Rosenburg Heath Monitor

Adults are 250mm in length their tails are approx l.6m in length.

They are found in humid to semi-arid heathlands and woodlands and wet eucalypt forests in the far southwest of the range, favouring sandy soils from southern Western Australia to Perth, Mt Cooke, Bendering, Norseman and east to South Australian border. I have seen a monitor that looked like this one at Bibra Lake right in Perth's southern suburb.

This monitor was photographed at Perup Ecology Centre in Perup in the south-west. We had to push it off the dirt road with a stick. >>>>>>

It could be active all year due to their dark colour absorbing more heat. It does not have a yellow tail tip.

It Excavates a shallow burrow. Lays 10-19 eggs from nov-feb. They could also dig a hole into a termite mound to lay the eggs which is then sealed again. The female may dig out the babies when they are ready to hatch.

What does it eat?

It eats arthropods, birds, frogs, mammals and carrion and will raid small bushes for birds eggs and chicks.

http://www.goannas.net/species/infos/rosenbergi02.html

Update:

This is probably the Rosenberg or Southern Heath monitor. It was seen as we walked up Bluff Knoll in the Stirling Range in the Great Southern region, in November.

It was very tolerant of us approaching it which suggests it lives near the walking trail and sees many people going up and down the mountain. Even though there were a lot of dry leaves on the ground it didn't make any more noise as it escaped than the much smaller Bobtail skink that we saw on the same walk. Go Here to see our video of this monitor.

Text
"Reptiles and Frogs of the Perth Region" by Brian Bush, Brad Maryan, Robert Browne-Cooper and David Robinson.
"Lizards of Western Australia 2 Dragons and Monitors" by G.M.Storr, L.A.Smith, R.E.Johnstone
"Australian Reptiles A Photographic Reference to the Terrestrial Reptiles of Australia" by Stephen K Wilson, David G Knowles.
CD Rom "Australian Reptiles and Frogs" by Herald Ehnann and Micheal Tyler.