BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

I took Quigs to the park today and a couple kids came up asking about him and if they could pet him as I was telling them a little about him the little boys mom came running up grabbed her son and said,"Don't touch that snake it'll bite you!" the little boy looked at her and said,"Mom, it's not a snake! it's a blue tongued skink, and his name is Quigly, and he's really nice see!" the kid went to pet him again and his mom looked kind of freaked but let him then she asked me what a bts was so I gave her a little info on them she asked what I fed him "does it eat mice and stuff?" so I told her Quigs gets mostly green veggies, some fruit, and a little wet catfood and she said "Don't snakes and things like that eat meat?" and I started explaining that he wasn't a snake at all and that he did eat some meat but mostly veggies. after a bit more talking she was amazed that he was just a baby then she actually asked to pet him and when she did she's said" oh he's soft, he looked so shiny I thought he was going to be kinda slimy like a snake." then I went into how snakes aren't slimy either they just have very smooth scales and are really shiny too the boy kept saying "isn't he cool mom" and before they left she said "yeah he's kinda cool" then thanked me for letting them see him.

I thought it was so neat that I had to share.

Yay!! I'm always excited when people think again about reptiles. Good for you! Thanks for helping someone get over their stereotype.

Why do people always think snakes are slimey? Yeah sure they are shiney but they don't even look slimey

I think it's just attached to the general saying "creepy, crawly, slimy" they're all the same. I think if your average person were offerered a million dollars to correctly state whether a snake is truly slimy or not, I'll bet they would get the right answer. A lot of times I think the whole frightful factor is almost a game or show for some people....

Wow, I had a experience like this but with my ferret. I had practicly a crowd of people asking me about her... I actually had one person threaten to call the cops for keeping a wild animal... huh some people. My BTS Babe is too small to take to the park I think, but I'm sure my small town neighbors are gona be interested when hes able!

Zbiz wrote:Wow, I had a experience like this but with my ferret. I had practicly a crowd of people asking me about her... I actually had one person threaten to call the cops for keeping a wild animal... huh some people. My BTS Babe is too small to take to the park I think, but I'm sure my small town neighbors are gona be interested when hes able!

A lot of people are anti-exotic for some reason, and consider all of them to be "wild," when a horse or a dog are more likely to do damage to a person.

Anyway, I always laugh when people think BTS is some some mutant boa or something.

Its great that you told her the 'right' thinks about a bts, as she wasnt to unsure about them, thinking that they were like snakes and eat meat and rats and stuff.
But she walked away knowing the truth and thats what matters right!

You never know, shes probably planning on getting a bts now

f.C

Anyway, I always laugh when people think BTS is some some mutant boa or something.[/quote]


I have never seen or heard of someone thinking it was a snake or something until now. Thats pretty funny

Phantom wrote:

Anyway, I always laugh when people think BTS is some some mutant boa or something.

I have never seen or heard of someone thinking it was a snake or something until now. Thats pretty funny

The ones I usually get are
Is that a snake?
Is that a gecko?
Is that a baby alligator?
Is that an iguana?

and last but not least

What the <H-E-Double Hockey Sticks> is that thing, aren't you afraid it's going to bite you?

Some peoples children.

My insane next door neighbor asked if I turn my skink loose inside my apartment so he'll eat all the "cucaracha".

Hijinks wrote:My insane next door neighbor asked if I turn my skink loose inside my apartment so he'll eat all the "cucaracha".

Tell him,"No, but he does sleep in my underwear drawer.

He won't bother you again, I promise.

Lucifer_Spades wrote:

Hijinks wrote:My insane next door neighbor asked if I turn my skink loose inside my apartment so he'll eat all the "cucaracha".

Tell him,"No, but he does sleep in my underwear drawer.

He won't bother you again, I promise.

Lucifer_Spades wrote:The ones I usually get are
Is that a snake?
Is that a gecko?
Is that a baby alligator?
Is that an iguana?

Funny that you mention Alligator.
When my grandma first saw my blueys, she thought they were baby crocodiles.
Shes never seen bts close up, probably never even new they existed.
She just knows what a crocodile is because its australia=steve Irwin=Crocz!
I love my grandma, shes so cute! lol

f.C

Funda wrote:

Lucifer_Spades wrote:The ones I usually get are
Is that a snake?
Is that a gecko?
Is that a baby alligator?
Is that an iguana?

Funny that you mention Alligator.
When my grandma first saw my blueys, she thought they were baby crocodiles.
Shes never seen bts close up, probably never even new they existed.
She just knows what a crocodile is because its australia=steve Irwin=Crocz!
I love my grandma, shes so cute! lol

f.C

Here on the right side of the planet , our bluey's much more closely resemble alligators nice, short, blunt, broad heads to go with the bullheaded personalities. Or maybe thats just the people?

Everyone who has met Tink and never seen a Blue Tongued Skink thinks that he is Slimey until they touch him. On a funnier note I work with a group students with emotional disturbance and my bluey is a faithful class pet as my previous one was and the first time I told them we were going to get a blue tongued skink my one kid replied " Were getting a BLUE TONGUED SKANK" and they started laughing. LOL

kvega92 wrote:Everyone who has met Tink and never seen a Blue Tongued Skink thinks that he is Slimey until they touch him. On a funnier note I work with a group students with emotional disturbance and my bluey is a faithful class pet as my previous one was and the first time I told them we were going to get a blue tongued skink my one kid replied " Were getting a BLUE TONGUED SKANK" and they started laughing. LOL

This suddenly reminded me of a joke people in my school used to make if you showed up with a blue tougue (from a blue raspberry sucker or something) They'd look you right in the eye and say," What have you been doing to those Smurfs?!"



And to keep this technicaly on topic:

I think that kid will be trying to convince his mom he needs a BTS.

Lucifer_Spades wrote:

kvega92 wrote:Everyone who has met Tink and never seen a Blue Tongued Skink thinks that he is Slimey until they touch him. On a funnier note I work with a group students with emotional disturbance and my bluey is a faithful class pet as my previous one was and the first time I told them we were going to get a blue tongued skink my one kid replied " Were getting a BLUE TONGUED SKANK" and they started laughing. LOL

This suddenly reminded me of a joke people in my school used to make if you showed up with a blue tougue (from a blue raspberry sucker or something) They'd look you right in the eye and say," What have you been doing to those Smurfs?!"



And to keep this technicaly on topic:

I think that kid will be trying to convince his mom he needs a BTS.

I think your right and now that the mom knows a little bit about it she might be tempted to do so . Too bad we dont have business cards with the forum site so she could get more info and not be swindeled by some of the pet shops.

We do!

Just send me your address, and I'll send you some.....

My nan always asks "hows that snake with the little legs doing", she thought that he'd be slimey, same as she thought that the beardy would give her splinters like a sea urchin

Kids tend to be more open-minded than adults. Take every opportunity to educate kids about our blueys and reptiles in general. All we need are for legislators to regulate our ownership of blueys like they do pit bulls and ferrets. My son did a science project on his. I supplied our allergist with literature about blueys as a good pet for asthmatics. I am a teacher who will follow Jenn's lead and take mine to school. Most people who see me with Pele' leave with a better impression than they had when they first saw him. The kids on my children's school bus actually wave to him. Take every opportunity you can to educate onlookers---especially the kids. Hopefully we can teach the next generation kindness and tolerance for animals. Their role models (Michael Vick?) don't always do a good job and some of their parents don't do much better.....