Maternal instincts - interesting behaviour

[Scotts1au]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0yz1X4c ... er&list=UL

[critterguy]

El Lobo: Observations on only one species in certain situations cannot be applied everywhere...that goes for both of our observations of course. Belief is just that-if my observations contradict those then you might need to add a clause to them. I will be the first to admit my experience is limited(only several captive animals). Not sure how that contradicts your post actually. It merely shows different animals(individuals/species) may react to situations in different ways. IME scincoides placed out in the open will tend to run...and frequently bluff before/during this. I have indeed seen individuals hold their ground and lunge at a threat similar to Scotts video. Never observed a tongue display-only open mouthed threat to bite. Wonder why that is?

Scotts video is really neat! Those blotchies definetly are not about to turn tail and run from danger.

~Joseph

[El Lobo]

Critterguy - I have seen the same 'hold your ground' response from wild Easterns and Shinglebacks as well. I don't get the open mouth threat to bite from my blotchies either. They don't even hiss, just the occasional huff when you need to pick them up for whatever reason. Probably too contented with life.

[critterguy]

El Lobo-So in your experience skinks are either simply huff, or do the entire tongue display?

I've never seen one stick its tongue out in the manner of Scotts videos. They merely open their mouths without the tongue display.

[Scotts1au]

They will run away if they think they have a chance of getting away, otherwise - particularly non humanised ones will stand and fight. Snakes are no different. I remember discussion years ago that snakes will often stand and be defensive and bite or fein biting in cooler weather when they are less confident that they can get away. Blueys seem to act the same way.

On the subject of maternal instincts - my females come from the other side of the large outdoor enclosure to hunt me down and bite me. I have no doubt that it is hormonally driven (yeh Mel), but does seem to last a few days. They also hang around the area where they gave birth and tend not to run away when I collect the babies. One of them (Pat) casually walked up to me and bit me on the back of the hand as I was retrieving a baby. No huffing or other outward signs of aggression.

[El Lobo]

I think you have to delineate between captive and truly wild skinks. Even within captive there are differences between those kept in inside enclosures and those in outside pits. I don't have a pit to report observations so I am guided by the experiences of Scott and others as in prior posts.

My experience is the same as that noted by Scott. Wild skinks on roads will be more inclined to attempt escape, mostly because there is no means for them to find even a basic point of defendable refuge. When they realise they are not going to escape this predator (you) they will turn to face the point of threat. The response can vary from a bit of hissing in an almost resigned manner, to a full display of the tongue combined with lunging. An interesting point I experience is that once you have them in a firm, without tight grip, they tend to relax, almost as though they accept their fate. Whether or not they are relaxed is debatable without knowledge of indicators such as plasma corticosteroid levels. In a similar situation some small predated mammals adopt the 'dead feign' as described by Darwin, but that does not seem to be the case with skinks.

This is starting to get too OT.

[Fatal_S]

As I've never had a mama skink, I don't have much to contribute there. But, as I've mentioned before, I am of the belief that protection of young is a fantastic evolutionary trait, and as such if I found certain of my females were more likely to protect their babies (assuming actual protection and not just hating me), I'd prefer to breed those over ones that either ignored the babies or, worse, attacked/killed the babies. That's about all I have to contribute to the topic

[Richard.C]

i dont think its protecting the babies,i have a couple that do what scott just mentioned,will run at me from 6 metres away and aggressivly bite,during pregnancy and for a short term after partuition,i see it as hormone related,1 female in particular,a lowlands is usually a shy type when i go in the cage,but if shes gravid or recently given birth,she will happilly run at me from 6 metres away as soon as i enter the enclosure,most of my female blotchies are pl;acid,even when preggas or shortly after birthing,theres never any difference in behaviour,but those 2 females mentioned certainly fire up,the 2nd female is the alpine/lowlands cross,she can be fiesty weather babies are involved or not,she actually settles during pregnancy but once babies are born she gets narky again,its like they know they are vunerable during and just after pregnancy,those 2 usually lose alot of condition and take the following year off

[Lauriek]

I have had to move Bailey out of the 'family' viv. Firstly he was after Barnum again and I suspect a mating may have taken place and I really don't want anymore baby blotchies even though they are just gorgeously cute! But secondly, he was also chasing the bubs which are now nearly 6 months old. He was chasing them to chase them away, hopefully not to try and mate unless of course he's got the view 'any girl is fair game' ! The bubs just ran away. Barnum is still exhibiting 'protective' behaviour.

[Richard.C]

when males are in the mood,sometimes they chase what ever runs,including young ones,especially if the females cycle isnt quite ready yet,i normally get that with a few young adult males,they will even grab and hold other males

[aggiegirl]

My bluey mom let me reach into her tank and take the babies when they were born. I thought I was home free. The next day, she went for me as I put her food in. I thought at first that it was hunger---as she does occasionally charge towards her food without aggression. This was TOTALLY different as she actually went at me with an open mouth. She has NEVER done anything like that before. I only have 2 skinks so they each are handled frequently---including outside and at public functions. Her aggressive disposition continued for a few days and then was gone. This coincided with an increased activity level. She ate little post-brumation until she had the babies. I didn't feed day one (as she ate about 12 plugs.) She was a voracious eater for at least the next month but, as I indicated earlier, this was separate from her attitude. She was interested in the babies initially (through the glass) but 2 months later, she ignores them completely. She is as docile now as she was prior to giving birth...

[acanthurus]

I've never really noticed any aggression from the shingles, but have seen babies both in captivity and in the wild follow adults around for the first couple of months. I assume in the wild they must follow their mother. In my enclosures though they do seem to get a bit confused - one of the little ones followed around the wrong female for weeks. The females themselves seem to show no interest in them, so I assume the behaviour gives them something big and scary to hide behind if something hungry comes along.