New babies on the way, wanting advice

[guitarlixx]

I'm new on this forum, my name is Julie.

I've had a male Irian Jaya for a year now, and have just recently found a pregnant female Irian Jaya. I bought her and am waiting on the babies to arrive. I love baby Blueys and it's been my dream for quite some time now to have some babies of my own and now the time has come...or is at least on it's way.

I'm wondering about a few details that I couldn't seem to find in the caresheet (please correct me if they are there).

How old are the babies when they are ready to go to new homes? I know with puppies, they are usually around 8 weeks. Is this the same rule of thumb with baby Blueys? I know their mother will leave them almost immediately, so I can't imagine that it would be, but when do I know it's safe to let them go to new homes?

Also, is there any way to tell how far along my Magenta is? She's looking pretty uncomfortable, and has exhibited the deep breathing, so I'm thinking it might be soon-ish? Should I let her give birth on her Aspen shavings, or should I have her on towel right away?

Thanks everybody, I know you probably get threads like this all the time, but any advice would help

[Shadowfax]

For birth, I would put her on towels -- aspen will stick to EVERYTHING. Zach will be able to give you some great tips, as well as the other breeders on here. I don't think you get any tips though, unless you promise to post baby pictures!

[Tattoo]

Hi Julie Lucky you expecting babies. and good luck with the big event!

[Zach]

For birth, I would put her on towels -- aspen will stick to EVERYTHING. Zach will be able to give you some great tips, as well as the other breeders on here. I don't think you get any tips though, unless you promise to post baby pictures!

I'm afraid I have to agree...no advice until baby pictures are posted.

Sorry.

[Zach]

Kidding!

Babies are independent from day one, and realistically, could goto new homes immediately. It's best to give them a good meal, maybe adjust to "being alive" for a few days, but I really can't think of any reason why someone couldn't come and take one home. If you were going to ship them, I would wait at least two weeks.

Also agreed with Shadow, aspen sticks to everything -- so towels are recommended.

This is a really odd time for a BTS to give birth...where are you getting her and what's the story?

[Brigget]

also i dont know if this was mentioned but ray told me if they dont eat their own birthing sacs each they tend to be sickly later on or something like that. I would pm him.

[Fatal_S]

Are you sure she's pregnant and not just obese? Most babies are born around May, though there are some special cases. If you do get babies, lucky you! Contact known breeders like Zach, Andrew, Ray, etc and get tonns of advice. I know blueys are good to go from day 1, but in reality most breeders keep them until they're feeding well and gaining weight.

It's great to see canadian friends! We'd all love to see pictures. And if you need a good home for a baby *wink wink nudge nudge* Actually I may be visiting Alberta (my bros are in Lethbridge & Edmonton) around christmas. Hmm, I'm thinking skink-napping! Pictures!

[guitarlixx]

Thanks guys, it's good to meet you all.

Picures will be on the way shortly, as soon as I can get them, I promise!

I will move her onto towel as soon as possible I guess. I only have so many that she can soil though.

I didn't realize Skinks weren't usually expecting around this time. Basically, I work at a pet store in the reptile department (PLEASE don't let this give you a poor impression of my knowledge of reptiles...I make it my business to know what I'm talking about when it comes to advice to my customers) and I found out another store had a pregnant skink. I had been looking for a female for just about a year now to go with my Riff-Raff, and they're impossibly hard to find, it seems!

I was very unsure about whether or not this was indeed a female, and actually pregnant, because I find that most people don't even know what Blue Tongue Skinks ARE, let alone how to tell these details. I called the other store and they told me they had a Northern Bluey "ready to pop". I told them to send her my way knowing full well that she may not be a Northern, because nobody I know can tell the difference between most Blueys.

I saw her and was pretty sure she's no Northern. I called the supplier we got her from to find out more details. All the stores got Irian Jayas (perfect because that's what I wanted all this time), and 2 of them were apparently confirmed gravid females. The other gravid one that was sent to another location of our stores apparently gave birth within a couple days.

Magenta is really fat! She looks highly uncomfortable and is breathing rather heavily. I'm a little upset at the condition she's in though. As fat as she is, you can sort of see her backbone, and her hips stick out a bit. I'm not impressed about that, but she's been eating on and off so hopefully I can get her as healthy as possible.

