BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Okay, I know alot of you have posted that your bluey's have never hissed at you. When you say this, I assume you mean displaying with an open-mouth hiss?

The reason I ask is because Sammy makes little "pfffttt" sounds in several different situations. She seems to breath heavy when she's excited like when we first go outside and she smells all the new smells. She also does it when she doesn't want to be bothered like in the morning if I go to pet her head before she's warmed up or when I dig her out of her substrate sometimes. (She's been running from me when I go to get her out. I hate that. She always has a nice experience when she gets out so I don't know why she's spooked at first.)

Anyway, is this "PFFFFTT" what you'd call a "hiss"? If so, then my northern hisses at me all the time! lol

I wondered if it was the whole open-mouthed hiss, not necessarily displaying the tongue. Chuff does the "HUff Huff, when he's excited too. He loves going outside, and he loves exploring the house, but like me, he's not a morning person, and can be a little huffy first thing.
Do you talk to Sammy before you go to dig her out? Also, remember that these guys are ground dwellers that like to hide, so maybe in Sammy's perspective, its a little scary at first when she's taken out until she finds somewhere dark and safe to hide. I know they're also territorial, so maybe once she recognizes certain areas that she's being taken to as safe, then she can comfortably explore. Until then, it might just be, "Aaaaah, I'm out in the open, and my instincts tell me to get under cover until I know I'm saaaaafe!"
I try and make sure Chuff has a "safe spot" wherever I take him, whether that be the broom closet, under the couch, or even under my legs as we're out in the yard. Once he feels secure, then he wanders around and has a blast.
They're all so different in personality, aren't they!

My baby makes noise when she is asleep and I reach in to her viv and wake her. I have refered to it as a huffing noise. She also does it when she is in her hide and can't see out at whatever the disturbance is. She has never offered a "display" or attempted to bite. I always speak to her before reaching in so that she knows I am coming. I think that helps as she has learned to come out of her hide or poke her head out when I talk to her. To spare my own feelings I tell myself that is her way of saying "hello". It always makes me feel better.

Well if it makes you guys feel better my little guy loves to huff and threaten me when I go to pick him up. He's getting so much better now, and even seems to want me to take him out at times, but when I first got him (from a pet store) he was more than willing to bite me. I've been bitten twice, and my younger sister was bitten once. A few days ago he was in a bad mood and huffed at everything (Mr. Huffy-Pants), it was very cute. I don't think the huffing is a bad thing, it seems to be like an agravated sigh to us. I think when people talk about 'hissing' it's the open mouth, and they actually sound more like a snake than just a funny breath. Oh, and for others who have a reluctant skinker, take heart, Pryce now just ignores me when I reach in to pet him or pick him up.

the pffft i think you are refering to is a bluey sneeze. When mine are out side sniffing around and get something in their nose they do that pfft thing to "declog" thier noses. Same with substrate in cages... Although thats wat it seems like it is on this end.

OMG! My little Ringo Romeo does too! ill go in there to take him out and hes like "HHHHMMMMFFF, HUFF HUFF< HUMMF" lol He's always like that....

LittleFoot has never done any open mouth hissing and huffing, but he will huff occasionally when I go to bring him out, but only when he is in his hide or burried. By huff I mean he expands and just blows out some air sound....if he is already out and about in his tank he never huffs.

Quigs has never displayed but if he is disturbed or brought somewhere new he will make the hissing noise you seem to be discribing. Yes it is a hiss but I don't think it's a angry one more of a "if something hurts me, I'm gonna run" type of thing. he also will do this if you touch him with cold hands, and as i always have cold hands he will hiss at me frequently.

My guys huff at me all the time. Sometimes I don't even need to touchg them, all I have to do is walk in the room and make a little noise. If they are sleeping I get a huff that says don't bother me. Depending on the skink, I listen to it or ignore them and scoop them up. In the winter the huff is the only way I know that my guys are still alive.

