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Wherever you are in Australia, when the weather's warm, chances are there are lizards that you could encourage into your garden.
Skinks, dragons, geckoes and blue-tongues all make great neighbours – not only will they protect your garden by eating up insects, some can take care of slugs and snails as well.
They need somewhere to hide, insects to eat and some nice sunny rocks to warm themselves up on or under. Lizards are cold-blooded and love to bask in the sun to get energy, or hide under rocks that stay warm through cold nights. (Rocks warm up in the sun to provide extra heat.)
Plant native grasses and mulch your garden with leaf litter. You’ll also need to include some rocks, large bits of bark or logs for shelter. If you don’t have any, don’t collect them from local bushland (where they’re already providing good habitat).
You can substitute some pieces of PVC pipe or leave some stacks of old bricks, tin roofing or old tiles to hide under.
Finally, make sure there are no local cats on the prowl and be sure to check for lizards before mowing the lawn!
By spreading leaf litter and composting your veggie scraps, you’ll attract insects and snails for lizards to eat. Groundcovers with berries make an extra treat.
Provide some water in a shallow bowl and in a protected area with shelter nearby.
If you include some sticks or rocks as a ramp so it’s easy to scuttle in and out, you won’t have to worry about any creatures getting trapped in the bowl.
Be sure to avoid using chemicals such as pesticides. Lizards can get poisoned if they eat a poisoned insect and if you get rid of all the insects with pesticides, lizards will have nothing to eat. Controlling insects is part of their job!
