Lounging Lizards
New Zealand is home to 126 species of skinks and geckos. To keep them safe in your garden, make sure you are trapping key predators rats and mice. You can also whip up this habitat for them:
- Gather materials like old concrete, stones, bricks, dead wood or corrugated iron; and a few native plants such as grasses, and plants with branches that tangle to make great hiding spots - eg coprosma, muehlenbeckia.
- Choose a warm dry sunny area. Stack materials loosely, to allow space for the lizards to squeeze through, and provide a habitat for their food sources - spiders, slaters, beetles. yum!
- Plant your plants densely, leaving open rockery areas for basking in the sun.
- Sit back and wait! Remember lizards are protected, so don't be tempted to pick them up. Leave out a dish of water and some berries to show your aroha, and keep your pets away!
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