I need a little help identifying my BTS

[Lave]

Hello,

I've gotten my first blue tongue skink a few days ago and I am super excited! I got him (or her of course :p) from a breeder who sold him as a Tiliqua gigas Gigas. I've been in a small community of other skink owners for a couple days and someone mentioned that my skink wasn't an Indonesian/Halmahera (I'm not too familiar with the difference yet) but a Merauke.

I've probably checked out 600 webpages and foto's at this point but I keep going back and forth in thinking which it actually is. So I figured I'd ask for some assistance here.

Thanks in advance!

[mb606587]

Yes that's a Merauke

[ReiDaPanda]

ok so i have been starting to doubt what kind of skink mine is i have been told that mine is a meruke by the guy i bought her from but after visiting the zoo in my area and the reptile shop and the got halameras and the one at the zoo looks exactly like mine so do i actually have a meruke or did i get something else

[Janella]

You both have Merauke

[Lave]

Thanks for the clarity!

[ReiDaPanda]

this helps a bit and i wanted to make sure since i saw similar skinks that looked the same do you have any pointers to help me identify in the later on because i can't really tell the difference between hlameras and merukes

[IvanDanko]

These videos may assist you in identifying the differences amongst BTS and includes some Merauke and Halmahera descriptions:

https://youtu.be/vHqc6DKixr4

https://youtu.be/slbVoUbrKkY

[Zilla]

I was told I have an irian jaya skink
Please can someone confirm this?

[Janella]

Zilla post some pictures please, so we can help I'd.

[Zilla]

Sorry not sure why it didn't attach first time.
Have done some research on this forum and seems to be indonesian BTS. From my understanding most are wild caught, however the reptile shop owner did confirm the skink to be captive bred and said he only gets captive bred reptiles as a rule of thumb. They do have great reviews and the seller was very knowledgeable imo. So I hope this is the case. My BTS is a bit hissy when attempting to pick up but calms down very quickly once this is done and is then quite handleable. He/ she seems to be in good condition and hopefully will become more calm when being approached for handling.

[mb606587]

Zilla you have a Halmahera Indonesian. These skinks are almost entirely sold as "Captive born", not "Captive bred". Captive born typically means either A. a pregnant female skink was imported and gave birth shortly after while in captivity or B. the skink was farmed, which means somebody in Indonesia kept a large number of skinks on his property and sold the babies after they inevitably bred. Most people, to include shop owners and pet stores, often confuse the two terms