That's a lizard? The thing in the hanging off the nest? Looks like a scorpion or something. I'm so confused...I think the pic viewing part of my brain short-circuited or something.

The lizard is the thing on the right in the box. It looks like a rust stain.

Then, there are more than two critters in this pic?

Whatever it is it appears to have very big antennae.

A hopper of the grass ??

The real question is: Were those bare black (hot) wires exposed all the time :worried: , or did Flint take a wire nut off when he opened the box?

It's a wasp.

It looks like no wasp i've ever seen

I know things are bigger in Texas, but that looks nothing like a wasp
.

Huh? It looks exactly like a wasp. You're looking at it from underneath.

Really???????

Still looks like a cricket or scorpion to me. Must be the camera angle.

Cricket to me, as well.

That was the second critter I was referring too.

It might not be Mom, it might be baby just crawled out and still drying off, too soft to fly and not yet adult colors. it would make a soft tasty snack at a time like this, which might explain the lizard. Lizards don't have jobs, so they can hang out and wait for events like hatching...

it's the molted shell of a cicada
http://www.zebranest.net/chickpeas/i..._shellhand.jpg

That's what I think it looks like - God knows we've got those stupid things all over the place