The king’s skink captured without injury. Photo: Fauna for the Future.
Wildlife rescuer Darren Darch found himself gingerly prying a king’s skink from an outside air conditioning at a West Beach home recently.
“Anywhere else in that air conditioner I would have said ‘leave him on his own’ and he would have come out by himself,” Mr Darch said.
“But he had caused some faults to happen in the air conditioners.
“So I kept him in care for a couple of days to see if he was suffering from electrocution.”
He said they were now quite common in people’s homes.
“We find quite a lot in roofs, especially in the roof voids of people with a mouse problem,” Mr Darch said.
“They love eating mice and they love to get under the insulation and make it home.
“A lot of these reptiles have become accustomed to living around humans because of what we attract like mice and even the vegetable side of things like strawberries, squash and zucchini.”
Mr Darch said he knew it was time to release the lizard when it took a chunk of skin out of his finger.
“I collected a handful of meal worms to give him some food,” he said.
“When I put my hand in the enclosure to drop the worms in the mood changed.
“He launched at my hand securing his bite around my finger.”
Mr Darch said he “sent a few expletives”.
“I thought ‘you’re well, you’re ready to go’,” he said.
“He is now safely relocated into the bush, I wasn’t going to try and feed him a second time.”
Mr Darch had some parting observations.
“They are a beautiful creature, I love them,” he said.
“Out of the skink species they are by far the fastest — it is always the challenge to catch them.”
Mr Darch expressed no hard feelings about the bite.
“When we get animals they are probably having the worst time of their life,” he said.
“When we got cockies I always knew they were ready to go when they bit me.”
People finding injured or trapped wildlife, especially reptiles, are welcome to call Fauna for the Future on 0404 387 215.
