Backyard Reptile Park

Some Of The Most Welcome Garden Visitors Are Often Invisible — But You Can See Where They’ve Been By The Lack Of Insects

- Steve McGrane

In just about any garden big or small, if you share a bushland margin you’ll find lizards, from tiny garden skinks to water dragons or even goannas. Blue-tongues are common visitors and often permanent inhabitants in many gardens. In northern Australia, introduced species of geckos compete for roof space on warm nights, lying in wait for an unsuspecting moth or mosquito.

I have always found lizards fascinating and in this article I get the chance to immerse myself in their eccentric world.

ATTRACTING LIZARDS

If you want lizards to stay or migrate into your garden, you will need to consider their physical requirements such as hiding spots and warm positions with rocks for cover and lots of insects to eat. These constitute a lizard-friendly environment. A pond is always an attractant and dense foliage of native grasses provides refuge.

Along with frogs and reptiles in general, lizards are one of the most vulnerable species of native animal. Loss of habitat in coastal areas through urban sprawl and agricultural encroachment has put more than 800 species in danger.

Lizards are a garden asset, effective in reducing vast numbers of garden pests such as mosquitoes, snails, moths, termites, caterpillars, beetles, grasshoppers, spiders and, sadly, occasionally other smaller lizards.

I watched with fascination this morning as a common garden skink dashed from kale leaf to leaf-eating caterpillars. No pesticide required!

Here are some lizards you may encounter in your garden.

Skinks: common garden skink (Lampropholis guichenoti); common water skink (Eulamprus quoyii)

The most common urban lizards are skinks (Scincidae). They are highly adaptive and often small and able to hide in any garden or crevice. The common garden skink and less common species such as the water skink are often found in gardens.