New Breed update

[2BTS's]

Alright so I have took all of your advice on breeding and trying to sex my BTS's. I put them together and watched them closely and monitored their behaviour. No comet(my little one) was one top of one of the hides comet walked down and found titan(the bigger one) in the hide. Comet was by the tail and did a little nip at Titan's tail. Titan then poked his/her head out, Comet again decided to take another nip and titan went to the next hide. Comet followed over. Titan puffed up and turned his head and looked at Comet. Comet was waging his/her tail, then Titan ran over across Comet(they did not do anything to each other) Comet then started to wiggle his/her tail more....and then I had to leave real quick so I had to seperate them. What do think this all means?

[Piggy]

The tail wagging deffinately shows that Comet is female and Titan is male. The only reason they didn't do anything else is that they require a cooling period to breed. But don't take my word, I have no idea.

[Blotch]

I know the caresheet says that tail wagging is a definate sign of a female - but It's not 100% accurate. One of my males wags his tail when confronted with a dominant male. i'm sure the tail wagger is male cuz i've seen him poop and drop plugs. However - it does sound like your two are breeders.

[Zach]

I know the caresheet says that tail wagging is a definate sign of a female - but It's not 100% accurate. One of my males wags his tail when confronted with a dominant male. i'm sure the tail wagger is male cuz i've seen him poop and drop plugs. However - it does sound like your two are breeders.

Definitely true -- some males also wag the tail when plopped down outside. But when it comes to males and females interacting, the tale wagging is a good sign, especially of the male makes a few moves; this can REALLY ger her tail flailing.

[Richard.C]

my male blotches tail wag ,i wouldnt say only females do it,but it sounds like u may have a pair,when males fight they generally just go the bite,they will keep chasing to bite the weaker male,which usually tries to run away at a great rate of knots,you describe yours climbing over the other one as well which makes me think pair,as from experience males that fight with males generally just go the nip,no climbing and nudging,just straight out want to bite the other,northerns being from a more tropical area wont need to be cooled as much as easterns and blotcheds so the natural cooling where u keep them may be enough of a trigger for them to breed,my suggestion is to keep introducing them as often as u can whilst still keeping a very close eye on them,keep us posted on how they go,thanks for the update,be nice if they were a pair and produced,as there 2 nice looking northerns u have

[2BTS's]

Well thanks for all the positive comments and feedback. I will try introducing them again soon and maybe get a litttle video (while keeping a close eye on them) to show all of you. If they where to males I would think the bigger one of the two would be the one chasing the little one around. I will keep everyone updated

[Richard.C]

well the bigger male isnt always the most dominant,one of my most aggressive male blotch,s is quite small,probably the smallest breeder,but also the actual dominant breeding male isnt the largest either,hes a good average size,i have a larger male but he gets chased off by the most dominant average size male,but does eventually get a chance to breed,note i keep outdoors and have a large group housed together,with multible sexes ,and yearlings up to adult size,the only aggression shown is during the breeding season,where the males can get fighty,but no damage results from there fighting,they usually have a scrap then hassle a female to there liking,the small aggressive male always trys one of the larger females and gets dragged around,and hes way to small to her in comparrison to actually mate as he always grabs the neck area and trys to make the female curl so he can align him self,lol

[Blotch]

i keep outdoors and have a large group housed together,with multible sexes ,and yearlings up to adult size

So how many males do you have housed together? Also - how many Females do you have housed with the males? I was under the impression that everyone was opposed to housing multiple blueys together indoors and out unless it was breeding season - and even then I thought it was advised to be a 1 on 1 atmosphere. (I house mine in small groups atm - 3 and 2 in 2 4ft tanks - 2x in a 3ft tank - and 2 in seperate 2ft tanks).

Couple of things, due to me setting up the outside pit, Do you set up multiple food dishes all over the pen when feeding or have 1 big one - or just throw food in wherever it lands?

Do you put out water bowls or have a pond for them to drink out of?
How often do you change that water?

How do you go about making sure the pen doesn't flood?

Do you like Big Macs? (uhhh ok - that was for funnies)

That's enough for now - after you answer these I have more Q's for you!

[2BTS's]

Hi all,
I put my two bts's together again and this time their was alot of agression, Comet was trying to bite Titan, Comet was also wagging his tail while lunging at titan. Titan would puff up and Curve his head and look sharp at Comet. I think I may have two males. I am almost positive I don't have two female and a male and female does not seem so likely right now. What are all your male and female behaviours when you put them together with no brumutation?

[Blotch]

My males sometimes do nothing when there's a female or a male around - sometimes they will nudge the female a bit, sometimes nudge the males a bit, Very rearely do mine attack each other, only ever have problems when i put 2 specific blotchies (Lil and Lance) together or - put either one of them with another male.

