5 Tips for Backyard Blueys!

You might be surprised to learn that even in built up environments you can find animals like blue- tongue lizards living happily in suburban backyards. 

The suburban blue-tongue lizard 

In our garden, over the space of a year, I have encountered as many as seven individual blue-tongue lizards and photographed them. Some of these animals have been residents of the backyard (I've either photographed them numerous times, or discovered them using the same refuge for weeks or months at a time). Others may use the yard as a natural corridor; passing through whilst they search for food or mates. 

Being ectothermic (cold-blooded) you are unlikely to see them during the colder months. But in the Spring, I see more individuals and generally encounter them frequently with the most active months being August and September. This also coincides with the breeding season. Most years we are lucky enough to see baby lizards in January. 

It's a terribly rewarding experience to discover wildlife such as lizards living in your backyard. And so, here are my 5 tips on how to create a backyard habitat suitable for the blue-tongue lizard. 

1. Provide them cover

These lizards have long heavy bodies with short stumpy legs, and so they simply cannot move with great agility or speed. Give them a fighting chance against a quicker more agile predator by providing them with plenty of cover.

Blue-tongue hiding in hollow log

Shelter them with dense planting your garden beds. Mulch and deep leaf litter is not only good for the garden, but also great for secretive blueys. Provide hides with hollow logs, but please don't collect these from natural areas. Keep in mind too, that a great refuge doesn't always have to be natural, half overturned terracotta pots or a bit of plumbers pipe buried with the ends exposed work very well as hidey holes and tunnels for lizards in your garden.

2. Feed them

Looking to pinch my tomatoes

I'm not suggesting you leave food out for lizards, but if your garden has plenty of plants and good soil, you almost certainly have insects, worms and snails, yum! Fruit bearing trees will also encourage lizards and other wildlife. A word of advise, if you don't want the lizards getting all the good strawberries, grow them in a tall pot.

I am a firm advocate for organically grown, and would encourage everyone to garden without chemicals. Fertilisers, poisons and baits are destructive elements to use in the garden, and can harm and kill insects and the animals that eat them, including blue-tongue lizards.

3. Warm them up

Baby who was poking around the compost heap

Lizards are ectothermic and will habitually seek out heat sources. Have you ever seen a turtle basking on a rock? It's not trying to improve it's tan, but rather using the sun's energy to warm its body. Lizards often do the same thing. Put a nice flat rock in a part of the garden that gets some morning light and you might be rewarded with basking lizards that are a joy to behold.

Other sources of heat may come from decaying matter such as deep litter or a rotting compost heap. Their thermal requirements, will lead blueys to various parts of the garden. We once had a small blue tongue lizard domiciled between the house and the hot water system. It lived there for almost a year, before eventually outgrowing the space.

4. Offer a drink

Have you ever heard the saying, flat out like a lizard drinking? Boy can these lizards down a coldie! For those of you who haven't seen a bluey having a glug, their tongue is much like a dogs as it laps and laps and laps water. Especially on a hot day a lizard will gratefully have a drink from a small tray of water left on the ground in a place close to a refuge. If you have a pond or a planning one, ensure the sides are not too steep as plenty of thirsty lizards (and other wildlife for that matter) fall into ponds and pools with smooth sides and are drowned.

5. Watch out for them

Blue-tongue warming up on tiled driveway

There can be hazards for lizards in the garden too. Dogs and cats can easily dispatch lizards in the garden, so be mindful and investigate when your dog starts barking suddenly, you might just save a life! When mowing long grass, it's best to walk through it and check for animals that may be hiding. Before backing your car, it's a good habit to check that there are no sunning lizards on the driveway, and while I'm on the topic of cars, generally avoid running anything over on the road. Often lizards and snakes can look like twigs, or a bit of old rubber.

A garden is a much more interesting place when you know you might spy a blue-tongue lizard shuffling, nose down through the leaf litter. And so, with these 5 easy tips we're confident you'll 
encourage a true blue little aussie; the blue-tongue lizard into your very own backyard.


True Blue Reptiles are committed to conservation. It is our greatest hope that through our reptile encounters we can inspire and enthral and help promote a greater understanding of nature's gifts. Passionate environmentalism starts early; inspire your children with True Blue Reptiles Mobile Reptile Parties 

Lake Broadwater Trip

In October last year (2014), the True Blue Reptile team took a short camping trip 3 hours West of Brisbane to Lake Broadwater Conservation Park. The lake is the only naturally occurring body of fresh water in the Darling Downs district, and so is of particular significance for wildlife, namely birds.

