Reptiles of Perry Lakes

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Tiliqua rugosa

Likely the best-known reptile in Australia. Also known as the shingleback on east coast 

• Size:  Large skink, up to 45 cm long with large, rough scales
• Colour:  Pattern of dark and pale scales on the body and tail. Head is orange to pale brown. Legs are pale
• Interesting fact: Slow moving and uses body structure to resist and confuse predators - has scales as armour and its bobtail appears to be a second head!
• Food:  Insects, snails, other invertebrates, carrion, flowers, fruit and berries. Yuk alert: Also feed on kangaroo and emu faeces
• Reproduction: Live young rather than eggs with litters of one to three
• Several subspecies exist including the Western bobtail (Tiliqua rugosa rugosa) which is distributed from near Kalbarri southwards and eastwards to the western edge of the Nullarbor Plain

Image © by Jiri Lochman, reproduced with permission

Menetia greyii 

Widespread in warmer Australian climates but does not occur in the Kimberley or the Great Sandy Desert

• Size: Small, about 90 mm long, including tail
• Limb facts: Four fingers and five toes
• Colour: Bronzy-brown or grey above, often with narrow lateral dark lines, and is pale below
• Activity: Diurnal (active during the day) and often seen scuttling in leaf litter or grass. Shelters under logs or rocks
• Food: Very small invertebrates
• Interesting fact: Perry Lakes population is probably identical to that in adjacent Bold Park, being exclusively female (parthenogenic) 
• Reproduction: Females become active and lay up to 3 eggs in the early spring. Hatching begins mid-summer

Image © by Jiri Lochman, reproduced with permission

Cryptoblepharus buchananii 

Very common in suburban Perth, often seen on fences and walls.  Only occur in Western Australia's south-west, wheatbelt, goldfields, Murchison, Gascoyne and Pilbara.  Not found in wetter, cooler parts near the south coast

• Colour: Grey or grey-brown above with pale lateral stripes and dark stripes on the sides.  Numerous pale spots on the top and sides of the body.  Whitish to pale cream below
• Food: Small invertebrates, including ants, spiders and termites
• Habitat: Usually arboreal – live on trees or other near-vertical surfaces and can run rapidly to catch prey or escape predators 
• Reproduction: Females lay several eggs in crevices
• Also known as Buchanan’s snake-eyed skink – snake-eyed because they do not have eyelids
• Interesting fact:  Genus name Cryptoblepharus means hidden eyelid in ancient Greek

Image © by Jiri Lochman, reproduced with permission

Christinus marmoratus

Common around houses and in gardens in the southwest of WA, including Perth. Also common in South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales, and some offshore islands

• Size: Adult average length of 50mm (without the tail)
• Weight: 2.5g approx.
• Activity: Nocturnal (active at night),  like most geckos. Hunting for food is undertaken at night 
• Daytime habitat: they shelter in crevices, under rocks and bark, and in burrows dug by other animals
• Interesting fact: Sometimes occur in aggregations (groups)
• Food: Insects

Tail dropping defence mechanism: 

• Adult tails contain fat reserves. When threatened, it may drop/separate from the body to aid escape. 
• Regeneration takes about 8 months
• Fully regenerated tails are characterised by an abrupt change in dorsal skin colouring and pattern from the point of the original fracture
• Hatchlings tails contain no fat and drop more readily than adults

Reproduction

• Mate in late summer to early autumn
• Females retain sperm over winter until fertilisation, which occurs in the late spring to early summer.
• Produce one clutch of two eggs each year, found in cool, moist places, including suburban gardens and pot plants

Image © by Jiri Lochman, reproduced with permission

Hemiergis quadrilineatus 

Common in Perth gardens. Only found in Western Australia’s sandy soils near coast from Lancelin to Bunbury

• Sometimes known as Mulch Skink; it's often found in mulch or soil
• Notable body shape: Long and slim
• Colour: Body is pale brown above and grey on the sides. Below it is often bright yellow or cream
• Interesting fact: Appears to ‘swim’,through soil and mulch – has rarely-used tiny limbs featuring only two toes 
• Reproduction: Produces live young, (like the larger Bobtail skink) with up to five developing embryos carried from fertilisation in spring and born late autumn

Image © by Jiri Lochman, reproduced with permission

Bush, B., Maryan, B., Brown-Cooper R. and Robinson D. (2007). Reptiles and Frogs in the bush: Southwestern Australia. University of Western Australia Press: Crawley

Cogger, HG. (2014). Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia. 7th edition. CSIRO Publishing: Collingwood, Victoria

How, R. A., Cowan, M. A., & and How, J. R. (2022). Decadal abundance patterns in an isolated urban reptile assemblage: Monitoring under a changing climate. Ecology and Evolution, 12, e9081. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9081

Wilson, S. and Swan, G. (2020). A complete guide to the reptiles of Australia. 6th edition. CSIRO Publishing: Collingwood, Victoria