1.
mid-afternoon sun there
is a piece of corrugated
iron approximately 1m by
0.7m which heats up very
quickly and is a favoured
basking site. I have placed
a series of paving tiles
leading from the gate to
the food and water bowls
and these are also used
by the lizards for basking.
The enclosure receives sun
from approximately 8:00
a.m. until about 7:30 p.m.
each day during spring and
summer.
Behaviour.
of the enclosure has a
small plastic picnic table
(approximately 0.9m wide
by 1.2m long and 1m high)
situated so as not to allow
rain or sun to penetrate
underneath it. Substrate
is piled up significantly
higher under the picnic
table, as it is a favourite
place for the lizards to
spend the night and
overwinter. Hides are filled
with pine needles and/
or sugar cane mulch and
these substrates are also
distributed throughout the
enclosure.
At opposite ends of the
enclosure there are two
easy-to-access water bowls
in the form of plastic pot
plant water trays half-filled
It took a couple of weeks
before they began feeding,
but once they decided
to eat, they didn’t stop!
with small pebbles to allow
the lizards to walk across
them without having to
swim. On the side of the
enclosure that receives
the bulk of morning and
1. Heaped pine bark under the plastic
picnic table where the blue-tongues like
to spend the night and overwinter.
2. Two gravid females enjoying the
warmth of a dark-coloured paver on an
overcast day.
3. ‘Bluey’ and ‘Jenny’ mating. They stayed
like this for some six hours.
Because my blue-tongues
are kept outdoors in
their natural Tasmanian
environment, during the
winter they are obliged to
enter a period of torpor
for approximately five
months. In 2014, this
extended from about mid-
April until mid-September.
During this time they were
all completely inactive,
sleeping deep beneath the
substrate under the picnic
table.
The males were first to
emerge from torpor and
all three were observed
at least four days before
the appearance of the
first female (Nessi). It
took a couple of weeks
before the females were
even remotely interested
in mating. It should also
be noted that both sexes
took a couple of weeks
before they began feeding,
but once they decided
to eat, they didn’t stop.
My blue-tongues are
fed every four days with
a roughly 50:50 mix of
meat and fruit/vegetables
comprising a small amount
of tinned puppy food and
commercially-produced
blue-tongue pellets with
a salad mix of diced
lettuce, grated carrot and
cucumber, as well as a
lightly-beaten raw egg.
When they are abundant,
garden snails are also
added to the menu.
The first time mating
behaviour was observed
in early October, when the
weather was becoming
2.