Inviting Lizards into Your Garden: A Guide to Creating a Habitat
Lizards can be valuable helpers in the garden, and attracting them is easier than you might think. Mary Schmidt from Lichterman Nature Center in Memphis, Tennessee says creating a suitable habitat is key, focusing on elements like food, water, shelter, and space. Since most lizards are insectivores, incorporating native plants to attract insects is a great start. Because lizards are cold-blooded, providing spots for them to bask in the sun or seek shelter from its heat, such as rocks or hiding spots like snag piles, helps them regulate their body temperature.
Lizards can help control insect populations in the garden. In terms of diet, lizards typically target insects that offer substantial energy gains. From crickets to fat caterpillars, they aim for the biggest payoff. By attracting these predators, you're fostering a healthier garden environment. Their presence indicates a thriving habitat. As natural predators, they contribute to pest control, reducing the need for harmful insecticides
Space is also essential for lizards to reproduce and thrive. Providing areas for them to lay eggs, such as mulch or compost piles, ensures their continued presence in your garden. It's important to avoid using insecticides, as they not only harm beneficial insects but also kill the lizards’ food.
Three notable lizard species commonly found in North American gardens are the glass lizard, green anole, and five-lined skink. The glass lizard, often mistaken for a snake due to its lack of legs, can be distinguished by its ear openings and ability to blink, which is colon for all lizards (but not snakes). The green anole, known for its color-changing ability, camouflages itself to evade predators. Finally, the five-lined skink, characterized by its stubby legs and blue tails in youth, provides parental care by guarding its eggs until hatching.
Inviting lizards into your garden can help control insect pests. You need to provide the basic habitat for the lizards: food, water, shelter, and space. Encouraging their presence not only increases biodiversity, but also reduces the need for harmful pesticides.
Related Videos:
Frogs and Toads
Bats
Opossums
Monarch Butterflies: Migration and Milkweed
Related Resources:
Green Anole
Eastern Glass Lizard
Beneficials in the Garden: Skink Lizards
Lizards can help control insect populations in the garden. In terms of diet, lizards typically target insects that offer substantial energy gains. From crickets to fat caterpillars, they aim for the biggest payoff. By attracting these predators, you're fostering a healthier garden environment. Their presence indicates a thriving habitat. As natural predators, they contribute to pest control, reducing the need for harmful insecticides
Space is also essential for lizards to reproduce and thrive. Providing areas for them to lay eggs, such as mulch or compost piles, ensures their continued presence in your garden. It's important to avoid using insecticides, as they not only harm beneficial insects but also kill the lizards’ food.
Three notable lizard species commonly found in North American gardens are the glass lizard, green anole, and five-lined skink. The glass lizard, often mistaken for a snake due to its lack of legs, can be distinguished by its ear openings and ability to blink, which is colon for all lizards (but not snakes). The green anole, known for its color-changing ability, camouflages itself to evade predators. Finally, the five-lined skink, characterized by its stubby legs and blue tails in youth, provides parental care by guarding its eggs until hatching.
Inviting lizards into your garden can help control insect pests. You need to provide the basic habitat for the lizards: food, water, shelter, and space. Encouraging their presence not only increases biodiversity, but also reduces the need for harmful pesticides.
Related Videos:
Frogs and Toads
Bats
Opossums
Monarch Butterflies: Migration and Milkweed
Related Resources:
Green Anole
Eastern Glass Lizard
Beneficials in the Garden: Skink Lizards