of these varments and try to scare me with them.  I have a tougher hide when it comes to these things.  My boys will come and tell me when they see an interesting bug, "Mommy, we see a bug."  I ask them if I should bring my camera, and when they tell me "Yes", I move quickly to take the photo.  Yes, I took all of the photos myself.  They are "Cabins Plus More" original photos and permission is not given to copy or duplicate.

Click on the photos to make Larger

Flying Squirrels:

Left: We saw 2 flying squirrels a couple of different nights at Holly Pine Haven.  They love to eat the bird food from our feeders.  They didn't bother us at all and kept to themselves.  We could hear a small chirp and knew they were around.  If you hear the small chirp, just sit quietly and wait for them to come down the tree.  If you make noise, you will scare them back up the tree.  I didn't mind them eating the bird food and found them really interesting to hear and watch.

Middle: I must have startled one of the flying squirrels and made him leap to the other tree.  Caught in mid air!

Right:  You can see the extra skin under the squirrels arms, that help them to glide in the air.

Spiders:     

Left:  This is a Spider we saw while visiting Mother's Natures Gift Shop,, at the Ocoee Whitewater Center.

Middle:   This water Spider we saw in the same water in Dahlonega, as the cottonmouth snake below.  We were told by the locals that this spider likes to eat minnows.

Right:  Another type of Spider we found by our hose, except there were no minnows around, so I don't know what he was looking to eat. 

Butterflies

Above Left & Right:  Monarch Butterfly

Above Left:  Monarch Butterfly

Right  Swallowtail Butterfly

Bugs:

Left: This bug flew on our water bottle when we were panning for gold at Crisson Gold Mine in Dahlonega. We have seen these bugs also in Blue Ridge, so Dahlonega is not the only place you will see these.

Middle:  This is a Japanese Beetle we found on a Christmas Tree Farm at the Southern Tree Plantation.

Right:  We found this baby Praying Mantis by the edge of our woods.

Left:  This adult Praying Mantis was on our back porch at  night, getting his mid-night snack.

Middle: Bee on porch light.

Right:  Caterpillar Nests at Lake Blue Ridge.  I have seen these nests in many other areas too.

Snakes:      

We saw this snake while panning for gold in Dahlonega.  This snake was hiding under the rocks in the water, and decided to poke out his head to see what was going on.  Luckily, we had a shovel close by and took care of the matter. Left photo is the top and right photo is the underside.  We were told by the locals that it was a cottonmouth snake and they are very venomous.

Salamanders/Skinks:

This is a salamander/skink that we found at a cabin we used to rent.