Eastern Blue-tongue: Museum Victoria

Eastern Blue-tongue Lizard Tiliqua scincoides

Lizards of Victoria series

Identification

The Eastern Blue-tongue, Tiliqua scincoides, is greyish brown, with between 7 and 10 darker bars across the body. It is a large skink, growing to a snout vent length of 290 mm.

Photo of Eastern Blue-tongue, Tiliqua scincoides

Common Blue-Tongue Lizard
Photographer: Peter Robertson / Source: Wildlife Profiles Pty. Ltd.

Distribution and habitat

Although more common on the basalt plains to the west of Melbourne, Common Blue-tongue Lizards are also found on the Mornington Peninsula. They are usually found basking or sheltering under cover such as fallen logs, or discarded rubbish such as timber or iron.

Biology

Their diet consists of both plant and animal material, such as snails. Females give birth to as many as 25 live young in a litter.

Comments (37)

sort by: most popular; newest; oldest

2 days ago, my blue tongue gave birth to only one baby.Will there be more babies or just that one?

Hi Hayley,

Blue Tongues regularly produce 20 or more offspring per birthing episode, so it's understandable that you're wondering about the appearance of a single offspring. This can sometimes happen due to several reasons - the most common seem to be low sperm production from the male, or a female at the start of her reproductive life, or one at the end of her reproductive life.

It's possible that more offspring may appear, and if they do so it will happen over the next week or so. But the most likely scenario is that no more will be born.

Hi there, I'm Chloe and i was just wondering if you could keep common garden skinks with a blue tongue lizard. I keep 1 blue tongue in a 1m x 1m tank and i have 4 garden skinks that i'd like to put in there but I wasn't sure if they'd get eaten or not, Thanks Chloe

Hi Chloe - we checked with our Live Exhibits experts about this, and they have responded as follows:

Garden Skinks and Blue Tongue Lizards do not do well together. Whilst a Blue Tongue will live in peace with larger lizards such as dragons, it will continually chase the skinks around and, if it does not kill them, will stress them and probably make them drop their tails.

iv got a few questions on blue tongues can they eat rice? and also can they eat dog food? if you got a big cage to put them in could they live with bearded dragons and shingle backs? will two adult brothers fight and can they hurt each other? please could you answer some of my questions as soon as possible

Hi Stella - we ran these questions past our live exhibits crew, who have responded as follows:

Blue Tongues in captivity will happily eat dry and wet dog food but they should not be fed cat food. There is also no good reason to feed them rice. If the enclosure is of a suitable size, Blue Tongues will live in harmony with Bearded Dragons and Shinglebacks, but male Blue Tongues should not be housed together as they will usually injure and even kill each other in a short time.

Please also be aware that reptiles in captivity should be sourced from a breeder, who should be able to provide husbandry advice, and that many species require a permit to be kept in captivity.

im getting 2 baby blue tongues soon and im picking the ones i want out of 8 is there any way to tell a female and a male? they are young and about 3 weeks old

Hi again Stella - we ran this past our Live Exhibits team also, here's their reply:

Blue Tongue Lizards cannot be sexed with any accuracy until they are at least one year old, often older. Even then sexing can be difficult and/or unreliable, but it is definitely not possible to sex a three week old lizard.

i have a pet blue tongue lizard (from sydney) and i just caught a big grasshopper , but it is about the size of my pinky and the blue tongue lizard is pretty small can they eat just killed grass hoppers? and its a big jumper so i dont want to put it in the tank and it jump out. help please !!!!!

usually if the grasshopper is the size of its head or smaller they can eat it if you mix the grasshopper with other foods it will eat it if it is dead

I was wondering is it ok to keep a male and female Eastern blue tongue lizard together. Im sure i have a boy cause there were these sperm plugs in its poo

Hi Lyn, Blue Tongue lizards don't mate for life - they will mate with any available partner, which generally changes from year to year. Lizards such as Shinglebacks will mate with the same partner each year, but will seek out others if their partner dies.

