The Lizard Lounge
Creating a Lizard Lounge
All of Britain’s reptile species are suffering from loss of habitat. Our reptiles have simple but particular needs and if you supply those all in one place then they’ll more than likely move in. Lizards eat insects, spiders, worms and slugs.
We’ve called it a lizard lounge but it could equally well be a slow worm salon or a grass snake snuggery as it will attract any of our reptiles.
It doesn’t have to be very big but as reptiles are cold blooded the lizard lounge should be in a warm, sunny spot.
It can be as simple as a pile of stones or you can go all the way and create a 5* lounge with all the mod cons or anything in between.
Food
Get a small pile of old logs, half bury some of them in the ground so that they stay damp, and as they rot they’ll attract spiders, beetles, worms, woodlice, millipedes, snails and slugs – all perfect lizard food.
Shelter
They’ll like the spaces in between the lumps of wood but a pile of rocks with lots of gaps between gives them, and lots of other creatures, somewhere solid, safe, dry and secure to hide, sleep and hibernate in.
Sunbathing
As they’re cold blooded they’ll need to warm up in the mornings. If your rock pile has got some nice flat stones they’ll use them to bask on as they absorb the warmth of the sun. If you have room to position a piece of corrugated iron or ideally a piece of onduline (corrugated bituminous roof sheet - they prefer it as doesn’t get so hot to the touch) close by, that’ll be loved by the slow worms and grass snakes in particular.
Keeping Safe
The position of your lounge is very important as lizards won’t go far from long grass, a hedge or other thick vegetation that they can escape into. Because of this the rock pile, and particularly their sun terrace, should have vegetation immediately behind it. The challenge is to keep the lounge open to the sun by stopping that vegetation growing out over it.
Getting water
A pond nearby, which can be no bigger than a small washing up bowl with lots of rocks in it, will give them water and attract other creatures for them to munch on.
Grass snakes
If you think you might get grass snakes then a nearby heap of grass cuttings, leaf litter and other garden waste will provide the heat-generating mound of organic material that they’re looking for to lay their eggs in. They’ll lay 30-40 eggs in April and the young will hatch ten weeks later.
Hibernaculum
Can be combined with a hibernaculum - an underground chamber filled with logs, branches, bricks and rocks, leaving plenty of gaps in between, with a couple of entrance tubes and soil piled on top for reptiles and amphibians to overwinter in.
And if you want to create the perfect habitat for our amphibeans, like frogs, toads and newts, then all you need is exactly the same thing, but in the shade – they like damp while our reptiles mostly like it dry.
If you want to go all the way and take care of their winter quarters as well then here’s a great description of how to build a hibernaculum:
