Lizards can be beneficial to any garden as they eat many insect pests.
Large lizards like the Blue-tongue and Sleepy Lizard thrive on snails, slugs, grubs and beetles.
Our backyards can be a hazardous place for slow moving lizards like the blue tongue and sleepy lizard. One of the biggest threats is domestic cats and dogs.
Even when we mow our lawns the lawn mower and whipper-snipper can cause injury or death to these lizards.
These lizards also like to sun themselves on our driveways, then when we drive out they are sometimes not seen and they are run over by our car.
1. During the warmer months of the year lizards like to lay out in the sun to warm themselves up.
Before the lawn is mowed, you can walk around the grass to check for any lizards, so they don’t get run over by the lawn mower and get killed or injured.
2. If you use snail bait in your garden to kill snails and slugs, you will also kill the lizards in your garden. Lizards like the Blue Tongue Lizard and Sleepy Lizard like to eat snails and slugs. So you shouldn’t need to use snail bait.
3. Lizards like to hide; you can put logs, pieces of concrete or plastic pipe down in your garden on the ground for the lizards to hide in.
4. If you have a pet cat it needs to be kept inside or in a cat aviary so it doesn’t kill the lizards and other native animals like possums, birds and frogs in your area.
5. Blue -Tongue Lizards and Sleepy lizards like to eat raw or cooked eggs, tomatoes, strawberries, banana, and other soft fruits. They also like to eat dog and cat food (not fish variety), if you would like to give the lizard in your garden a treat occasionally.
*All Australia Native Animals are protected by the Fauna Protection Act. For more information call National Parks and Wildlife S.A ph: 81244972 or www.wildlifepermit.sa.gov.au