question about my skink

[Eric]

Is it possible to determine if my skink is wild caught? Or no?

[SailleSkinklover]

Yes, its possible to surmise, but with Petco's policy of where they get their animals, (from some distributor somewhere) its not likely you'll ever find the animal's true history. I can't speak for other petstores though.

Post pics, sometimes what species it is can help determine, and also, behaviours can sometimes tell you.
Mine gets crazy wild when he's outside, so I have to keep a very very close watch on him.

[Eric]

here are a few I took just now. These are unfortunately all he would let me take of him he started getting antsy cuz of the acward way I was holding him.

[SailleSkinklover]

Can you get a "Bird's Eye View" shot of him?
Looks IJ or Merauke to me, but its hard to tell with you holding him. Sweet face though!

I would guess highly likely that yours is a wild caught. The good news is, it doesn't in any way mean that you won't have a good pet once a clean bill of health is given. . .Mine has tamed down really well and he's a total character. It just takes some time, patience and attention.

Blueys by nature tend to be pretty mellow, they're great animals all around in my opinion!

[Eric]

That was about as good as I can get I have to use the web cam because I can't find my camera.

[Eric]

Ok so I have decided that I HATE petco the poor thing has mites... or ticks would ticks run around or are those mites? I just killed a bunch of them but I think there are more hiding in his scales

[Tattoo]

Those would be mites if they are running around and hiding under the scales. Little black things right?

[SailleSkinklover]

Looks Indo to me, the banding is really speckly, much more so than the Merauke's I've seen. But you know, I'm still not confident in my ID'ing them, unless they're a Merauke because I have one!

But even that is no guarantee. Go onto the BTS.net homepage, and in the upper left corner there are various species you can click on and get examples of pics and descriptions.
At the bottom of the indos, theres one that looks very Merauke but it isn't because the parents are technically Indos?
It can be quite confusing. Thats why I'm hoping Zach or Nomad or one of the old hats at ID-ing will show up for you.

If they're little tiny black things, your Poor guy probably has mites. Get rid of his substrate and put him on Paper towels, and go into the search tab at the top and type in Mites, you shouold be able to get info on what to do for your poor buddy!

Mites, Yuk!!!!

[Eric]

yeah should I go for a bottle of mite off?

[Tattoo]

I was thinking it looked like an Indo too. Would love to see a top down shot. Yup time to go buy some Reptile Relief. Poor guy.

[SailleSkinklover]

Read this thread, it might help to know you're not the only one who has to deal with this issue!
http://bluetongueskinks.net/forum/viewt ... light=mite

Hope it helps, I have been extremely lucky in that I haven;t had to deal with this first hand at all.

[Fatal_S]

Pet stores suck so much. Get some mite off or reptile relief or something to get rid of those mites. Keep him on paper towel as substrate for 6 weeks to make sure there's no re-infection. Saile's thread should have all the info you need.

As for species, you have an indonesian BTS. Indo's are pretty much a 99% chance of being Wild Caught. He can still be a great pet, you're just going to need to be patient with him.

Have to add that I love the pictures. You look like you just got out of bed and you're not ready to be awake yet ^.^

[Leigh]

Make sure you clean the tank/viv whatever he's in as well,also get rid of the substrate,or at least take it outside and check thats not where the infestation came from.