You can either move the Blue Tongue to another suitable location now (100m away should be enough), or when you're ready to have the pool area redone, move the Blue Tongue to another part of the garden and it should seek out somewhere else to shelter. Blue Tongue lizards are not generally tied to any particular location and will move if it becomes uninhabitable.

I have just found a blue tongue living under the side of our swimming pool and a couple of weeks ago, found a dead one floating in our swimming pool - until then, we had no idea we had blue-tongues living on our property. I feel very sad to read that they mate for life and would be happy to have the living one stay with us but, unfortunately, we are having the whole pool area concreted in a few weeks so I am not sure what would be the best thing to do for the blue-tongue? I have heard they should be taken right out of the area or they will return but there will be nothing for the poor thing to return to. Any ideas from anyone?

Hi, We recently moved to Glenroy in Victoria and I had a heart attack when I saw my 2 1/2 year old pointing at a 'snake' under the apple tree one day last week (when it went over 30C). We have two (mainly indoor) cats, but am worried about our son. He is a good listener, but not sure what to do about the 'snake' which I am now sure is a blue tongue (just found the picture on the web). Am worried about my son. Should I be asking Council to remove the lizards? I am convinced they live in the woodpile in the garden (if there are more...) Thank you!

Hi I have 2 a blue tongues that have been with each other for 7 years but sadly one died not long ago and the other will not come out from under his log and is very scared of me what should i do? thanks

Hi Harrison, we forwarded your query to the Manager of our Live Exhibits team, and he's responded as follows:

As long as you consider the Blue Tongue to be healthy, it might just need some time to adjust to the new arrangements. With regular attention to the lizard and careful handling, it should get used to your presence once again. If you’re concerned about the lizard’s health, then a trip to the vet might help the situation.

Hope this helps

Hi Seth, unfortunately a lump on a lizard's back is there for life. As the ossification is composed of bone or bone-like material, no amount of massage or any other treatment will remove or reduce it. The good news is that a lump like this doesn't seem to bother the lizards too much.

Hi, I have an eastern blue tongue lizard and it has a lump on its back. It got this lump from lack of calcium in his early stages this happened when the previous owners owned it. Is there any way to get it back into original shape.

Hi, It seems that our blotched Blue Tongue lizard is trying to mate this our Eastern Blue tongue. (May have succeeded) They are both about 18 months old, and have been together since babies. Is this possible that they can mate and have healthy babies?

Hi Sue; we checked with our Live Exhibits manager on this, and his response is as follows:

It is possible for Blotched and Eastern Blue Tongue Lizards to mate and produce offspring, but this is an extremely rare occurrence and we don’t know of any cases where the offspring have survived to adulthood. It’s possible for a number of members of the Blue Tongue genus (Tiliqua) to hybridise, including Stumpy Tails, but it’s very rare. It would also be unusual if your lizards have mated at this time of year, even if they are being kept warm inside. So mating in this case is possible but high unlikely.

Hope this helps

Hi. My daughter has a blue tongue and we have recently built an outdoor compound to house it. It has rocks and shelters and grassy ground cover. I gather from some of the other posts that it should be okay for the lizard to exist outdoor... but it is getting cold at night... Will it survive a Victorian (Geelong) winter? It's been hibernating for the last few weeks. Do we still feed it and how often? Cheers. Mick

Hi Mick- we've posed this to our Live Exhibits team, who have the following reply for you:

Because blue tongue lizards occur naturally in Victoria, they are more than capable of coping with the seasons. During winter when it hibernates (or brumates, as it is sometimes referred to in reptiles), its activity and metabolism is greatly reduced, and it’s designed not to move around or feed during this period. If the lizard does eat, the body can’t digest the food and it may sit in the lizard’s stomach until the weather becomes warm enough to digest it, probably not until Spring, which can cause all sorts of problems. So the best option is to leave the blue tongue alone until it appears of its own volition later in the year

Hope this helps

Hi, I recently discovered an Eastern Blue Tongue lizard is living in our tool shed, but I am not sure how long it has been there; I have been feeding it snails from my garden. I live in Qld. It refuses to leave the shed, even when I leave the door to the shed open all day; any sugestions re. how to encourage it to vacate the shed for the garden instead? As I can't always leave the shed door open.

