Aussie Finch Forum

Went up to the bush block today with my younger daughter; played in the creek and around the old slab hut and saw lots of beautiful birds.
She's just turned three and can use the binos if I focus them - not bad!

I checked a few mounds I used repeatedly last year to see how they fared after harvesting.
One was dead, the rest (about five) were intact and repaired except for this one:
I looked for clues as to what kind of animal it may have been; the common natural raider around here is echidna but the damage was different: too high, no gouge marks, no echidna scrapes or other traces....
Apart from roo poo of various ages, there was this fresh scat next to the mound:
I also looked for tracks, but the ground was not favourable. This is the best that I found:
Anyone got any idea who's been raiding my mounds?

Lace monitor would be high on the list - nesting time.

I've found a few mounds with Goanna eggs throughout them. They make a mess when they dig too.

Tiaris wrote:I've found a few mounds with Goanna eggs throughout them. They make a mess when they dig too.

Have you ever had the eggs hatch soon after disturbance??

Doesn't look like enogh damage to be one of our spikey little ant theifs, so I would agree with Danny, Lacey or the likes.

Thank you, gents.
I'm going camping up there soon with the kids, so we'll keep an eye out for big lizards.

All the years that ive been interested in termites,ive not once encountered damage to a mound from a critter. Small dragons and scorpions underneath the mound - yes. What i did notice is that the mounds i`d disturbed years ago had more termites, lizards,spiders( there`s a specific mound spider that ive encountered) than those that had been completely left alone. After rains ,the mounds that had been disturbed had activity and held moisture around the base better than the untouched ones. We do have some critters here that could break into a mound but im yet to see it. Different set of critters there though.

DB, none of your central australian monitor species utilise termitaria for nesting - it is primarily the Lace monitor or the Rosenbergs monitor.

Danny,

I've had them with virtually fully developed young in the eggs but not emerging from them when I disturbed the nest. Does the mother dig them out again when they are due? I ask this as its hard to believe such small animals would be capable of digging their own way out of some of the hard nests they are found in. Should be a great incubator temperature wise though.

Tiaris wrote:Danny,

I've had them with virtually fully developed young in the eggs but not emerging from them when I disturbed the nest. Does the mother dig them out again when they are due? I ask this as its hard to believe such small animals would be capable of digging their own way out of some of the hard nests they are found in. Should be a great incubator temperature wise though.

That's correct, the mother returns to dig out the young when they have hatched. Amazes me really. And some people think animals aren't intelligent. If a cold blooded critter can be this warm hearted... Very clever.