Baby blue-tongue

I have to put this at the top in case you don't feel like scrolling aaallllll the way down to the bottom. Thanks for all the response to MonoMonday yesterday. I am certain that I haven't been able to list all participants. BlipSearch has been down since yesterday, and as of five minutes ago, was still down. It's been such a wonderful response that there is a possibility that it will continue through March - if you are all interested.

Rani has been a very bad girl. And it's only by chance that I spotted her, outside the gym, diving into the bushes, and coming out again with "something" in her mouth.

I charged outside, and what should it be, but this adorable baby blue-tongue lizard. Completely unharmed (Thank the Good Lord), and was actually quite cross at the indignity of it all. He flattened his tiny body in an effort to look monstrous, and hissed and put out his blue tongue with the speed of light.

Rani was banished indoors, and her cat door locked - and this little beauty returned to his home, and no doubt anxious mum.

He's not very old, maybe a few days. I know I have at least three adults living in the back garden - the Daddy of them all is in the garden shed, and he'd have to be at least 18 inches long. He's a whopper. There's another that lives right down the bottom, in a storm water pipe, and the mother of this little chap lives right outside the gym window in another storm water pipe. We don't get to see them very often - hence all the excitement. They are truly desirable to have in the garden, and I deem it a privilege to have them - they eat snails!!

They are not aggressive and non-poisonous. Oh, thanks Rower for taking this for me - it's a bit hard to hold a lizard and take a photo at the same time.

Here's some more info for those who are interested.

Common or Eastern Blue-tongue Lizard (Tiliqua scincoides scincoides): this one is widespread in the south east of Australia and is grey with dark stripes. Blue tongues have somewhat unusual body proportions: a big head and long body with very short legs and small feet. Their evenly tapering tail is fat and shorter than the body.

Male lizards have a proportionally larger head than females, but the females are bigger overall.

The most noticeable feature of these lizards is the blue tongue inside the bright pink mouth.

Like all reptiles they do not produce any body heat. Their body temperature depends on the surrounding temperature and they can be found sun basking in the mornings or during cooler days. On cold days they remain inactive in their shelter. (They need a body temperature of 30 to 35°C to be active.)

Their diet consists of plant matter and small animals. That can be beetles, caterpillars, crickets, snails and even other small lizards. Anything they can get hold of will do. But they are not very fast, so they usually eat slower critters. They are very partial to slugs and snails.