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Our wonderful Myall area is home to many animals besides our iconic koalas. 

Goanna checking the bird box By Adrienne Ingram

Goanna in my garden tree By Kit Streamer

Goanna hunting by Adrienne Ingram

Reptiles might not be as cute or colourful as some, but they are just as important.

Red bellied snake Australia Zoo

Diamond python by Adrienne Ingram

Green tree snake

Death adder

Brown snake by Adrienne Ingram

Blue tongue lizard

We share our home with a variety of cold and scaly creatures  which are important in the scheme of nature.
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By Kit Streamer
Winda Woppa, Hawks Nest
January 2022
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Many gardens in Tea Gardens and Hawks Nest have varieties of skinks, which are small brown or grey lizards having different markings depending on the species, growing up to 10 cm in length.
 
Also included in this group is the blue tongue lizard, the largest member of the skink family which are great at eating garden snails and slugs.
 
My yard in Hawks Nest has regular visits from  lace monitors or tree goannas - ​Varanus varies .
​There is also a hatchling goanna that is only about 30cm long. 
 
Goannas can grow to 2 m long, weigh14 Kgs and live up to 40 years in the wild. It is advisable to leave them alone as their claws are huge and their bite mildly poisonous. 
 
As well as scavenging for food, goannas will steal birds’ eggs and nestlings. I once witnessed a large goanna raid a wood duck nest in a tree hollow.
 
Of course, there are also many snakes locally.
On Winda Woppa I have seen diamond pythons, brown snakes, red bellied black snakes and death adders. 
 
Here are a few interesting facts about each of them.

• The death adder is native to Australia and is one of the most venomous land snakes in Australia.

  It is found widespread but is facing an increased threat from the Australian cane toad invasion. 

• The red-bellied black snake can sometimes give birth to up to 40 live snakes at one time.

It is not aggressive and will usually retreat before attacking, although when it is threatened it will raise its body from the ground flatten its neck, hiss and perform a series of strikes.
There have been no recorded human deaths as a result of a Red-bellied Black Snake bite to date in Australia.

• The diamond python may grow up to three metres long.

 A roof cavity can make the perfect place for a female to wait for potential mates to find her but there is no reason to remove these pythons.
 As well as being non-venomous, the diamond python is one of the most placid snakes in Australia, rarely hissing or threatening people.
They are most active from November to December when the female lay eggs in a nest

• The Eastern brown snake is responsible for most deaths caused by snakebite in Australia. 

 Although, with the advent of efficient first-aid treatment and antivenom, there are now usually only one or two deaths per year. They can grow up to two metres long and, on hot days, can move at surprising speed. 

• The green tree snake has no fangs and no venom. 

 They are very reluctant to bite and would rather slither away. If provoked, a green tree snake will rise up, inflate its throat and body, and make a stink from its anal glands – so best not to get too close.
Their skin is not slimy but dry and is made up of keratin, which is the same material that makes up human hair and fingernails.
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 Whilst kayaking, I rescued a common tree snake from the middle of the Myall River by lifting it out of the water with my paddle and placing it at the front of the kayak.

I could tell it was unimpressed because it’s usually dull olive brown skin lit up with flecks of iridescent blue scales! 
 
So, it not just the cute and cuddlies that live here.