Hello Nora,

If the Blue Tongue has been living in the shed for some time, it's fairly certain it is able to get in and out as it pleases, probably through a crack in the base of the shed. Blue Tongue lizards can squeeze through surprisingly small holes. In that case the Blue Tongue won't leave through the open door when it has a more protected means of getting in and out. A shed can be an excellent shelter for Blue Tongues and it is unlikely to leave of its own accord.

If there really is no other means of entry for the lizard, the only way to remove it is to pick it up and place it in the garden. They defend themselves by hissing and other aggressive gestures, but they are harmless if you keep away from the mouth (and even then they are fairly harmless).

If there is another means of entry, the only way to keep it out is to find the entrance and block it, then physically remove the lizard.

But it sounds like an excellent example of peaceful coexistence in a backyard.

I have found a couple of these in my back yard. I live very close to Melbourne airport

Hi Justin,
We forwarded your question to Museum Victoria’s Live Exhibits team who provided us with the following information:
There are many internet sites solely dedicated to the sale of reptiles. A quick web search should provide you with plenty to choose from. Most reptile forums also have a for sale section that may be useful. Other places to try are some of the local pet shops that deal in reptiles.
As it is domesticated it should not be released back into the wild.

I have a domesticated Eastern Blue Tongue lizard that I now cannot look after, unfortunately. Where is the best place I can take her/him? Would be keen to sell her/him, but would prefer that it definitely goes to a good home.

There has been a large lizard living around our house for about a year. I think its probably a blue tongue, though its markings aren't quite like those shown for either the Eastern or Splotchy, and it is bigger than both too. I live near the Cathedral Range in NE victoria.

I was told that the dark stripe blue tongue were females & the light stripe were males.

My eastern blue tounge is now 520mm long and only 5 months old why is it bigger than it says on this page and it has a small head female or male. If i get a boy is it smaller and fatter than a girl and is it allowed to breed and sell.

can a female blue tongue lizard have babies without a male

Hi Anne, Blue tongues are omnivores and will eat a wide range of food – from fruit, veggies and any animals that they can get their mouths around. In a normal situation I would imagine that a frog can jump away far more quickly than a blue tongue lizard can hunt so they should be safe living in your courtyard.

I have found one of these at Castlemaine, Vic. in my large courtyard that is surrounded by 15 ft high stone walls I have often seen a leggless lizard and a frog. The lizard wont eat the frog will it? I love them all'

Is their tongue blue because of their chemical make-up just as human's tongues are red because of the iron in the body? My students have asked this question and would love an answer.

Hi Britt, blue tongues are very difficult to sex – males tend to have a slightly broader head but this is not reliable – there is no easy way to sex them.

Please be aware that you need a permit from Department of Sustainability and Environment to catch a blue tongue, as they are native animals. For details on permits see their website at www.dse.vic.gov.au.

i recently caught a blue tongued lizard how can i tell if its a male or female? its name is bob.

I'd be interested to know if anything is known about the evolutionary history of bluetongues and how more than 1 species have ended up living together in the same localities; e.g. Eastern Bluetongue and Blotched Bluetongue observed living on same patch of ground at Cape Schanck.

Write your comment below All fields are required

Name Please enter your name
Email (will not be published) Please enter an email address
Please enter a valid email
Comment Please enter a comment
How many letters are in the name Victoria? Please answer the anti-spam question Anti-spam question incorrect

We love receiving comments, but can’t always respond.

Related Resources

Eastern Blue-tongue Lizard Tiliqua scincoides

Lizards of Victoria series

Identification

Distribution and habitat

Biology

Further Reading

Comments (37)

Related Resources

MV Resources

Recent Comments

Tweet

Join Up & Join In!

MV Links

MV Membership

MV E-News