Lizards and Snakes

We have a beautiful Lace Monitor living under the ceiling of our house. I am amazed when I see him running straight up the brick wall to the second story and then squeeze into the little space under the eaves. He thinks it is his home, and as we have not finshed building our house there are plenty of openings for him to use.

One hot day, when it must have be very warm under the tin roof, we sometimes find him, resting in the shade, on the verandah. As soon as I turn up he rushes away, his long claws making scratching noises on the timber floor, and then he will either dive off into the bush, or if he is close to the wall, he'll scramble
down the bricks.

He gave me a bad fright one day. I walked out the door and took him by surprise. I did not see him until he rushed towards me, leapt a metre onto the screen door beside me and rushed up into the roof. Now, I always look before I step outside.

I leave fruit and vegetable scraps out for the scrub turkeys but Lacey is not interested in eating vegetables. One day, someone threw half a cooked egg-white into the bird feeding patch and later I saw Lacey dig into the leaves, grab the egg-white and rush off. So now I know that he eats eggs, cooked or raw. I do not leave food out for Lacey as I am not sure I want to continue having him as a tenant.

I saw him attack a birds nest once. I did not like seeing it because the adult birds were so upset, but there was nothing I could do to save the baby birds. It is hard to understand why life is like this, it would be better if all lizards and snakes ate at McDonalds.

The space under the other end our our roof is occupied each winter by a carpet snake. He has been visiting us for four years, that we know about. We know when he has gone because he leaves a farewell gift of empty snakeskin hanging from the rafters, usually in September.

One year we saw him arrive. He coiled himself around the verandah post and slowly eased his way up to the rafters. All our attempts to pull him off or discourage him failed and we realised that until we block off the hole we will have to accept that he considers it his winter home.

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