A Holey Mystery

Not only do I have holes in my lawn from a known source, a couple of new ones have sprung up down by one of the bends in ‘our’ creek.

Two possibilities.

One is a wombat but have never seen any around here apart from the odd road kill.

Plus there is no distinctive poo around. 

The wombat’s is cube shaped.

The other suspect is a goanna or lace monitor.

But being winter, suspect he/she may be still hibernating.

If it is, it’s a mighty big one.

They reach over 2m (6ft) in length and you have to be just a little bit wary of them when that size.

Generally they look for a tree to run up if confronted but cornered they can attack.

They have very sharp claws and a bite is nasty, not venomous but bacteria laden.

And a swish of that tail can pack a punch.

We’ll be keeping an eye out when down that way which is not too often.

Holes in My Lawn

Every morning there’s a myriad of holes dug all over our front and back lawns.

Why?

Turns out we have quite the colony of long nosed bandicoots living around us.

These little animals belong to the marsupial family and are found in eastern Australia, from Queensland through New South Wales to Victoria. 

They were once widespread and common but domestic pets have reduced there numbers to ‘endangered’.

That doesn’t seem to be the case here.

They eat insects and other small invertebrate prey and are probably best known for the small, round conical holes they leave behind as they forage at night. 

These holes are dug with the front feet and are big enough for the animal's long, sensitive snout to reach in and detect insects and other small invertebrate prey.
During the day they sleep in nests made from grasses and other plant material.