[Richard.C]

hahaha,nice one blotch,im a quater pounder type of guy myself,now to answer your questions,1,i find blotches to be alot less aggressive in groups,only time they fight is the breeding season,but they dont do any damage to each other,though my biggest male lost a couple of toes when another male nipped his foot and hung on,thats the only damage that ive seen,being outdoors they have places to get away from the aggressor,he copped the nip as he was going another one ,which latched on to his back foot as thats all he could reach,i house multible sexes together,probably a good 10 males to 10 females of the lowlands,and alot of yongens in there as well,yearlings to sub adult size,on the other side as my cage is partioned to keep eastern and gippsland water dragons seperated and to keep the alpine blotcheds from the lowlands,i have the pair of alpines and just young blotches,the cunningham skinks that r in there to can get on each side,good climbers that can sqeeze through the tin side,out doors they have room to get away from each other if need be,apart from the breeding season,ive found the blotches to be fine together,no aggression at all,i have a pond in each cage but also supply a couple of drinking bowls to,i use large pot plant base thingys,the name eludes me right now,lol,easterns that ive housed out doors have shown more aggression,and out of the breeding season,but nothing serious,now if i had northerns i wouldnt keep in such big groups,some types of bluies i wouldnt keep in groups as they can be very aggressive,indoors i have a group of stumpies housed together,7 of them,i adult male and 2 adult females,plus ther grown up offspring from the last couple of years,plus one other i added to pair off with one of the offspring when they mature,they have never shown any aggression but i only have the one adult male,though there is one of his youngsters which is male and must be around the size of breeding,hope that answers your questions blotch,ask away if u wanna know more,oh sorry for the drag on,haha

[Richard.C]

hi 2bts,s,there is the chance they r 2 males,thats why i said keep an eye on them,also a pair can actually carry on like that as well,some females can attack a male if they dont want to b hassled,sorry not helping u much,is it holding on when its biting,what area is it biting,does it seem to just bite and thats it,and i noticed u said the aggressor wiggled its tail as well,is it like a fast excited wriggle,forgot to mention in earlier post,when my blotch males fight sometimes the males wiggle quite vigourously,when a female does the tail wiggle when being mated,i find its rather slow,hope that helps,thanks for keeping us updated to,do u have pics of the aggression,maybe take some when u introduce them again,would help show whats happening,cheers mate

[Blotch]

How about feeding them? Do you just throw the food in or have seperate food dishes scattered so they can find them, or do you just have 1 food dish per section?

Bummer their toes don't grow back like the tails huh!

Every time the sun comes out i'm out looking at the plave whereI wanns put the outdoor enclosure. I'm thinking about making it a tad longer so they get a little more basking area. I'll go take a pic and show you what i mean.

[Richard.C]

and blotch ,which one is lil,thats not one i thought was a lass,lance looks like hes the most dominant,he looks alot like my best breeder,my best breeder isnt very aggressive though,he is more interested in the females,but if the other males have a go at him he shows them whos boss,they generally leave him be though,my male alpine is much the same,not aggressive at all and mates instead of chasing other males away

[Richard.C]

oops sorry forgot that one,lol,i generally just fill up one plate but the cage with the large group of lowlands i spread piles on there hide box lid as well,as there isnt enough room at the bowl when upwards of 30 lizards try to eat at once,saves them from over crowding bowl so they all can eat,note theres also waterdragons and cunninghams in there as well,cunninghams are shyer so eat away from bowl if its crowded,water dragons just go to where ever they want as if blueys arent there,lol,ill have to do a group feeding pic or 2 come spring to show what i mean,lol,very amusing going in there to feed them,they all come a runnin when its feed time,and pics of your cage area will be good,have u sussed out if it gets sun in the spot most of the day

[Blotch]

ok here's what i mean - where you see the black line is where i'm thinking about having it come out to. the sun generally runs along the fence like you see it, but grows shorter as the day goes on due to the roof of the house casting a shadow.



Also - What do you do to combat the pen from flodding?

You mentioned grass clipping/compost - I'm gonna put a layer of tan bark in there so they can't exactly dig, would it be advisable to maybe put in some grass clippings too? We have heaps!!!

[Blotch]

here are all those birds eye Pics so you can tell me which ones you think are males and females.

Lance


Lil


Mini


Vic


Chopper


Fritz


Micro (Optimus Primal)

[Richard.C]

hmmmm,im still thinking vic a lass,just looking at the pic,pics can b decieving ,but i come to my conclusion by body build,solider than usual males look,eg tail base and relative to head size,also its pretty big so its usually easier to tell when they r sizable,as males heads r in general of larger size relative to body,my males tend to be big headed,sleek build,but they can be solid in build to,so thats where head size comes into it as well,also its good to gauge from behaviour as well,my guess is it doesnt attack the others,and if it did try it would be in self defence,also re your proposed cage area,does it get more sun at all,as it only seems to b getting a little bit in the corner,mine get alot of sun for most of the day,which is much preferable,do u have a sunnyer area,u really need to get more sun

[Blotch]

Yeah the sun goes along the back fence but as you see gets smaller as the day goes on. Don't forget it's winter, so the sun stis lower in the sky than it does in the warmer months. During summer, with the sun hanging higher in the sky, I'm sure there is more sun - I remember it being alot more sunnier than it currently is.

On the sexing issue - you think that out of all my blotchies, Vic is the female??? No other potentials??

[Lucifer_Spades]

quite honestly Vic was my only choice for a female too nto that I have experiance but I tend to be a very good guesser when it comes to sexing animals.


On a side note I went back to the petco where I got quigly and they have another skink a BIG IJ they were saying it was a female and then they told me the only other skink they had gotten in (Quigly) was a female too because they both had brownish eyes (Quigly has VERY orange eyes) my first impression of the big IJ was male(VERY broad head, squishy butt, orangy eyes), and I also believe Quigly is male (orange eyes, broad head,squishy butt)