MAKE A CRITTER A HOME
Help native insects and lizards bounce back in your backyard.
New Zealand has over 110 species of native skinks and geckos. Some need just 20 square metres of habitat to make themselves at home.
Image: Belle Gwilliam | DOC
WHAT YOU
CAN DO
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Keep a corner of your garden a bit messy and leave some lawn unmown. Tree stumps, long grass, and piles of leaves and twigs provide homes for native beetles, wētā and ngāokeoke/peripatus. Less garden maintenance for you = more habitat for critters.
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Minimise the use of sprays – they kill native insects too.
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Skinks and geckos need places to hide away from cats, rats and other predators. Give them a helping hand by finding a sunny spot to create a lizard lounge. You can also plant dense shrubs for shelter.
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For a project kids will love, build a bug hotel (there are heaps of DIY videos online) or wētā motel. There’s nothing cooler than sharing your garden with a survivor from the age of the dinosaurs.
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If you’re serious about making your garden safe for critters, you’ll see the best results when you get trapping.
GET THE WHĀNAU INVOLVED
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Kids love critters! For fascinating and freaky facts, get them listening to RNZ’s Critter of the Week.
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To get help identifying backyard bugs, sign the family up to iNaturalist NZ – Mātaki Taiao.
HOW YOU'LL
MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Creating a backyard habitat is a great way to meet neighbours you didn’t know you had. You’ll also be helping restore and protect nature in your little corner of the country.
Around 2 out of every 5 native insects and lizards are in serious trouble.
ARE YOU IN?
It takes everyone to make a difference for nature. Every little bit helps.
NATURE'S IN
TROUBLE
Thousands of our native species are heading towards extinction, but it’s not too late to save them.
All around New Zealand, Kiwis are bringing nature back.
RELATED ACTIONS
Or a kōwhai, or a makomako, or any of the other 2,000 plant species only found here.
Bring the dawn chorus back to your little corner of New Zealand.
Let others know how nature’s doing where you are, and find out what that weird bug is while you’re at it.