We have about two or three regular adult bobtail lizards that move between us and the neighbouring houses, where there is still enough bush and cover for them to survive. They have been around for several years in our suburban Perth garden and I've photographed them before. Bobtails hibernate during the winter and appear again in spring and I presume we are seeing the same adults each year. Sadly, last spring I found a dead adult bobtail in our garden. But later at least two remaining ones were around again. Bobtails face a number of threats: drowning in swimming pools, getting hit by cars and now there is a type of bobtail influenza that is infecting them.
So it was a wonderful surprise to find this little "bobby" which is which proves that they are breeding in surburbia. He seems to be alone and has grown a bit over the last few weeks and is now about 13 cm long with striking markings. As the weather is starting to cool now this one will probably crawl under a pile of leaves and sleep out the winter. Hopefully we see him again in spring.
