I Make A New Friend!

by podblack on November 14, 2009

Let me know if you identify the species… should be easy for the Australians!

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{ 13 comments }

Bastard Sheep November 15, 2009 at 8:32 am: Bluetongue going by the still. Not able to watch the video until the private tag is removed.
podblack November 15, 2009 at 10:10 am: All fixed, sorry about that – it appears it goes public and then ‘defaults’ to private (NO idea why, must make sure that is checked in the future!) :/
Silver Fox November 15, 2009 at 1:12 pm: So, from the minimal research I’ve done, this is a skink – a lizard with short legs and not a snake? Very neat!
AndyD November 15, 2009 at 1:24 pm: Almost “whipper-snipped” a young one yesterday. Lucky for me it wasn’t a Tiger Snake (my wife ran into one of those a couple of week’s back then cold weather returned.) We now eagerly await the return of our Gould’s Monitors.
podblack November 15, 2009 at 2:09 pm: I just found a dugite whilst out cycling! Gorgeous colour, almost gold-sheen as he scrambled across the road – about 1.5 m in length. Welcome to reptile summer-time!
Daniel Keogh November 15, 2009 at 8:48 pm: Beauty of a blue-tongue.

We used to have one that hung around the house in Perth. They aren’t intrusive in any way but definitely don’t get bit by one – they don’t let go!
podblack November 15, 2009 at 9:16 pm: Oh yes, absolutely – lockjaw was the first thing I thought of when I noticed how ‘friendly’ the cats were with it!

Speaking of friendly, I really have to get back to reviewing TV shows…
Catherine L Donaldson November 15, 2009 at 11:05 pm: no happy jan! loved that furry lizard too!
Baka November 16, 2009 at 4:06 am: Wow, that’s really cool. You guys have such awesome fauna where you live! Our American reptiles are largely boring. What was that? A blue-tongue ‘what’? Also, you mentioned the bite and lockjaw. Are they venomous or do they carry bacteria in their saliva to give you lockjaw? Or, were you referring to a tendency they have to bite and not let go? He seemed a bit largish. The cats had best beware. Seems kind of dry where you are. Is it always like that?
Riayn November 16, 2009 at 2:26 pm: What a gorgeous blue tongue lizard! You are quite right that he can not live where there are curious cats about. He is much safer in the bush.
podblack November 16, 2009 at 7:44 pm: Baka has a billion questions! Will answer! *takes deep breath*

- That is known as a ‘blue tongue lizard’ or a ‘blue tongue skink’. This particular one appears to be one particular species – the Shingleback (Tiliqua rugosa). He isn’t smooth-skinned like some are and you can see how he didn’t shed his tail when being bugged by the cats, which is a fleeing-mechanism for some lizards. This particular sort is the one I’m most familiar with, although I have seen a smooth-skinned Western Blue-tongued Lizard when I was up north in Broome.

- his blue-tongue is used to taste the air and commonly seen when he’s bluffing (scaring off potential predators). He’s not venomous, but his bite is quite strong and usually done as a last resort – and I’d hate to have to hurt him to make him let go! The cats would most definitely get bitten and I’d suspect that their fighting skills would mean that the lizard would get badly scratched and bitten if they tried to get him to let go. So, sadly, even though he was after the snails in my garden (that’s another thing – I can’t trust that he won’t try snail-baits and get poisoned), he had to be relocated.

- He is rather large for his type, nearly 30cm in length, so I’d say he was an adult.

- My garden is currently undergoing renovation (that’s my excuse…) but I do like my fern garden and clearly it’s a bit of a target for lizards wanting somewhere to snuggle up and crunch a few snails. So, I’ll be doing a bit of gardening this month in order to tidy it all up and hopefully not find snakes like I have in the past!
Sean the Blogonaut November 17, 2009 at 1:33 pm: Ah Podblack, you beat me to it. The shinglebacks are a dime a dozen round here – most prevalent form of road kill. Our cats don’t go near them, we have four outside cats and 4 very friendly lizards. Mind you there are plenty of mice and rats which probably taste better than the lizard
Baka November 18, 2009 at 6:58 am: Thanks for answering the questions. Be careful of the snakes. I hear your snakes are a tad bit more dangerous than ours are. Take pictures if you can do so safely, though. I was a herpetologist as an undergrad, so I’m very familiar with the herps around here and the major groups globally, but I always love seeing the actual stuff you get to live with down under.

I said our American herps were boring. That’s not entirely true, of course. We have some really cool ones. They just aren’t quite as deadly as the versions you have. I have jumped in on top of 10-foot alligators and they just run away, the big babies. I hear that’s not really a good idea with salties. Plus, while rattlesnakes are dangerous, a healthy adult has a good chance of surviving an envenomation from those here in North America. I hear tell you have some serious venom in your native species, though.