Lizards have become rare, but with suitable measures they feel comfortable again in the home garden. The cold-blooded animals are useful helpers who feed primarily on garden pests that threaten your plants.
In a nutshell
- live predatory
- hunt prey such as E.g.: snails, maggots, worms, grasshoppers and beetles
- Eat many pests in the garden
- lizard-friendly garden, e.g. B.: wild flowers and bushes, piles of rocks and wood
- strictly protected under the Federal Nature Conservation Act
- may not be hunted or taken from the wild
Table of contents
- Lizards are prey hunters
- Useful lizards
- Lizard friendly garden
- Should you feed lizards?
- frequently asked Questions
Lizards are prey hunters
Contrary to the opinion of some gardeners, the lizards native to Germany are not vegetarians, but predators. The animals are not very choosy and basically attack everything that crawls and flees.
This includes:
- Nudibranchs and other snails
- Worms, maggots, caterpillars and grubs
- isopods and spiders
- grasshoppers
- catchy tunes
- different beetle species and their larvae
- butterflies
Large lizard species such as the green lizard (Lacerta bilineata), which is very rare in our country, also prey on smaller vertebrates such as mice.
A notice: Most species of lizards hunt during the day and hide in their lairs at night, e.g. B. in the deadwood. Only the slow worms only come out of their damp hiding places under wet tree trunks or similar at dusk.
Useful lizards
Since lizards eat many plant pests, they are among the most useful and therefore welcome garden dwellers. Lizards do not eat plants or fruit themselves, but do decimate populations of snails, caterpillars and other garden pests. It is therefore advantageous to design the garden in a natural way and thus lizard-friendly.
A notice: In order to settle lizards in your garden, you should under no circumstances take them from nature and bring them into your garden! Be patient because if the living conditions are right, the animals will find their way by themselves.
Lizard friendly garden
A lizard-friendly garden should be as poison-free as possible, i.e. to protect the lizards and their prey must not use any pesticides or other chemical agents become. A garden designed close to nature not only attracts useful lizards but also birds, hedgehogs, earthworms and other welcome residents.
And this is how you design your natural garden:
- Dead wood corners and piles of stones
- wildflower meadows Lawn islands with wildflowers
- a sunny rock garden
- Hedges of flowering wild trees
- dry stone walls
- sparsely overgrown, sandy areas for laying eggs
Protect sandy areas from cats and other predators by covering them with thorny plants (eg. B. blackberries or roses) bordered or covered with wire mesh.
Tip: When planting, use native and insect-friendly species whenever possible. While double flowers look pretty, they provide no nectar or pollen for foraging insects.
Should you feed lizards?
In fact, it can be useful to feed lizards and other beneficial insects in the garden as well. Because the insect population has drastically decreased in the last few decades, so that these species are also affected by food shortages. Therefore, support lizards and other endangered animals such as birds with additional feeding.
In the case of the lizards, do the following:
- Lizards only eat live prey
- i.e. only release prey if the lizard population is known
- are suitable e.g. B. Crickets, house crickets, mealworms or isopods
- are also eaten by many birds
In principle, however, feeding in near-natural gardens is not absolutely necessary, since insects such as dead wood corners have their habitat.
Tip: Pay attention to the lawn care Make sure not to mow or scarify the areas during the day. If possible, this is only done in the evening hours when the lizards have gone to rest.
frequently asked Questions
In Germany are mainly the sand lizard (Lacerta agilis) and the wood lizard (Zootoca vivipara) native. Also the blind worm (anguis fragilis), which looks more like a snake, belongs to the lizards. Wood lizards and slowworms are widespread throughout Europe, only the sand lizard is an endangered species due to habitat loss.
Lizards are cold-blooded animals, i.e. their body temperature corresponds to the ambient temperature. That's why lizards like to take long sunbaths on rocks or piles of wood to get their bodies back up to "operating temperature". In winter, on the other hand, the animals fall into a state of hibernation, which they usually spend in burrows. The male animals usually withdraw to their winter quarters as early as August. The females and young animals only follow between September and October.
Lizards have many predators, e.g. B. Birds of prey such as the buzzard, kestrel, carrion crow or white stork. Young lizards are also readily eaten by robins and even beetles. Also snakes like the grass snake, Hedgehog, weasel, marten and free-roaming domestic cats are natural enemies. If you want to offer lizards and other beneficial insects a habitat in your garden, cats and dogs should be denied access as far as possible.
