Backyard Buddies: Blue-Tongued Babies

Skip to content

28 Jan 2011

It’s February and Blue-tongue babies are now old enough to be out and about foraging for themselves. This is the riskiest time in a Blue-tongued Lizard’s life as they haven’t yet developed thick, bony plates under their scales like adult lizards. They can be easy prey to cats or other domestic pets, so they need our help.

Backyard Buddies is a free program run by Australia’s Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife. Each month, you get a Backyard Buddies email (B-mail) with tips to make your backyard inviting and safe for native animals. Get a free Blue-tongue factsheet and become a Buddy at www.backyardbuddies.net.au.

“In NSW the Shingleback and the Eastern Blue-tongues are common. They give birth from August to April. Shinglebacks can have up to 1-3 live babies at a time and Eastern Blue-tongues up to 25, but most won’t survive to adulthood because of predation.” said Ms Leonie Gale, CEO of the Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife.

By making gardens safer places for Blue-tongues, we can help increase their populations in the wild.”

“Blue-tongues are all bluff when it comes to defending themselves. They aren’t dangerous but when threatened they will flatten themselves out to look big, will open their bright pink mouth to show their vibrant blue tongue, and will hiss loudly,” said Ms Gale.

“You can help Blue-tongues by keeping your cat indoors. Cats can pounce before lizards are even aware they’re being watched. Many native animals don’t stand a chance against cats.”

“You can also feed your pets inside or take their bowls into the house after they’re done. Blue-tongues are cheeky fellers that will scamper over to snatch leftover food from your pets’ bowls – but while they’re at it they’re vulnerable to attack from birds or pets.” Ms Gale said.

Blue-tongues are cold blooded reptiles that need to sunbake to get their body temperatures up. If they haven’t warmed up for the day they can be sluggish and inactive. They won’t have a chance of escaping if a threat appears.

“Blue-tongues are a great addition to your garden as a pest removalist,” said Ms Gale. “They love to eat slugs and snails. Don’t put snail bait out or you could also be endangering your local Blue-tongue. If it eats a poisoned snail, it could also die.”

To encourage Blue-tongues into your garden plant lots of low growing shrugs, use leaf litter for mulch, and provide rocks and logs for them to sun themselves on and hide under.

What can you do to be a buddy to our Blue-Tongued Lizard?

Keep your pet indoors and feed them inside the house.
Don’t use pesticides in your garden as they could affect species other than the one you’re trying to get rid of.
Grow native plant species and animal friendly shrubs in your garden. Ask at your local nursery to find out what kind of locally native plants will attract animals.
Check for Blue-tongues before mowing the lawn or reversing your car, as they won’t move out of the way. They'll hiss at you instead!
If you need to move a Blue-tongue out of the way, gently wrap a towel around it or sweep it into a box and move it to a safer space. Blue-tongues aren’t aggressive or venomous, but they can latch onto your finger and refuse to let go if they aren’t happy.
Don't remove branches or bricks once blue-tongues have started using them.
Visit www.backyardbuddies.net.au/Buddy_in_trouble.html if you find an injured Blue-tongue.
Watch out when driving as Blue-tongues can often be found crossing the road in pairs. Sometimes the male follows the female (he has an out of proportion head, and she is the bigger one), or sometimes the male carries the female across the road. What a gentleman!

A few more things about Australia's Blue-Tongued Lizards

Blue-tongues can live for up to 30 years.
Blue-tongues store water and nutrients in their tails. They can drop their tail to distract a predator. It will take them at least a year to regrow it.
The Blue-tongues’ bluff will frighten most dogs, but cats often pounce before Blue-tongues have a chance to look scary.
There are six species of Blue-tongues in Australia and most grow up to 60 cm long.
Blue-tongues don’t chew – they hold a snail in their mouth and crush it slowly.
As well as snails, Blue-tongues like to eat flowers and fruit.

Backyard Buddies: Blue-Tongued Babies

In the Media