I was transplanting some agapanthus & dietes from another house and in the bag I had stored the plants found this little guy.
Different from the Buchanan’s snake-eyed skink you often see on fences and walls this is a two-toed earless skink (Hemiergis quadrilineata). One of the interesting things about Australian skinks is many of them have reduced numbers of legs and toes. This fella lives in leaf litter or under the sand so is quite snake-like but the head is characteristic lizard. They are pretty common in Perth backyards but not that often seen except if you disturb where they hang out. My son Liam had a good look but declined a hold and we let him go in his new home in my garden. So I have now conducted an inadvertent reptile translocation into my garden.
That’s now 3 species I have found in my garden – last week when setting up the night before for my 40th party I found this guy in my sons sandpit – a Marbled gecko (Christinus marmoratus). Common in many of the older suburbs around Perth. I see around lights in the evenings catching the insects that are attracted.
I will now have to get a picture of the Buchanan’s snake-eyed skink (Cryptoblepharus buchananii) which is the final species I have in my garden. Maybe I have more but its pretty stark landscape for wildlife..