     We made camp in the 'Wilga Bush' area which was quiet, despite the fact, the lake camp was brimming with long-weekenders. A 2 km bush track from camp brought us to the northern edge of the Lake as seen in the photo below. Small gums inundated by the lake serve as great perches for thirsty afternoon birds. Or so we thought, as it happens Lake Broadwater is also a popular spot for water sports. We sat patiently waiting for the skis to call it a day, but the obnoxious boat towing didn't let up until dark (you can see the ripples made by boats). Needless to say, we saw very few birds this first evening.

The river red gums (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) in places around the lake are extremely old, and littered with hollows. During our morning bird walk we observed plenty of parrots and cockatoos flirting in and out of the hollows and making plenty of noise. There were more corellas then you can poke a stick at; too many actually. I surmised that due to the number of habitat trees and the extensive agricultural land surrounding the lake the number of cockatoos is in fact quite excessive, I'm sure the farmers would agree. They definitely made bird watching difficult too, they are deafening in large flocks so it's impossible to listen for other bird calls. Furthermore they are nervous creatures here, screaming their alarms as we try to sneak through the bush, alerting other animals in the area of our presence. So far the bird watching had been rather ordinary.
     On the way back to camp I set some sand traps (below) just for fun.

That next evening we took the bird watching south, to the protected side of the lake, and made a more respectful attempt at bird watching. While bird watching we threw our lines in to catch the nameless beasties that had been brushing up against us as we swam in the lake.  Along with some smaller fresh water fish, we caught giant European carp. 

The mammals that we saw during the day included; dingos, pretty wallabies, eastern-grey kangaroos and hares. The tracks (above) we caught in one of our sand trap. The footprint with the claws in the top right hand side may have been made by an echidna.

Our nocturnal escapades were quite exciting and we saw lots of different animals, but the snake seen here (one of two individuals we encountered) was definitely the highlight of the trip. This rare little snake was only as thick as one of my fingers and about 40 cm long. The photo below shows the beautiful markings on their face which is their namesake; this is the pale-headed snake Hoplocephalus bitorquatus. 

Here are some photos of the frogs we found. Above is an ornate burrowing frog Limnodynastes ornatus. These frogs spend most of their lives underground, they emerge after rainfall to find mates. Although these frogs are relatively common on the Gold Coast also, I find them particularly delightful. The frog below is a broad palmed rocketfrog Litoria latopalmata. These belong to the tree frog family, however latopalmata does not climb trees. Unlike the fat sturdy frog (descriptions written with much affection) above, this rocket frog goes well...like a rocket and wouldn't sit still for a photograph, and so we decided to catch it. You may have also noticed that I am wearing gloves while handling this frog. This is because frogs (unlike reptiles) have permeable skin, and are particularly sensitive to chemicals on our hands. The yellow colour of the thigh is a distinguishing characteristic of this species. Desert tree frogs are another species we saw and heard each night. 

In addition to the snakes and frogs, we were hopeful to find the rare golden tailed gecko. After hours of searching amongst the cypress forest we were unsuccessful, however we did see brush-tailed possums, volplaning (gliding) sugar gliders and a couple of other common geckos like the one below. This naughty gecko found in the ladies toilet block is a Gehyra dubia. This lizard is considered fairly ordinary and doesn't even have a local name!  

There are many lace monitors Varanus varius that call Lake Broadwater home. This one pictured left, is a different colour variation known as a 'Bell's phase'. Unlike the typical lace monitor, this bell's form has large black and yellow bands across the body. This is the first time I have encountered a bell's phase lace monitor in the wild.
     Our bird species list for the weekend at Lake Broadwater ended up totalling 58 species. One bird; the White-throated treecreeper, while considered relatively common is in fact a species that I had never seen before and so even though our list is a little thin this trip, seeing a new bird was quite worthwhile.

Did you know that Sarah Jane has over 4 years experience as a tour guide, and has a passion for bird watching? Think you might like to hire an interpretative guide? Give True Blue Reptiles a call, we love getting back to nature!

