Post something Weird or Random

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This little guy has settled into the pond just outside my front door.

That's really cool, so tiny. Whatever you do don't start feeding him though, I imagine he could become a real pest if you do. A lot of people here have the same trouble when they find a goanna in their yard.

 

[Forest Cat]

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This little guy has settled into the pond just outside my front door.

Have you thought about names? I suggest Cornelius.

 

[WhitewaterWoman]

That's really cool, so tiny. Whatever you do don't start feeding him though, I imagine he could become a real pest if you do. A lot of people here have the same trouble when they find a goanna in their yard.

No I don’t feed them ever. At some point I’ll have to chase him out, but not for a couple of years.

Forest Cat, why Cornelius? I’ve never thought of naming them.

 

[Forest Cat]

Forest Cat, why Cornelius? I’ve never thought of naming them.

I was just thinking, since he lives outside your door he should have a name.
And Cornelius is a good name.

 

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Body camera footage captures onlookers' screams as country cop wrangles lizard into paddy wagon

 

[WhitewaterWoman]

Body camera footage captures onlookers' screams as country cop wrangles lizard into paddy wagon

What a great photo!

 

[Boogs]

Beautiful animal - I presume goanna comes from iguana?
Just spent the last five mins trying to work out why it seemed so familiar a word!

 

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Beautiful animal - I presume goanna comes from iguana?

No, it comes from one of the aboriginal languages spoken over on the east coast and became a popular name for them, people from other parts of the country have lots of different names for them depending on what languages they grew up speaking.

They're officially called Monitor Lizards and we have a few different species of them, but Goanna is just easier to say.

When frightened their instinct is to climb the nearest tree. My grandfather showed me the scars up his chest one day and said he had the same scars on his legs as well. When he was a young man he was walking across a freshly plowed field and he startled a goanna, and he was the nearest "tree". It ran straight up him and launched itself off the top of his head and kept running.

 

[Boogs]

Ah! Innersting, I hadn't heard that. But yeah, Monitor Lizard doesn't quite trip off the tongue exactly!

I do like reptiles. I always liked snakes especially as a kid, but the idea of having one in a glass tank never really appealed. Nowadays I can't even visit a zoo without just feeling depressed about the animals locked up in there.

And those claws! Hmmm, not the sort of creature to pop on your lap!

 

[Forest Cat]

Body camera footage captures onlookers' screams as country cop wrangles lizard into paddy wagon

Australia

 

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I do like reptiles. I always liked snakes especially as a kid, but the idea of having one in a glass tank never really appealed. Nowadays I can't even visit a zoo without just feeling depressed about the animals locked up in there.

Here we've got snakes and lizards crawling around the countryside everywhere. It's very common for kids to keep a lizard as a back yard pet, it's still free to roam as it pleases but if they feed it it will hang around and be friendly.

I suspect that's how the story started in that news article I posted, the kids thought he was cool and started feeding him, then if Mum does something stupid like trying to shoo him out with the broom he'll go nuts.

A lot of parents don't mind a big lizard hanging around, it reduces the chance of you having a snake in the yard. Not because they bother each other but simply because they prey on the same food sources. Goannas are considerably bigger than what most people would want hanging around though, much more common are Blue Tongues, smaller and not as capable of as much damage.

 

[Boogs]

I think a lot of retiles have gained an unfairly unwholesome reputation. The Gila Monster in the US has a really bad rep, but apparently you have to work really hard at getting bitten, they're very slow and not aggressive, you just don't shove your hand into unknown holes in the ground!

 

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I think a lot of reptiles have gained an unfairly unwholesome reputation.

We're fairly comfortable with them here, a lesson of limited choice, but at the same time they do need to be respected. The big lizards won't attack a human but they'll certainly defend themselves and they're incredibly strong. You mentioned the claws on one in a picture I posted, they rip the bark off of trees, break up fallen logs and dig through termite mounds to get at food.

I found this interesting news story from a few years back. A French girl here on a working holiday had to wrangle one out of the restaurant she was working in. She did a good job.

'Goanna girl' evicts huge reptile from winery restaurant