Out & About With Paluma’s Reptiles

Well, my weekend at Paluma was a very eventful one, thanks to the local reptilian population. No doubt the recent warm and dry weather within our little village has contributed to the flurry of activity for the local lizards and snakes.

It all started last week when Len Cook told me that he has a new tenant at ‘Len Cook Ceramics’ on Lennox Crescent. Indeed, a rather large goanna has recently appeared and made Len’s garden its home and regular foraging ground. Len has spotted the goanna daily over almost a week. It’s favourite place to forage is at the large concrete drain along the front of Len’s block. Len has named his new friend ‘Leonard the Lizard’.

Len (Cook that is) notes that he has not seen goannas in the village in the past, although Jennie Robinson told me that she has occasionally seen them at the back of her garden at the western end of the village. We were speculating as to whether the recent dry conditions might be contributing to this individual foraging over a broader territory, or whether it might be seeking water.

‘Leonard the Lizard’ appears to be a fine specimen of Varanus varius (Lace monitor). These ground-dwelling goannas are fairly common in the wet tropics region (https://www.wettropics.gov.au/dragons-and-monitors). They are diurnal and their diet includes insects, lizards, mice and snakes. Monitors are reported as being immune to most snake venom and they will readily kill and eat venomous snake species.

Editors note: (May 1, 2020)
Recent correspondence from a herpetologist at James Cook University indicates that Leonard is in fact a different species (Varanus panoptes – Yellow-spotted Monitor)

Which leads me to the second reptilian encounter of my weekend………

Late on Saturday afternoon I encountered a rather large red-bellied black snake in my garage, happily checking out my gum boots . After I almost trod on it, it retreated to find refuge under some gear stored in the garage. A quick call to Len (Cook, not the Lizard) and he arrived with sturdy rake in hand to deal with the invader. The snake was expertly wrangled by Len with rake and wheelie bin and marshalled out of the garage and back into the garden. I, of course expertly directed the whole operation from a suitable but distant vantage point. Many thanks to Len Cook for his fine herpetological wrangling skills, which he seemingly took in his stride.

Lessons Learnt by me: 1). Don’t leave the garage door open. 2). Clean up the garage and reduce potential snake hiding places, and 3). NEVER put my gum boots on without first taking a look inside to see what might be in there!

Saturday evening the close encounters with reptiles continued, but to my considerable delight! In my laundry I found the most incredible specimen that I have ever seen of the Northern Leaf-Tailed Gecko. This lizard is an absolute stunner!

The Northern Leaf-Tailed Gecko (Saltuarius cornutus) is described as a large gecko with a triangular head, narrow neck and a broad, leaf-like tail. Unlike most geckos it has clawed toes rather than adhesive discs on its feet. The dorsal surface of the skin has sharply pointed tubercles (horns). All of these features are clearly seen in my photograph.

These geckos are nocturnal tree dwellers and they prey on large insects, spiders and cockroaches. Their colouration usually depends on their habitat and they are experts at camouflage. Because I disturbed this specimen at night by switching on the light, it clearly did not have time to adapt its colouration (camouflage) to the surroundings (the grey concrete laundry floor). I am pleased to report that it reappeared on Sunday night so it would seem the laundry and garage are now part of its regular foraging territory.

Most exciting of all is that the literature I have read indicates that the average body length of these geckoes is about 14 cm. This guy is therefore a giant at very close to 20 cm in length. It even allowed me to take some measurements as proof (see photo below). Perhaps I have found a new sub-species of this gecko? The Giant Paluma Northern Leaf-Tailed Gecko? Sounds very good to me!

You just gotta love where we live!

Text by Michele Bird. Photos by Len Cook and Michele Bird.