BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

just saw the aussie locality thread and thought to start an indo version

Unfortunately, no one on this forum has ever been able to confirm locale/appearance correlations for indonesian skinks. Some have recently been claiming that the Indos with extreme amounts of black on them are collected from the Halamahera region, but the truth is, I don't know if that has been confirmed. We are just taking the word of the importers that first offered them. They themselves are probably just taking the word of the exporters they bought them from, etc. I am not aware of any significant studies that have been done on wild populations of BTS in Indonesia.

o your right i kinda feel stupid but thanks jeff

We can't really do an Indonesian locale thread, but could we make it a T. gigas variation thread instead? We don't know where exactly they are from, but it would still be great to see top-down pictures of everyone's Meraukes / IJs / Indos etc so we can see the amazing variation there is in all of them. Would you mind if we changed it to that, Snakeman?

This is my "merauke" BTS, she came in a shipment that the supplier labelled "Irian Jaya" but where all the other skinks in the shipment looked like indos. She looked a little different than the rest, but not too different, although now that she's been in my care for a couple months and eating better, she looks much different than she did at first.

Recently got another skink that looks more like a 'classic' merauke than Irene here does, once she sheds for me for the first time I'll snap some pics of her as well.

Looks like my Bberry

That photo looks very Indo to me. Marks on the head, full-black front legs, yellow background color, and 2-tone speckly banding. Are you saying it's changed looks since then and looks more Merauke now?

Haha, you're one of the people who said it looked merauke the first time around. Not a very good merauke, but a merauke. Let me take some updated pics of my two "meraukes" and we can play guess that locale again.

Did I? Was it the same picture? Maybe I have multiple-personalities. Hmm, if that's true then other-me needs 20+ skinks too...

I dont see merauke in this guy at all...definitely getting strong Indo vibes...he/she looks just like my Indo. For all the reasons Fatal_S mentioned.

I would say this is a case in point where we can only guess at appearances - I swear not 3 months ago I posted up pics of this exact skink, and got "it looks like a merauke! A terrible merauke, but more merauke than indo". And now... Nahhh it's an indo. LOL

She's in the middle of shedding right now, but here's a pic of her as of right this second:



And the new skink:



With flash:



Note that I'm just amused by the whole thing - they're all t. gigas to me!

Since I was worried I'm going crazy I did look it up:

Fatal_S wrote:I would stick with Indo; definitely for Moriarty, but maybe both?

EDIT: I'm going to add that unless Irene seriously Indo's up I wouldn't personally consider her a breedable (pure-bred) animal. Just IMO of course.

The skink in question is Irene, and IMO he has Indo'd up. Very interesting to look between the different photos. Has he grown much? The body shape is also more masculine to my eye (so skinny towards the back).

Very nice new Merauke too.

I didn't look it up to be fair, I just recently got a working computer again and remembered the general idea.

Yeah with the two of them growing up Moriarty turned out to be a very nice example of indo, but "Irene" I still hold out hopes for. When she's not in shed, she's almost green and tan, so I'll post pics after she sheds. I say she, I am pretty sure it's a male now after all like you suggested. Moriarty never mellowed out, so when a new group of much meraukier meraukes came in, I traded him for one of them. He'll eat out of people's hands, but if you pick him up he pees every. single. time.

Please tell me I'm not crazy and the new one looks more like a female.

I couldn't give you any kind of accurate idea on gender for it. It looks more female than the Indos, but Meraukes are awful to sex, and the vast majority of them seem to be males

lol i have a female merauke, so they do exist!
The 2nd skink looks very merauke to me.

Fatal_S wrote:I couldn't give you any kind of accurate idea on gender for it. It looks more female than the Indos, but Meraukes are awful to sex, and the vast majority of them seem to be males

Compared to the others in the cage, it looked the most female, but we'll see I suppose. I really don't want to buy more skinks, but I really also want a pair, so if I struck out again I'm gonna be sad.

I have one too, but I wouldn't be able to tell from looking at her or photos. Only reason I know is because she was imported preggo and aborted the babies at the store. Are we on topic? I can't tell. Here, I'll add a picture of my T. Gigas Evanescens:


You are aware you're going to get a very negative response to breeding Indo to Merauke correct?

here is my marauke it was sold as a IJ by bayareaharps

Looks like an extremely newer form merauke to me. Border-line indo but not an indo.

Looks like an extremely newer form merauke to me. Border-line indo but not an indo.

Why?


Heres my "New Form Merauke". I loooove her! More pics in the General Forum