BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Well hey
a couple have come in with a bad case of the influenza . Still learning more about this blasted virus .

And ive got Crikey home again after a 2nd case of the flu .. But the little late baby is 205 grams now .. Few shingles


See my Tube Geoff - This really gets the steam going into there lungs.

Had lots of rain .. good buckets of snails //

late babe

In the Tube getting a neb..


He has the flu note the eyes + a orange baby was found against a fence with advanced flu ..

This poor lil bobies tail is flat , really sick tube feeding

Look how much weight its lost . Its put on 50 grams but not outa danger .

A box full sleeping on a heat matt .Healthy and on lights ..some ill let go in the spring

Crikey home again but quarintined away from all other BTS .

Popeye what a guts that twin is and funny .
Popeye eats none stop had 5 large snails last night .lol Twins on red warm light

And popeye again , Liam took these last shots .
Walking round the kitchen ,iam sure he thinks there toys .. Gee the Twins love there blue heat matt ,and the hot red lamp mmmm Warm

They all have the look... "We're in the right place... we'll be better in no time" Good luck to you and a healthy, speedy recovery to these guys!

Wow! Those twins are huge!

How long/heavy are they now, Ian?

Oh Popeye 230 grams They had a real growth pickup on meal worms
meat,snails red lettace .Yere he is a sweet heart she still puffs when you wake her up , then licks OH good morning ..Iam supposed to be in brumation typical female Olive snappy in the morning
thnx Ruth

ps the tribe in the box were gettin loaded up for a trip outside . No they dont live like that , still sunny and nice in the day..they like it out on the grass

awsome job with the stumpy rehabilitation ,also lovely looking skinks the lot of them,hope the flu never gets over to the eastern populations of asper,and more to the point hope those rugosa get immune to it or it just leaves the poor buggers be,i love those western stumpies,oh yeah i love them all,lol,keep up the great work mate,im proud of u

awesome pics! I hope I can have a shingle one day.

Good news and good photos as always mate, was Crikey the one that went walkabout a couple of weeks ago, did he get the flu again or dont they ever realy kick the germ and go into relapse, you do do some top work for the Aussie flora and fauna mate

DeadEye wrote:Oh Popeye 230 grams They had a real growth pickup on meal worms
meat,snails red lettace .Yere he is a sweet heart she still puffs when you wake her up , then licks OH good morning ..Iam supposed to be in brumation typical female Olive snappy in the morning
thnx Ruth

Tye always huffs when woken. He doesn't like "mornings" (mornings = being woken at any time). But pick him up and he turns into a sweetie. He's never been aggressive at all in any way. He just huffs and puffs a little when you disturb his rest. We call him "little choo choo".

DeadEye wrote:ps the tribe in the box were gettin loaded up for a trip outside . No they dont live like that , still sunny and nice in the day..they like it out on the grass

I did think that was a lot of shingles in one spot - even for your zoo, Ian.

I think we have all died and gone to shingleback heaven with these pics! I love it! Good job with the rehabbing Deadeye!

Hi Ian, I think you do a bang up job with those shingles
But can I ask, is the flu contagious? If so, with all those shingles in varying stages of recuperation, but also in close contact with one another, doesn't that put them at risk of getting it again or not recovering fully? Or are only the full cured ones allowed to mingle? And what are your hygiene regulations for in between handling different ones? Do you use F10 or an antiseptic or something?

Just curious! Keep up the t'riffic work
Santos says hi to his western cousins! (well, no. He doesn't. He's sleeping. But I do! )

Great job, as always Ian. Ya think you could make a neb tube big enough for me to crawl into? I don't mind sharing with a few skinks!

Ian, I always enjoy looking at your pictures. I don't exactly know why. Maybe it's because I am used to seeing captive skinks, living the high life. It's interesting to see the wild ones that are struggling to survive.

Lisa wrote:But can I ask, is the flu contagious? If so, with all those shingles in varying stages of recuperation, but also in close contact with one another, doesn't that put them at risk of getting it again or not recovering fully? Or are only the full cured ones allowed to mingle?

I'll start off by saying I have no idea if the flu is contagious or not.

I asked some wildlife rehabbers recently (the same ones who took care of Drazil when he was a baby) about the bobtail flu, and they told me it was a generic term for a respiratory infection. Generally over here it occurs in skinks that are injured or ill as a secondary infection (like humans that are bedridden get pneumonia), or in skinks that are kept in poor conditions (too cold, too damp, no heat sources, etc.).

I don't know if Ian uses the term in the same way, or if he's referring to the same kind of infection.

Good questions...

Oh Hi Ruth & Hey Lisa really busy sorry
Bobtail flu has a few names . But isnt what you mean dampness ect.
This is killing 48% of native Tiliqua rugosa rugosa

The virus may have started in a pet shop . But i only get mine brought in from the public found blinded, flat tailed .I have never seen a BTS come in thats a pet .However the virus is highly contagious . (EG) Some volunteers came down to the centre and didn,t wash there hands ,all the ones i was getting gut ready all came down sick with it .So soon as they recover they go to another building its air born..And is a virus

You have seen this Ruth Hey ?

Note the huge nebuliser , this iisn,t like a common cold Better known as U.R.T.I Upper respriatory tract infection . We suck 50 mil of mucus from there lungs because its a virus .They do relapase ..Un checked is fatal every time . http://www.kanyanawildlife.org.au/learn ... _intro.php Thanks Marie thats very sweet . Yes i know what your talking about ruth this is alot more deadly. >>>click next to see more on U.R.T.I . Only in Perth so far . Gee had some rain over east Ruth

That link doesn't bode well for the future, what did it originate from in the pet shop,does anyone know,has it mutated from another Aussie animal and do you reckon someone will find a cure? I realy do hope so, keep up the work mate, I've got my fingers crossed for the whole episode, sorry for all the questions, I know yer a proper busy family, best of luck mate.

Really were are all new to this Leigh its is a virus not a cold . Its very new as the link shows. But ive done autopisies on them ...These are my thoughts
- There ground eaters , could be pollution lead,ect cause they eat close to the ground ?
-Could be birds that have migrated with a foreign virus affecting bobtail,s
- But i would put money on it that pet shops over crowding there birds ,skinks and some virus has mutated in them . And being highly transmisible has got into the native ones . Only all thoughts no proof ..But its devastating to go bush walking and see the amount blind and dead againt the fence.Some areas they all have it in one national park. The ranger brings in 5 a week i go easy on that baytril , and put my effort into nebulising them . As its knocks there livers around ive only had 2 die so far and they had been run over the face by a car on top of the U.R.T.I . And had 2 come back after 5 weeks with it again ..Also there getting there habitat taken away faster than you can think .So there living in tiny pockets of scrub with roads all around them . Poor lil guys are getting shafted . There isn,t much info on it on ,we need more viroligist students to take up the fight. Hard work keeping them seperate. Ones ready to go free get away from the centre .. Cheers Mate

Thanks for the answers, have you thought of patenting the nebuliser design and getting it mass produced?

Interesting, Ian.