It was rediscovered in 1992, when a researcher found the remains of an adult male T. adelaidensis in the stomach contents of a dead brown snake, near Burra.

The habitat and range of pygmy bluetongues is very restricted, as individuals live in old spider burrows within areas of unploughed native grasslands, which have become rare due to extensive development of cereal cropping throughout the region.

[5][6] Conservation efforts to maintain the species include the establishment of the Tiliqua Pygmy Bluetongue Reserve near Burra, by the Nature Foundation SA in 2010.

The study involves relocating about 100 lizards into a large holding pen on a sheep farm at Tarlee, about 90 kilometres (56 mi) north of Adelaide, which is a few degrees cooler than the most northerly habitat of the species.

[10] Another study[11] compared the fitness of female lizards in natural burrows and artificial ones, over a three-year period.