rudo1ph

The kids just came running in from the garden shouting mummy mummy there's a snake in the garden. :scared:

I hustled them inside, grabbed the dog, grabbed the cat (poor thing was asleep on a chair) and ran!!!

I then gave my oldest daughter a piggy back to investigate this snake!!!

Well as you can see from the picture it wasn't!!!! But can someone please tell me what it is - it's flippin' huge!!! Is it a blue tongue lizard?

Gave me quite a "moment"!!!

Rudi

Simone

oh wow!

No, not a bluetongue. Well, I think blue tongs allways have bob tails(short tails) and a more stout(?) face.
But, maybe, there's different sorts of blue tongues...

jad n rich

[QUOTE=Simone]oh wow!

It looks like a goanna, harmless unless you stick fingers up close they can hiss and bite. We have one that walks across the back yard every day, but this one is much bigger, its quite funny it often suns itself on the deck by the pool,but because it is bigger pom guests have mistaken it for a bloody crocodile lurking by the pool.

More concerning tho is your pinebark!!, its right up against your house which with most termite protecton systems will void them as it leads termites right up and into the house. Pine chip should never touch the house. But your in perth and I am guessing that like Vic and QLd you get termites there, so if you dont just ignore me

Simone

Ah yes a goanna of course!

Btw, I think Rudolph is in QLD(or Vic?)


(yes, we do get termites in Perth )

rudo1ph

I'm in NSW!!!

Just about 40 k's north west of Sydney!

ezzie

It certainly looks like it's a Blue Tongue. Albeit a bit of a skinny one. They fatten up over the summer months. They like bits of meat but handle with care as whilst they're lovely passive creatures...they do have teeth and can move surprisingly quickly. They're quite terrotorial so this one will probably stick around for a while - so watch the cat.

rudo1ph

General consensus at hubbys work amongst the Aussies there is that it is a Blue Tongue lizard. I looked up goannas and they seem to have stubbier legs......but I'm not exactly an expert!!

Thanks for the tip about the bark chip - was put there by the previous occupants......but will look into doing somethng about it.

jad n rich

Sorry wrong rudolph

ezzie

Rudi, you'd know about it if it was a goanna...they're bloomin huge. Watch out for goanna with big swollen tum and a missing cat!

jad n rich

Glad you didnt mind me mentioning it, see in that piccy the weephole (the missing mortar between bricks) the termites often set up home in pinebark and the weephole is the entrance to hundreds of meters of lunch, called the house frame

Mel Gibson

Sometimes in summer you see one in your garden or when you go for a walk in the bush. When l see one l get a shock at first thinking its a snake, then l say thank god its only a lizard, they look creepy but they are totally harmless unless you pick one up, they might give you a bite, but they have no venom.
:scared:

jad n rich

Ours is nearing 2 metres including the tail but surely he wasnt born that big horrible vision of eggs containg 2 meter goannas

Come to think of it do they lay eggs?

ezzie

hmmm...pretty sure they do lay eggs, although have never come across any. We have water dragons in our garden that get pretty big too - they look like craggy dinosaurs perched on the rocks. I love the goannas though, they can be real characters and don't they just love the scraps off the barby?

ABCDiamond

Heres a link to some lizard photos:
http://flyaqis.mov.vic.gov.au/cgi-bi...?form=bio_lizg

Select the one, or the group, that you want to look at, then "submit search"


This one is the Common or Eastern Blue-tongued Lizard
http://www.museum.vic.gov.au/bioinfo.../scinlive1.htm

Simone

I am never answering questions on here again
Wrong about it not being a blue tong, wrong about the state....

Will have to look at those pics later ABCD!
Different types of blue tongs then!!