Wildlife Q&A
Skinks under the fridge? Spiders and wasps in the bee hotel? Wildlife expert LEONARD CRONIN answers some of the questions from our reader lunch
Q
I have a couple of very friendly skinks that make their way into our house looking for food from the dog’s bowl. Generally there is no food left, so I feed them a little bit of mincemeat. Am I doing the wrong thing, and what purpose do skinks serve in the garden?
A
Skinks are common backyard residents and are great to have around your garden, where they hunt for insects, helping to keep cockroaches, crickets and other pests under control. Pet food and mince do not, however, constitute a healthy diet for skinks. Both of these foods are too high in fat and have inappropriate ratios of calcium to phosphorus, which can lead to metabolic bone disease. Your skinks are better off fending for themselves. You can provide them with food and shelter around your garden in the form of compost heaps, mulch piles, rotting logs and leaf litter.
Q
How can we keep the frogs and lizards happy in our backyard alongside the chooks, and how do I discourage a goanna from terrorising our flock?
A
Chickens are backyard scavengers and will eat almost anything they can peck at. This includes small lizards, frogs, mice and even fish. It’s all part of their omnivorous diet. You can protect your frogs and lizards, and keep goannas, snakes and other predators at bay, by housing your flock inside a large, meshed chicken run. Ready-made chicken runs are available, or you can build your own, but make sure you use galvanised mesh with holes no larger than 10mm x 10mm, and cover all the windows and ventilation points. Shrubs and herbs planted around the chicken run will provide insect snacks, shade and extra security for your flock.
Q
What is the best way for me to encourage native bees to come into my garden?
A
Native bees are an important component of any wildlife-friendly garden, and with about 1700 species, some are probably buzzing around your garden, collecting nectar and pollinating the plants. You can encourage them by growing bee-food plants, such as tea tree, callistemon, melaleuca, scaevola,
grevillea, westringia and hibbertia. Avoid using insecticides, wherever possible, and never apply insecticide to plants in flower. You can make nest sites for solitary bees (a bee hotel) by tying together bunches of hollow stems, such as pieces of bamboo or lantana canes, and by drilling holes in blocks of hardwood timber. Attach your bee hotel to a tree, or stack the nest tubes in a corner of the garden. Solitary bees are not aggressive, but can sting if handled.
Q A
Are butterflies attracted to certain colours? Pink, purple, red, yellow and orange flowers attract the most butterflies. They have far better colour perception than humans, with greater sensitivity to light in the ultraviolet range. A black-eyed Susan flower, for example, appears plain yellow to us, but a butterfly sees pale petals becoming dark towards the centre. Butterflies tend to avoid green when feeding, but not when laying their eggs. Clusters of flowers are more attractive than single blooms scattered throughout the garden. Flowers with short, narrow nectar tubes and strong fragrances, with abundant, easily obtained nectar, are favourites, regardless of their colour.
Q
Is there anything I can do to protect wattlebird fledglings during their learn-to-fly stage, when they are on the ground for several days, exposed to predators?
A
Fledgling wattlebirds leave the nest and learn to fly under the watchful eye of their parents, who teach them the survival skills they will need as adult birds. They will usually be confident enough to fly in a few days. In the meantime, you must keep cats and dogs indoors, and ask your neighbours to do the same.
Fledgling birds spend part of their time on the ground or in low shrubs. They tire easily, however, and if you find one on the ground in a hazardous area and can’t see the parents nearby, gently pick up the young bird and place it on a branch in a nearby shrub or tree for protection. Keep an eye out for the parents to make sure they continue to look after it. If a fledgling appears to be sick or injured, take it to a vet or contact a local wildlife rescue group.
Q
How do you discourage wasps and spiders from occupying a bee hotel?
A
Solitary native wasps are good to have around your garden. They feed on caterpillars, aphids, cockroaches and spiders. It is quite common for bee hotels to host predatory wasps, as well as bees, and they coexist well together. Wasps often seal off their nesting tubes with mud or grass stems, and you may see them bringing captured insects back to the bee hotel. Bees can get trapped in spider webs, however, so you should brush webs away when you see them.
Cuckoo bees and some parasitic wasps may attempt to lay their eggs in your bees’ nesting tubes, and their newly hatched larvae will devour any developing bees. To stop them taking over your bee hotel, renew or clean the nest tubes every year. This is best done in early spring. To make sure you protect any developing bees, put blocks or tubes containing completed nests inside a cardboard box. Seal the lid and cut a hole in the top corner of the box. As the young bees emerge from their nests, they will be attracted to the light and escape through the hole. You can then safely clean out the old holes with a pipe-cleaner. It’s a good idea to put the cleaned-out tubes in the freezer for a week to kill any mites or parasites.
Q
As much as we love our local wildlife – we have a diamond python living happily in our roof, and many, many bees and insects – our problem is that the water skinks have decided to move into the kitchen and now live under the fridge. How can I coax them out?
A
Skinks are timid and difficult to catch. They are, however, attracted to light, so you could wait until dark and try coaxing the skinks out of their hiding place by shining a lamp nearby. Even better if you can trap a bug beneath the lamp to tempt the skinks out. You could also herd them out, using a rolled-up newspaper.
Once they are out in the open, use a soft-bristled brush and dustpan to catch them one at a time and return them to the garden. Using a soft broom, you may be able to direct them out of the house or into a corner, where you could encourage them into a cardboard box placed on its side. Skinks can detach their tail, so be very gentle and avoid trapping the tail.
Make sure you keep entry points closed, so they don’t come back inside, and avoid using insecticide around your garden, as you will be reducing their prey.