How to Build a Backyard Habitat for NZ Lizards and Skinks
While attracting native birds to your backyard has long been a favorite pastime for Kiwi gardeners, there is a rising and incredibly rewarding trend championed by the Department of Conservation (DOC): creating sanctuaries for our native reptiles. If you want to know how to attract lizards to garden nz style, you are in the right place. Creating a safe, thriving environment for these fascinating creatures is a wonderful way to support New Zealand’s unique biodiversity.
Common Lizards and Skinks in New Zealand Gardens
New Zealand is home to a unique array of native skinks and geckos, many of which are found nowhere else in the world. Depending on where you live, you might find a few different species taking up residence in your garden:
- Copper Skink (Oligosoma aeneum): The most common skink found in North Island gardens. They are small, copper-colored, and love darting through thick ground cover.
- Ornate Skink (Oligosoma ornatum): Often found in damp, heavily vegetated areas and leaf litter. They have distinct tear-drop markings below their eyes.
- Southern Grass Skink (Oligosoma polychroma): Frequently spotted darting through grass and low vegetation in the South Island and lower North Island.
- Raukawa Gecko / Common Gecko (Woodworthia maculata): These geckos are common throughout the country. Unlike skinks, which generally blink, geckos cannot blink and will use their tongue to lick their eyes clean!
Creating the Perfect NZ Native Skink Habitat
Building a successful nz native skink habitat requires a balance of warmth, shelter, and a steady food supply. Skinks and geckos are cold-blooded, meaning they rely on their environment to regulate their body temperature.
- Provide Sun and Shelter: Create “lizard lounges” by loosely stacking rocks, untreated timber, terracotta pipes, or pieces of corrugated iron in sunny spots. These materials absorb the sun’s heat, providing a warm place for lizards to bask while giving them tight crevices to hide in when startled.
- Leave the Leaf Litter: Don’t be too tidy! A thick layer of mulch, twigs, and leaf litter provides a hunting ground rich in insects, spiders, and slaters—the primary diet for our native reptiles.
- Ensure a Water Source: A shallow dish of water with a few pebbles in it (so insects and lizards don’t drown) is highly appreciated during the dry summer months.
Lizard Friendly Plants To Attract Lizards To Garden NZ
Integrating lizard friendly plants nz into your landscaping is crucial. Lizards need dense foliage to hide from predators, as well as plants that attract insects or produce berries and nectar.
- Tussocks and Grasses: Native grasses like Carex secta or Silver Tussock (Poa cita) provide excellent dense ground cover for skinks to hide and hunt in.
- Thick Ground Covers: Muehlenbeckia complexa (Pohuehue) and Renga renga lilies (Arthropodium cirratum) create a tangled, protective mat that lizards love.
- Berry and Nectar Producers: Coprosma species (like Coprosma repens), Kawakawa, and Manuka are fantastic for providing food, both directly through berries and nectar, and indirectly by attracting insects.
Predator Control: How to Protect Garden Skinks
Knowing how to protect garden skinks is just as important as attracting them. New Zealand lizards are highly vulnerable to introduced mammalian predators. To help your backyard population thrive, you must actively manage these threats:
- Manage Domestic Cats: Cats are the number one threat to backyard lizards. You can protect your resident skinks and geckos by keeping your cat contained inside, especially at night, or by building an outdoor “catio.” A catio allows your feline friend to enjoy the fresh air without turning your backyard habitat into a hunting ground. A brightly colored collar with a bell can also help reduce hunting success if they must roam.
- Control Rats and Mice: Rodents will readily eat both lizards and their eggs. Set up DOC-approved snap traps in wooden tunnels around the perimeter of your garden to keep rodent numbers down safely.
- Deter Hedgehogs and Mustelids: Hedgehogs are voracious predators of ground-dwelling skinks. Ensure your trapping regimen includes traps sized for hedgehogs, stoats, and weasels to give your native reptiles a fighting chance.
By providing the right shelter, planting native vegetation, and keeping predators at bay, you can transform your backyard into a bustling sanctuary for New Zealand’s incredible, prehistoric reptiles.