Clean Turtle Envy

You know that feeling when you pull up besides a car that’s the same make/model as yours, only that car is shiny and clean, whereas your’s is dusty inside and out, has bat poo on the roof and the light cases are all full of bugs? Well if you have trouble relating to my clean car envy, then you’re gonna have a real time understanding me when I tell you from time to time I’m afflicted by clean TURTLE envy!

I see some captive turtles every now and then that have the most perfect carapace (shell). They look like they’ve just come out of the turtle factory, rather not like my own turtle, Stanley that has been growing his shell since birth and which has plenty of flaking, peeling and a mottling of colours including a prominent green caused by algae.

We do, however try to keep Stanley looking sports-car-clean because he’s a bit of a star performer for True Blue Reptiles. Forget the chamois and the turtle wax! Stan’s grooming tool of choice is a soft-bristled toothbrush, and it’s not for his pearly whites, of which he has none. His shell gets scrubbed with the toothbrush every fortnight, despite this he’ll always tend to look a bit green about the edges, and to be fair we need to be gentle with his shell because it’s alive and sensitive and certainly can be ticklish in places.

The algae is actually not to his detriment; wild turtles are covered in the stuff. It’s a natural growth caused by sunlight, and while Stanley does not live outside at this time. We do invest in a very special globe that provides 4 different aspects of light to help him grow strong and properly metabolise calcium and other minerals.

Stanley the Snake-necked Turtle

It may be that some captive turtles with no algae growth are in fact not be getting the required amount of UVB light for good health. So in truth I shouldn’t be worried about a scruffy looking shell, because as we all know, it’s what’s on the inside that really counts, and in this case that happens to be a healthy, happy turtle.

Oh and when Stanley had a particularly bad shell day, we’ll just pop a party hat on him. looking fresh Stan, looking fresh!

Want Stanley to visit you on your birthday? Be sure to ask for him when you book your next True Blue Reptile encounter! Click here.

Being Cruel to Cane Toads

Few invasive species generate the kind of abhorrence that the Gold Coast community feels towards the cane toad. As a rule we hate them; it'd be un-Australian of you to sympathise with them. This animosity I suspect is largely influenced by the toad's appearance, and let's face it the fella's ugly as sin. But is this really a valid excuse to perform  hideous acts of animal cruelty upon this unfortunate creature?

Green Tree Frog & Cane Toad at Fingal Head, NSW

On and off for the last few months I've been asking people about their feelings towards cane toads, and most people agree, they are terribly useful for practising your golf swing or your hockey hit, cricket swing and various other energetic swings that result in toads flying across the suburbs on a Summers night. And I make no excuses for my friends, family and even highly respected academics, last week I went to hear a talk about frogs where my most admired university professor spoke about how toads can improve your driving. And to be clear he wasn't talking about avoiding them on the road, personally I don't see how swerving to hit cane toads could possibly make you a better driver. Just the other day I listened to a 'nice' old neighbour describe how she massacres toads by chopping them up with giant tree secateurs, apparently she's had years of practice. Having grown up on the Gold Coast, I can say that toads have been a conspicuous part of landscape here for almost as long as I can remember. And getting hold of a toad to perform heinous crimes upon it was not difficult for bored street youth. As a child I was unfortunate to witnessed a group of boys in the street pour flammable liquid on a toad before setting it alight. I remember watching in horror as the terrible little thing hopped panicking and burning to death down the road. So this sort of barbaric torture of toads has been going on for quite some time, and I'd go as far as to say that it's become an acceptable social norm. But I am convinced that if it were any other creature, these stories would incite community uproar.


Ever wondered if that ugly toad feels pain? They most certainly do!  In 2011, I assisted with a study that was looking at the pain experience by toads when they have a toe chopped off [1]. Sounds a bit strange I know, but this happens to be a common practice for marking free-living frogs in capture/recapture studies. I can tell you with confidence that toads feel pain and will sulk about it (having their toe chopped off) longer than some people do after the amputation of a digit. How then do you suppose they feel when you set a fire cracker off in their mouths?

Do Aussies enjoy being cruel to cane toads? Certainly many of the people I asked couldn't help, but chuckle whilst relaying their experiences mutilating these living creatures. Listening to these stories often left me feeling quite disturbed. If you are one of those persons that's been cruel to cane toads and felt a twang of guilt or regret afterwards, the good news is you're not a psychopath! But jokes aside, your family or friends may think it's acceptable behaviour, but it's animal cruelty no matter which way you spin it.

