Benz World Blog » Reptile

Carpet Python

Jason Benz — Sat, 12 Mar 2016 12:58:01 +0000

This is a Coastal Carpet Python. At up to 4 meters, it is the largest subspecies of Carpet Python and is found in Queensland and New South Wales. They are effective rat catchers but also eat bats, birds, lizards and even small dogs. Although they are not venomous I was glad this one was behind glass at Australia Zoo.

This image has been accepted by Shutterstock for Stock Photography and is available for download here.

Tree Snake

Jason Benz — Mon, 18 Jan 2016 08:20:17 +0000

This is a common tree snake which we encountered on Keppel Island, off the coast of Queensland. They come in a range of colours including black, brown, blue, grey, green and yellow. Although it is harmless, without an immediate identification and the fact that Australia contains all of the top 10 most venomous snakes in the world I decided to give it the respect it deserves as it slid under the chair I was sitting in.

Flatback Turtle

Jason Benz — Thu, 25 Dec 2014 13:27:02 +0000

This animal is a flatback sea turtle which we were lucky enough to encounter laying eggs on a beach in Mon Repos as we travel north in Queensland. Later we visited the Museum of pioneer aviator Bert Hinkler who was born in Bundaberg. Among stunning botanic gardens his UK home, also named Mon Repos, had been shipped to Australia and rebuilt. We hope to get a boat to visit an island on the southern edge of the great barrier reef in the next few days. So far the weather has been kind and there has been no sight of the potential stronger storms as we approach the tropics.

In 2017 a study of 299 nest sites around the world showed turtle numbers rising on average. However, in Mon Repos abnormally high sand temperatures from 2016 are believed to have caused hatchlings to overheat on their way to the ocean.

Bluetongued Lizard

Jason Benz — Sun, 31 Aug 2014 10:11:56 +0000

This is a Blue-tongued Lizard. It ambled through our garden yesterday and took up temporary residence in the shed. Australia has an abundance of reptiles and Queensland is particularly full of wildlife.

Crocodile Chews

Jason Benz — Fri, 01 Aug 2014 11:39:33 +0000

This is crocodile feeding time at the David Fleay Wildlife Park on the Gold Coast. The animal park is local to us, but fortunately crocodiles in the wild do not come this far south in Queensland, Australia.

Water Dragon

Jason Benz — Thu, 23 Jan 2014 13:03:14 +0000

This is a juvenile Australian Water Dragon. We saw him at the Gold Coast Regional Botanic Gardens in Queensland. He can dive from trees into water to avoid birds or in this case a bridge. They are the only species of the genus Intellagama and are smarter than the average reptile. These cunning creatures adapt to the human world by hiding near lights and letting insects come to them.

This image has been accepted by Shutterstock for Stock Photography and is available for download here.

The adult Water Dragon looks like this.

Monitor Lizard

Jason Benz — Sun, 05 Jan 2014 11:54:32 +0000

This is a Lace Monitor Lizard we saw prowling around our campsite on our way back from seeing the Sydney New Year Fireworks. We took four days each way to go to and from Queensland and New South Wales so we had lots of time to explore the national parks and encounter the wildlife. More posts to follow.

This image has been accepted by Shutterstock for Stock Photography and is available for download here.

Mystery Monster

Jason Benz — Mon, 08 Jul 2013 18:21:04 +0000

Do you know what creature this is? I took the picture in the Bundaburg botanical gardens in Queensland, Australia. This was as far North as we got before we turned around to go to an interview on the Gold Coast. We are currently on the road heading for Nanango

Fractal Lizard

Jason Benz — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 13:59:02 +0000

This is an old cropped photo of a lizard in Jamaica. It was taken with my first digital camera, a Casio EX-Z3. I do not know if this type of lizard is a herbivore, carnivore or omnivore. Please leave a comment if you know. The original image had a low resolution and was heavily compressed. Not much good for anything except it did have good outline of the lizard on a plain background. I started by doubling the resolution of the image. Normally this would not get you anywhere but then I used Fractalius which effectively redraws the image with new detail. I ran it several times to get the different parts of the lizard to look right. I then used masks on each layer to build up the final image.