Bandicoot friendly gardens
Bandicoots don’t need much: an area safe from predators to sleep during the day, with open grassy feeding grounds nearby for night time digging and foraging.
They won’t live in your backyard if you have dogs or cats, but they may visit to feed – if they feel safe.
Their native habitat is typically grassland or woodland, where they usually build a nest by creating a shallow depression in the ground, with a dome of tussock grass pulled over the top.
They will also shelter in native prickly shrubs and have been known to set up home in wood heaps and rock piles.
Creating habitat
If you have bandicoots living in your neighbourhood or nearby bushland, and want to create or improve habitat in your backyard, use plants local to your area. If weeds are providing the only cover, remove them in stages to ensure there’s always somewhere for your bandicoots to shelter while the natives are getting established.
Ask your native plant nursery or local Bushcare or Landcare group for advice. Our help care for nature page also has lots of great tips and advice on creating native habitat gardens.
Three things to remember
Create nesting sites: Plant grasses and sedges in clumps. Good species include tussock grass (Poa), sagg (Lomandra) and flax lilly (Dianella).
Provide food: Lawns, leaf litter, branches, logs and rocks attract soil invertebrates - great food for hungry bandicoots!
Keep them safe: Prickly shrubs provide protection from dogs and cats - prickly moses (Acacia verticillata), prickly beauty (Pultenaea juniperina) and hakea sp. Larger shrubs and trees provide protection from owls and hawks - common teatree (Leptospermum scoparia), lemon bottlebrush (Callistemon pallidas) and silver bankia (Banksia marginata).
Design a bandicoot refuge for your own backyard
Well-watered gardens and parklands provide valuable feeding grounds for Hobart's eastern barred bandicoots, and you can help in your own backyard by creating suitable habitat for them to forage, raise young and find shelter.
To help, NRM North has worked closely with a landscape designer to create a series of unique designs utilising local native plants that will help you build an urban stronghold for these endangered bandicoots.
All you have to do is choose a design to suite your space. Designs range from formal to informal garden styles, and can provide either a full 'Woodland Hideaway' or something smaller, like 'The Nook', a wildflower garden designed to fit into any corner of your garden.
To get started visit the NRM North website to view the different designs and download the Urban Refuges booklet.