Blue Crested Lizard Photo: P Maher
Apart
from the Spiny-tailed House Gecko, reptiles were scarce. However,
what we did see was impressive. The most engaging was the Tockay,
a beautifully mottled gecko about a foot long that lived around several
buildings we stayed in. The males call tock-ay loudly through
the night, which you might think would wear thin after a while but it
was such a great call you had to smile when one started up.
The other favourite was the tree-climbing Blue Crested Lizard
with its electric-blue head and upper body seen in the dry dipterocarp
forest at Tap Lan NP.
We saw a couple of gliding lizards that remain unidentified, as are
two, small, well-patterned, slaty-grey coloured snakes seen in Kaeng
Krachen NP. (One snake now identified as a Mock Viper Psamnodynastes pulverulentus)
The most impressive reptile was a huge Water Monitor eating kitchen
scraps behind one of the restaurants in Khao Yai NP that Trisha and
I saw pre-tour. More like a small crocodile, it was seven to eight foot
long with a girth twice that of our biggest goanna.
Tockay Gekko gecko
Around buildings at the Kaeng Krachan Country Club and in the national
park; also Doi Inthanon Resort.
Spiny-tailed House Gecko Hemidactylas frenatus Common around buildings in most areas
Blue Crested Lizard Calotes mystaceus
Two seen in dry dipterocarp forest Tap Lan NP 10 April
Garden Lizard Calotes versicolor
Thaton Marsh
Bengal monitor Varanus bengalensis
One thought to be this species Khao Yai NP 9 April
Water Monitor Varanus salvator
At ponds near Hat Chao Samran 11 April and Khao Yai NP
Water Monitor Photo: P Maher
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