[Zach]

Ohh, get her some good eating right away -- if she is gravid, a bad diet can effect the babies. Do you know what she was being fed? How about now? Get some calcium in that diet....collard greens are excellent.

[Geoff Gates]

As fat as she is, you can sort of see her backbone, and her hips stick out a bit. I'm not impressed about that, but she's been eating on and off so hopefully I can get her as healthy as possible.

Julie,

Huh? can you post some pics?

[guitarlixx]

Yea I'll try and take some right now and upload them.

This has been rather frustrating for me because it's so hard to get answers I'm looking for...like what she was being fed. The supplier doesn't remember or something like that, and the store didn't have her for long enough to feed her (they only had her a couple hours).

I've been feeding her a lot of vegetables and she loves them! She's not nearly as picky as my Riff-Raff is! They're both enjoying some shaved carrot (not too much of it), squash, bok choy, collard greens, purple kale, romaine lettuce, snails, silkworms, some fruit and some high high protein/low fat canned food as well. I try to follow the feeding chart in the caresheet as best as I can, and I bring it with me when shopping.

I dunno...maybe she's not pregnant at all, and she's just obese? But I'll take pictures right away here and post them in a few minutes once I get them uploaded to my photobucket! ^_^

[guitarlixx]

I'm sorry, I should add that that's not supposed to say "high high protein". Just high protein.

Also, when I got Magenta, she was in shed, but had all those mating battle wounds. So maybe the supplier tried to breed her and assumed she was pregnant? I took several pictures just now and they're uploading as I type. It's hard to get a good picture of her though. To me, she seems very flat and fat...rather stretched out, if you will. It's hard to tell in the pictures though, and I tried to get a good one of her hips, but the lighting made it difficult. Also, she's HEAVY! she weighs a lot more than my Riff-Raff, who is the same size.

[guitarlixx]

OK!
So first off, this is my male, Riff-Raff. ^_^



And this is the Skink in question...Magenta:

[Zbiz]

Well she is fat in the middle and skinny at the tail, hips and back she looks pregnant to me. And if she is much heavier than your other one I think she is definately pregnant. They also just seem to be Indos and Meraukes(definately the female LOOK AT THAT LONG TAIL!) rather than IJs.

[Fatal_S]

Zbiz, thanks, I was so confused on what to say. I looked at the pictures and said 'indo'! Then I got confused and went between indo, IJ, and merauke. My problem with calling them indo is the lack of dark outlining on the head, and the first skink looks to have 5 temporal scales. The tail on the second also looks long. Yet the legs are very black (indo) and the stripes look very thin. I'm honestly confused. I'm throwing in my bets with indo though.

As for being preggers, she looks big, but I've never seen a pregnant skink, so I'll leave that to the professionals. Either way I'd move her to towels with maybe some crumpled paper towel for her to hide under. If she does pop it's better to be safe than sorry.

They're both nice looking, what are the temperments like?

[guitarlixx]

Thanks guys

Riff-Raff is a very gentle boy. He huffs a LOT, but he's all bark and no bite. He's never shown any sign of agression towards me. He's a little angel. He's very curious and very picky lol

Magenta, on the other hand...is not as friendly as often as Riff-Raff. Magenta has days where she is SO gentle and friendly and loving and curious. Other days, she's TERRIBLE.

Her temperment definitely reminds me of a pregnant female, that's for sure lol

[SailleSkinklover]

Wow, they look Merauke to me. (Mine is a Merauke too!) But I am certainly no expert yet, so best get opinions from breeders/experts!
Your Riff Raff sounds just like my Chuffers in temperment and pickiness. Was Riff a WC guy too?
Magenta is definitly Chubba, though I have never seen a gravid skink either. But if you get baby Meraukes, I would LOVE to be in line for one!
( For diet, I'd ditch the lettuce and stick with collards! I'm jealous that yours will eat silkworms. )

[mom22wins]

Hi Julie And welcome! I've been following this thread and I have to say I'm so excited for you! Whatever your bluey's are, they are cuties! Can't wait to see babies if there are some!

[guitarlixx]

Thanks guys,
I'm thinking more along the lines of Meraukes too. I first thought Irian Jaya, but I know I'm wrong now. Meraukes ftw!!!

[Leigh]

Those bite marks are low on the body for mating, has she (if its a she) had a dump, it could be an impaction, just a thought...