Pele' almost always huffs me when I get him up too early. (By early, I mean anything before noonish.) My son is this way too but he tends to yell, moan, and occasionally kick. I actually prefer the huffing. Pele' has never tried to bite and only displays at the dog---and only did that once (but it scared me silly!) He still looks at the dog with a horrid look but he does lap duty and the dog does ottoman duty so they're learning to coexist. Pele' rarely flattens now---even when there is a wierd sound. He has never bitten---except once when I was handfeeding him a snail.
Charlotte hissed in her bag when I got her. Can't blame her as the UPS dude practically threw the box to me. She doesn't ever hiss/huff now---even when I dig her out and she is cool. When she sees me, she looks for me to open the cage and give her a treat. She is much more food motivated than Pele' though. She will occasionally flatten herself when she hears a wierd noise, etc. but it falls short of a full display. I've taught the kids that a flat skink is one in need of a skinky time out---and they leave her alone. She has accidentally bitten me on several occasions. My fault though. I was feeding her each time and she is taking awhile to figure out the handfeeding thing. She has never bitten in a defensive/offensive situation.

Tuck never huffs at me..

Tybo on the other hand, is a huff machine. Every time I go to get him out of the cage he huffs and puffs. When my hand gets close, he opens his mouth to bite and about half the time lunges at me. I've been bitten a few times..

Boris my Ij huff and puffs when he was still a baby ( about two months old, when i first got him) he settled down fast, last week when he was on a hunger strikei found him under the newspaper and huffed and puffed really loud and lunge at my finger. when he is also resting inside his hide/humidity box he often huffed and puffed and tried to bit once understable because its like spooking him. Different take when i try to run my fngers on his lips he will always gape and try to bite... hehe

Bowie my Tanny is another story. he will always huff and puff when i try to pick him up,, will gape if my face becomes too close to his, will gape at cameras and will try to bite when i run my fingers across his mouth.
But when your holding both of them theyre ok.

Jeez ... after reading all the postings I have all this huffing and puffing in my head. It's a pretty funny chorus with them all going together. I am beginning to wonder if when we go to pick them up they are saying here comes that fool again or . Time to fire up the engine Huff Puff! I love my Bluey!!!

Thanks for all the responses, guys! Yeah, I don't think there is anything hostile at all about the way Sammy huffs and puffs. After reading some of your posts, I think she just likes to communicate to me that she is irritated (when I wake her up) or excited (when I take her outside before I put her down in the grass).

Good to know I'm not alone. And I have to hand it to those of you who are so patient with your nippy bluey's as they adjust to you and their new homes. You really are great for giving them their time without giving up on them.

mine has displayed once or twice towards the other small animals around him, and an ocassional huff and sneezes, but thats about it. yours sounds interesting, i want mine to make some noise, the only noise he usually makes is his nails scatching the feeding bowl

These days I only get hisses in the morning, because I deal with changing the water before work (and before the lights are on). It's like clockwork. But when he is awake, there's no hissing even when he's startled. When he was a tiny baby, though, I got it all. Gaping mouth, hissing all the time, even lunging and attacking my fingers! One day, it just stopped. I think that day he finally made the connection between food and me.

There are other funny noises now that he is getting bigger and fatter. After a big meal, sometimes I hear the nostril whistle other people have reported. Also sometimes after a big meal, or when he's struggling to climb something, there's a cute little snuffly noise which reminds me of SailleSkinklover's Chuff Chuff.

Hijinks, you crack me up! Thats how Chuff Chuff got his name! (He sounds like a little steam-engine train, like the Hogwarts Express!)

After reading all these posts, I'm fascinated! I'm guessing as babies, Blueys are more "flighty" and aggressive, perhaps so they can survive in the wild?
I got Chuff as an adult, and he's much mellower sounding.

The one and only time Chuff ever bit me was when I had some yellow Yakima cherries, ( the best in the world! ) and he smelled them, and he wanted! So I got a little nip on the arm to say "Hey, lemme have some of that! I is Hoooongryyyy!) So I gave him some, he loved, and he has been fine for months now. He was also getting ready to shed ( which happened the next day) so I think he was a tad cranky. Earlier that evening, he had tried to chomp on my ankle bone as he wandered down my outstretched legs but I caught him before it got to the "Ouch!"stage.
I had noticed that he would go after rocks about the same size as my ankle bone, so I wonder if it was a weird "experimental" thing on his part.



Ok, so I have bony ankles! Just in time for Halloween.

Zbiz wrote:the pffft i think you are refering to is a bluey sneeze. When mine are out side sniffing around and get something in their nose they do that pfft thing to "declog" thier noses. Same with substrate in cages... Although thats wat it seems like it is on this end.

yeah.... Watson does it just like that... i always thought it was a small sneeze.. he does always after eating a wax worm.

I think they ARE small sneezes when they do it after swallowing food or burrowing under the substrate.