1. Narayan, E.J et al. (2011) Urinary corticosterone responses to capture and toe-clipping in the cane toad (Rhinella marina) indicate that toe-clipping is a stressor for amphibians. General and comparative endocrinology 174.2: pp. 238-245

Looking for a great team-building activity that's a loads of fun & gets people involved in conservation? Look no farther than True Blue Reptiles Cane Toad Busting, ask us how today! 

A Heavily Armoured Lizard with a Soft Heart

Blue-Tongues are truly endearing creatures in captivity. True Blue Reptiles keeps six of them, and each one has a totally unique personality; chalk and cheese. For this blog, we wanted to introduce you to one particular kind of blue-tongue, Tiliqua rugosa. Interestingly they're known by many different common names, such as; stumpy-tail, shingleback, bobtail, sleepy lizard, pinecone lizard, boggi and others.

Stumpy Lizard at Bowra, QLD

Now I'm not in the habit of anthropomorphising animals, but this lizard could teach some people a thing or two when it comes to true fidelity and faithfulness; they mate for life. Pairs of lizards can often be found basking on roads, a hazardous hobby even for one so robustly built. David Attenborough in his 'Life In Cold Blood' series (2008) explored the bond between pairs of lizards and suggested that the connection between them is so strong so that if one is run over, it's partner may wait by the body for days on end, you could almost say it was grieving.

They are relatively common in the arid parts of the Eastern States and from the coastal, shrublands and mallee woodlands of South and Western Australia. A handful of different subspecies occur, but the lizard that resides on Rottnest Island is particularly rare, and thought likely to become extinct (Wilson and Swan, 2008).

Amazingly they seek one another out each year and romp around together for a period that may last 2 months or more, during which time they will also breed. Unlike most blue-tongues, these lizards have few offspring, but those few babies are absolutely enormous, together the offspring may account for a third of the mothers weight. For such heavily built lizards, this method of producing just a few very well developed offspring may serve them well, as the babies have an improved chance of surviving to adulthood.

They are sometimes kept in captivity, but hardly ever thrive and rarely live long lives due to respiratory problems associated with humidity.

Attenborough, D. (2008) Life In Cold Blood, DVD. BBC

Wilson, Stephen K. and Swan, Gerry. (2008) A complete guide to reptiles of Australia, Sydney: New Holland Publishers

True Blue Reptiles keeps a large selection of Australian reptiles for educational demonstrations. To learn more click this link.

A horse is a horse, unless it's a turtle!

Oft-times people ask me about 'turtles', I've used inverted commas here, you'll soon understand why. It seems to me there is much confusion surrounding the terms; turtle, tortoise and terrapin. And while I agree the definitions are not clear, understanding these animal's lifestyles however, is actually fairly easy when you look at their bodies. Very few things in nature are a result of happenstance; an animal's physiology is a reflection of where it lives, and this article we highlight the different survival strategies of the turtle.

Irrespective of what you call them, these animals I'm discussing today are easily recognisable by the shells they wear on their backs. Shells are not going out of fashion anytime soon; in fact these animals have been lugging them around for millions of years. They are very successful (shells are) and have been modified in many ways, but I'm not going to spend much time talking about shells because in this article it's much ado about feet and flippers!

Green Sea Turtle at Lady Musgrave Island, QLD

We'll start with this guy (Right), or rather girl. How do I know it's a girl...bear with me it should become clear in just a bit. She is a kind of marine or sea turtle, I've even heard of these animals being described as 'true turtles'. She is completely aquatic, and thus has flippers rather than feet, all the better to swim with my dear! One of the facts I find particularly charming about these creatures is that despite their sea-faring bodies, they are obligated to land because the female lays her eggs ashore. The males however, spend only a few minutes in their entire lives (which may be 100 years or more) ashore. Those few minutes are spent desperately scurrying as newly hatched babies towards the sea, and they never come back to land ever again, they even mate in the ocean. The ocean has molded their bodies so dramatically that the business of laying eggs is extremely difficult (bordering on treacherous) for the female.

