Bobtail Lizard Tiliqua Rugosa
The Bobtail lizard is one of the most well known and recognized lizards in Australia. They are one of the larger skinks in Australia and are commonly kept as pets. Bobtails are often known by other names such as shinglebacks, stumpy tails, pinecone lizard and boggi. They are a member of the Bluetongue lizard family and have four main sub species, T.R Rugosa, T.R Aspera , T.R Palarra and T.R Konowi.
They have a very robust body, a large triangular shaped head, a short, rounded and quite blunt ended tail and their scales are large and wrinkly with a dull gloss. The body colour is usually olive brown to black and has irregular pale bands on the body and tail. The head is often lighter in colour and can have orange flecks on the top and sides. Colours vary from location to location; they are seen in black, caramel, brown and also some stunning red and orange specimens from Western Australia. They can reach a length of 45cm and can live for over 20yrs.
They occur in dry to arid parts of southern Australia, but where there is winter rainfall, and in open forest, hummock grassland, shrublands and coastal dunes. Bobtails are terrestrial, living amongst vegetation and leaf litter, under fallen timber and in animal burrows.
They are commonly seen basking on the edges of black top roads on summer mornings. Bobtails have unique large scales that they use for gaining maximum heat while basking and it's also thought that the scales are used for camouflage.
It eats insects, carrion, flowers, fungi and other herbal type vegetation, and also berries and other fruits. Bobtails will quickly open their mouths and show their bright blue tongues when they feel threatened.
Pairs of Bobtails appear to bond for life and each spring they mate and on average produce two large young in summer.
Click on the caresheet for information aimed at their captive care requirements.