BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Hi there,finally took some more pictures of the lizards in the outdoors enclosure,the eastern thats nearly full grown is one of last years babys,the northern blotchy in the close up,with the dragon and in the middle of the other two blotchys is last years baby.I kept this baby because it looked like a female even when it was born and it hasnt changed much,i wouldnt have a clue what sex my easterns are,guess ile find out though.

Colin.

Interesting how you were actually able to take pics of them with them running and hiding. My guys do the johnny bolt every time they see me.

Most of them are not too scared blotch,theres a land mullet in there thats like a black flash,just see a tail disappearing,its a pity its so shy cause its a spectacular looking skink! I have seen landmullets that have become very tame,a friend had one that would appear at feeding time in his outdoor cage and bite his shoes to test for food,mines just gone totally wild.

I'm not sure how to keep my outside ones tame. I look for them - and once i get them i hold them and try associate with them - but I think that because i have so much grass clippings in there, they just burrow and hide. maybe i should re design the interior?

The breeder we bought our Bluey from said her BTS became much less tame once they were outside and with the company of other skinks. She said that one BTS in particular that had been very tame while kept in its own enclosure inside and handled frequently started hissing when handled after getting used to regular skink company rather than human company.

Yeh I can identify with getting those butt shots of the Highlands as they are running away

Colin - the babies are coming along nicely. I should have given them a wash before the photo but the colours are coming along well too.

Photo taken the other day.


Scott

hey scott - have you found that blotchies get along really well with easterns? Like in all your experience when you had lowlands etc..?

EASTERNS AND BLOTCHIESSS!!

f.C

I've gotta say I never saw a fight or any real aggression between Easterns and Blotchies but then I never put them in a small tank together- only had a few Easterns (East Gippsland ones) and the odd injured one off roadsides. The Gippy ones were quite dopy at the best of times.

The lowlands weren't fussed and actually followed me around for food and generally sweet temperament (generalisation), not like my current silly Easterns that run to the hills. Also the highlands aren't quite as flighty as the Easterns but still do a runner. Of course the blotchies do the pretending to be a stick thing, some of the time. duh!

Easterns fight each other in small enclosures I've seen them getting into it a few times in pet shops, and they are quite nasty. They tend to pick on individuals and bite straight for the face. I haven't seen this between blotchies to easterns in a large outdoor enclosure but the dynamics are so different in small enclosures that anything is possible.

The worst damage I had was Female to male bites in mating season between blotchies, ie. bleeding eye, swelling under the jaw from superficial face bites. Mostly cos the females were so much larger and more powerful and were often harrassed in their non breeding years. May have had some male to male bites but can't say I saw that.

With the current lot, the highland blotchies are un-fussed by the Easterns, even when hissing at me. Liz, tends to pair off with the larger of the baby Easterns and I normally find them sleeping together.

Scott

Scotts1au wrote:Yeh I can identify with getting those butt shots of the Highlands as they are running away

Colin - the babies are coming along nicely. I should have given them a wash before the photo but the colours are coming along well too.

Photo taken the other day.


Scott

Hi scott,yes they are displaying good colour,thats what you want,wait to you see how big these northern form blotches get! Glad your happy with them,theyve got a good home,thats cool

how big do they get colin? You say Northern form, what do you mean by that? Where exactly are they from?

great pics guys,love those nsw alpines,i just got an adult pair of them on the weekend for a bargain price,one shows orange on its back,the other more yellow,i think they may both be females,if not the big orange one is a big big male,ill post pics soon in another thread,id love to see your landy some time colin

beautiful skinks!!

hey blotch,ive found with mine the blotchys are fine with the easterns,though the blotchys are way more out going and dominate the food bowl ect,meaning they trample the easterns to get to it,it surely stresses the easterns a bit,but apart from that they are fine,ive never seen them have a go at the other species at all except juvies,i once had a blotch baby almost bite the nose off of a similar sized eastern after the eastern tried stealimng food from its mouth,the eastern recovered and i know longer keep newborns of different species together,but yeah adults wise,i find its the easterns that shy a way from the blotchys out goingness,as to tameness outdoors,easterns seem a little more shy,but arent much different to blotchys,my outdoor blotchys arent shy at all,they come to me when i go near the cage,and if i go in they climb all over me,when i dig in there looking for my waterdragon eggs they all hang around my hands,the odd one even takes a nip at me,lol,but yeah over time they come to recognise u as the one thats going to feed u,and seeing as i have decent sized groups of them,if they dont come out looking,they may miss out,even the shy cunningham skinks are brave enough to pop out for some food now,they used to hide on the site of me approaching but there slowly getting used to me,i can imagine colins landy hiding all the time,my 2 landys would do the same out doors to i think,the big one might not run straight away but i definatly think the smaller one would be off hiding in a shot

beautifull skinks! those alpines are to die for, nice beardie to id be intereseted to see a pic of that land mullet though

Yeh by the time the Easterns come back out to check things out the food it already gone Blotchies know that there is only one safe place for food - in their tummy.

I've never seen fights between baby blotchies even in small enclosures. They just stack on each other.

Scott

I just chucked in some photos of my lone mature Central Vic Eastern in his big enclosure, cos I can


Now - If I just stand still long enough he won't see me! [img]


Tongue shot

What a tongue shot!
Hahah the second standing pic if mega cute!

By the way Scott, you have the pictures and the captions in the wrong places

Thanks for sharing though, mate.

f.C

Never mind you changed them

f.C

and what a tongue shot it is!