Galapagos Tortoise at Australia Zoo, QLD

Next up, is the handsome fella on the left. I'm referring to the tortoise, not the Joel. This is a giant Galapagos tortoise, and it is just that-a giant! It's the largest living tortoise; the very biggest individuals can weigh over 400 kg [1]. Similarly the Galapagos tortoise and it's smaller cousins are all land dwellers, and so it only makes perfect sense that they should have feet rather than flippers, and certainly they do. The Galapagos tortoise not unlike Darwin's finches show amazing divergences in form across different islands. The shape of one's shell is a reflection of the kind of diet a tortoise will have. Simply put, those with 'saddleback' shells can eat a variety of plant material including the foliage from low growing trees, whilst dome-shaped shells restrict a tortoise to eating only grass. The term 'tortoise' is perhaps the most well-accepted name given to these club-footed turtles that don't swim. However, because tortoises do not occur in Australia, some Aussie's have taken to calling some kinds of native turtles 'tortoises' as a way of distinguishing those that swim in the ocean from those that swim in freshwater.

The last kind of turtle, the freshwater turtle has clawed, webbed feet (with one exception), the best arrangement I'm sure you'd agree for an animal that needs to swim mostly and walk occasionally. The freshwater turtle perhaps causes the most confusion when it comes to terminology. Turtle, tortoise and terrapin have all been used at some point to refer to this creature. But whatever you choose to call it, the only important thing to remember is it's lifestyle has shaped it's body. We know the freshwater turtle is more closely related to a tortoise than to a marine turtle. Science explains from an evolutionary point of view that the freshwater turtle is in fact a tortoise that went back to living in the water.

Ultimately, the term 'turtle' describes all of these shelled reptiles discussed above, but sea turtles, tortoises and freshwater turtles live very different lives and now you know what's who, and who's what, I hope...

1. Ebersbach, V.K. (2001) The biology and husbandry of the Aldabra Giant Tortoise (Geochelone gigantea) and the Galapagos Giant Tortoise (Geochelone elephantopus) in captivity with special reference to reproduction. Tierärztliche Hochschule, Hannover

True Blue Reptiles' demonstrations for the classroom are a great way to get kids excited about their natural environment

Brown Tree Snakes in Guam: a place for everything and everything in it's place

Brown Tree Snake at Benaraby, QLD

US military transport carriers may have been the vessel used by Brown Tree Snakes (Boiga irregularis) to invade and successfully conquer Guam. Towards the end of World War II, these Australian native reptiles were busy with an assault of their own; the extirpation of Guams' native birds, bats and lizards.
        Dramatisations aside, this adaptive reptile did in fact wipe out the fauna of the island in just a few short years. Today only 9 native birds have survived the onslaught, every one of which is now considered extremely rare. In fact one endemic rail is now represented only by a small collection bred in captivity to ensure its survival (Fritts and Leasman-Tanner 2001). As a result of the extinction of the island's insectivorous birds, insects and spiders alike have radiated dramatically. For instance, there now exists forty times as many spiders on Guam than on neighbouring Islands (Braun 2012). It is quite clear that these animals are thriving in le of predation from birds. The forests of Guam are an eerie place now, devoid of bird song and blanketed in spider webs.
        As Australians, we're all familiar with the devastation that pests can have on the natural environment, but many of us underestimate the significant predatory power that snakes have in the ecosystem. The Brown Tree Snakes' in Guam have shown us that snakes are an important player in ecosystem dynamics. If we continue to preserve old ideologies that foster negative feelings towards snakes, we risk loosing them altogether and the consequences are likely to be profound.
        Although we are far from understanding the complex roles that the highly diverse and abundant snake fauna plays in ecosystem ecology, hopefully we can appreciate that snakes like all other organisms are apart of something greater, an all encompassing delicately balanced food web, that when tampered with can result in great cascading impacts that ultimately affect us too.

Braun, D. (2012) Spiders take control as birds fade from Guam. Retrieved from: http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2012/09/16/spiders-take-control-as-birds-fade-from-guam/

Fritts, T.H., and D. Leasman-Tanner. (2001) The Brown Treesnake on Guam: How the arrival of one invasive species damaged the ecology, commerce, electrical systems, and human health on Guam: A comprehensive information source. Retrieved from: http://www.fort.usgs.gov/resources/education/bts/bts_home.asp

Take advantage of True Blue Reptiles' 'Snake Awareness' demonstrations that help you to identify snakes, understand their behaviour, recognise their habitats and teach you snake bite first aid.