A couple of years ago we adopted a pair of blotched bluetongue lizards. They had belonged to a friend who could no longer keep them and they had lived for the past four years in a glass vivarium. Their names were Fraggles and Spindleshanks and they were best friends.

We couldn’t bear to see them so confined so Michael constructed a lizard paradise. With plenty of leaf litter, rocks, plants and a hollow log for wintering in.

They would often lie together in the sunny spots.

Sadly, Fraggles passed away a few months later but Spindleshanks soldiered on without her companion.

I say ‘her’ because we had been told they were both female.

Not long after Fraggles’ passing, another blotched bluetongue appeared on our back verandah, looking very sorry for itself and covered in ticks. Michael removed the ticks and it seemed to be used to being handled. We kept it safe in the enclosure with Spindleshanks until it recovered.

They bonded straight away. He was very inquisitive and certainly not afraid of the human presence.

The longer, sunny days aided his recovery and all was happy in lizard land.

We didn’t realize quite how happy until five months later.

Blotched bluetongues can have up to fifteen young.

We were somewhat relieved to find just two.

We couldn’t bear to release them to become a meal for a kookaburra or tiger snake, they now reside at Wing’s Wildlife Park. http://wingswildlifepark.com.au