Thread: Blue Tongue scared the daylights out of me

They're beautiful. This lovely was scratching at my daughter's door a few days ago.

IMG_9731.jpg

We live on a rural block with a creek straight behind the shed. There are some Skinks that call the shed home. When I enter I am subconsciously on snake alert. The number of times these fellas have given me a fright by just seeing the last bit of their tail or just their pointy head sticking out. Bearded Dragons are some others that visited some years back when it was very dry. I also have made two "apartments" for Possums to "camp over". These boxes are on the wall above the rolla-doors. Those blokes come and go most of the year.
Don't worry I have had a small number of snakes in the shed at times. A large Brown and a Tiger to name a few. I don't like snakes

When I was about 4 years old I was eating strawberries in the veggie garden. I pushed aside a bunch of leaves revealing a small blue tongue which opened its mouth and hissed. According to mum who heard me screaming and came running I ran off, tripped and put my hands out to cushion my fall and one of them landed on small piece of jarrah floor board with a 2" nail protruding from it and it went straight through my hand. Fortunately the local hospital was ~100m up the road and Mum took me up there with the nail and board still attached. A nurse numbed the hand and pulled the nail out out. Apparently it was just after that that I became interested in wood working. A couple of years later I was making a reindeer out of pine cones and tried to used dad's brace and pits to drill holes in the cones while holding a cone between my legs. The bit slipped off the cone and went into my upper thigh. I screamed and Dad came running. He removed the bit and left it in my leg and off to the hospital again!

Originally Posted by BobL

When I was about 4 years old I was eating strawberries in the veggie garden. I pushed aside a bunch of leaves revealing a small blue tongue which opened its mouth and hissed. According to mum who heard me screaming and came running I ran off, tripped and put my hands out to cushion my fall and one of them landed on small piece of jarrah floor board with a 2" nail protruding from it and it went straight through my hand. Fortunately the local hospital was ~100m up the road and Mum took me up there with the nail and board still attached. A nurse numbed the hand and pulled the nail out out. Apparently it was just after that that I became interested in wood working. A couple of years later I was making a reindeer out of pine cones and tried to used dad's brace and pits to drill holes in the cones while holding a cone between my legs. The bit slipped off the cone and went into my upper thigh. I screamed and Dad came running. He removed the bit and left it in my leg and off to the hospital again!

Certainly not going to ask for pictures ... should we trust you with any sharp tools?

Phil

That Blue Tongue is a big boy (or girl). I don' think I have seen one that big, but there again Canberra is a hot spot of hyperbole.

I regard Blue tongues as good guys and would be pleased have one reside in my shed (the last reptilian resident was python, but he was only passing through and treated it as a B & B). Blue Tongues like timber piles I have noticed. While they are not poisonous, don't be careless enough to let them bite you as I believe any biting wound from them will become infected and if it is on the hand takes a long time to heal. Actually I mean get better, The hand will never turn into a foot.

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

Phil

That Blue Tongue is a big boy (or girl). I don' think I have seen one that big, but there again Canberra is a hot spot of hyperbole.

I regard Blue tongues as good guys and would be pleased have one reside in my shed (the last reptilian resident was python, but he was only passing through and treated it as a B & B). Blue Tongues like timber piles I have noticed. While they are not poisonous, don't be careless enough to let them bite you as I believe any biting wound from them will become infected and if it is on the hand takes a long time to heal. Actually I mean get better, The hand will never turn into a foot.

Regards
Paul

I definitely regard blue tongues and all lizards actually as good guys and I'm more than happy to share my space and hope he hangs around.

I'd personally call this one not that big, seems to be a little skinny. We have another one down the other end of the yard that is longer and fatter than this one and the one we had around an old home would have had a main body as large as this one total.

I haven't seen this one since so i hope it is safe and sound, it just scared the wits out of me at the time as it was unexpected.

Cheers
Phil