New BTS & New to Forums! (Added new pics)

[Katrina]

Hi Everyone -

I've been lurking these forums for quite a while now, and finally we have a BTS of our own! My bf and I decided we wanted one over 2 years ago, but being in Canada we had the hardest time finding breeders in Canada (we didn't know about this site for a while) and finally we decided to wait until after we moved into our house to get a baby. Now, finally, we just picked up a baby from Guitarlixx tonight!!

I'm so excited - we got a little girl (just an assumption, because her head is smaller than some of her siblings and because Kira is the only name my bf and I agreed on!!! lol), and she is really active, curious, and docile. She was born November 13th, and and seems to be in perfect health. I thought she would want to burrow and hide once we got her into her new home, but she burrowed for about 30 seconds, then popped back out of her hide (she has a large snake hide that we put a hand towel in to give her something to burrow better into), and spent the next 2 hours exploring all of her aquarium. She is now asleep, but I was so glad to see her active and not at all afraid - she would come right up to the glass and watch us, and is not skittish.

I will post lots of pics as soon as I can locate the USB chord for the camera!! We need help deciding what species she is, as her mom look Merauke and the babies look Indo, so lots of pics are definitely in order.

Anyways, thank you so much to Guitarlixx, and hi everyone!! Sorry for such a long first post without any pics to accompany it.

[Fatal_S]

Congrats and welcome to the forum! Can't wait for pictures. Baby meraukes and baby indos all tend to look the same. Go by the parents, or just wait until she grows up to see for sure ^.^ Where in Canada are you? I love meeting fellow Canuks on here ^.^

[Katrina]

Thanks & nice to meet other Canadians as well! We are in Sherwood Park, AB, so right outside of Edmonton. I was so excited to find baby BTSs is Alberta!!!

The mom looks Merauke, but either way we really don't mind. Since this is our first, we just want a happy, healthy, spoiled bluey!

The father in unknown, as the mom was purchased gravid, so I will post lots of pics and end up waiting and seeing what she turns into - right now she looks fairly indo, with small white specks on her little black legs, solid stripes down the back and distinct separated scales on the top of her head (well, small black outlines!). She has really solid striping down the tail though, and she, mom & siblings exhibited really great temperament like Meraukes are supposed to... lol.

She is asleep right now, burrowed deep in the oversized snake hide with the hand towel. I'm so glad to finally have one after 2 years - at least are prepared for her!

[Fatal_S]

Yay ^.^ One day another Manitoban will join, and we will have giant Manitoba parties. So it is written, so it shall be. So how long before getting her did you have the setup ready? I had mine ready months before ^.^ I had to wait 2+ years before I got my first herp, Cow. Now a year later, I have 3 BTS, and am looking to get a fourth within a month, with many more in spring, including shingles. They are addicting. I saw GuitarLixx's babies, very cute! I was thinking of getting one, but I'm trying for tannies, shingles and keis right now. Otherwise, I'd have been after those purdy babies. Once again, CONGRATS!

[mewzic-7123]

congrats on the new baby!! cant wait to see the pictures! Your lucky you didnt get a shy skink

[Kya Ajiira]

GRATZ!!! And yay more canadian bluey owners! To bad i can't come to any alberta bluey meeting haha! And i can't wait to see pictures =D!

[evil pixie]

[Katrina]

Hi Everyone - hope this works. Here are some pics I took last night when she was first exploring. She just woke up now, but is hanging out under that log so no more good photo ops. just yet!

By the way - she is on paper towel as substrate right now, just for the first little bit. Those dark bits are bits of bark that fell of the little log hide - no mites, I promise!! And the slate rock shown has no way to fall on her - it is secure.

I'll post some better pics of her home after we're done with it and get her on substrate etc. Right now we are still figuring out what she likes / dislikes and working on getting the temperature right for the basking end. Our little digital thermometer says it only gets to 32 degree celcius in the basking end (20% humidity), but the rocks are really warm to the touch and she isn't spending a lot of time on them, so if she isn't using them to bask I guess we'll move the light further away. I'm sure the actual rock temp. would be different from that on the side of the glass! Any comments / suggestions are welcome.

Thanks for the nice welcome!

[Bird_Brain]

What a cute little skink! Keep the pictures coming.

As far as getting the temps correct, I highly recommend a temp gun. Im not sure how much they are in Canada, but they are rather inexpensive here in the US.

[Leigh]

nice photos there,I love the dark banding.

[SailleSkinklover]

Awwwwww, looks like my Chuff Chuff in miniature! Soooooo Cute!

[Katrina]

Thanks everyone! We think she's perfect!

Fatal: We had some of this stuff for 2 years as well! So glad its being used now.

We just fed her live food for the first time - I picked up superworms to see how she would react to them. Previously she had been housed with siblings so this was her first time seeing worms, and she loved them. Ran over, sniffed it, stuck her tongue out and then grabbed it and swung it around viciously before gobbling it down. She then ran around her cage sniffing for another one, so we gave her one more. I think we ruined her appetite for greens, so tomorrow all she gets is cat food mixed with lots of bok choy and swiss chard and some fruit! Glad to see that she isn't opposed to live food though - she loved it.

For 5 week old babies, how much should we be feeding them? Should they still get offered food daily? And if she is eating mostly worms (we will be picking up silk worms from a breeder soon), how can we get her to eat her greens as well?

Thanks everyone!!!

[Tattoo]

to the forum Katrina. Of course your baby is perfect ... she's a . Contrats on your new bundle of joy. You will be surprised how madly in love you will be. Welcome to the insanity.

[KyleWeiss]

We have enough members and blueys. GO AWAY.






...



I'm just kidding. Your bluey is adorable. Welcome.

KW

[Zach]

Welcome!

[shingleback aus]

welcome

[Katrina]

Here are a few more pics of our little Kira. We definitely got a clean little skink - she always goes to the bathroom in the exact same spot, and never walks through it. She also will eat every kind of food we have offered so far, but once she is done eating she licks her lips forever and then wipes her mouth on the paper towel substrate until she is satisfied that she is clean! She stops eating when she if full, which is good because we haven't figured out exactly how much a 5 week old skink should get at each meal, but she will stop eating and start cleaning herself as soon as she if full, no matter how much food is left on the plate!

This is Kira out wandering around, checking out an old blanket:


Here she is exploring - the tongue is always going when she is out of her home:


These couple are of her basking:


She tends to lay around most of the time, until we take her out, or she is offered food:


Merry Christmas everyone!! Thanks so much for all the excellent advise on this forum and all the nice comments.

[Tattoo]

I love the tongue shot on the carpet. She is beautiful.

[rachel]

Congratulations on your gorgeous little girl!! welcome to the forum and of course the madness!
Aw im jealous i want a new little baby!
Love the pics-keep em coming!

[KyleWeiss]

I love the tongue shot on the carpet. She is beautiful.

Okay, maybe my unfortunate warehouse humor went too far with that comment...

KW