BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Hi guys/gals

This is a topic ive been thinking of starting for ages,i see alot of keepers stating wild tiliqua studies and basing it on captivity to

Things like diet,breeding,pr bonding ect ect

Some people are pretty certain this holds true for captives to

From my experience,i beg to differ with alot of these claims

Eg stumpies wont mate relatives,tell that to my brother and sister asperas

Alot of skinks eat predominantly vegetation in the wild so that should be offered in captivity ,but no thought goes into why wild ones eat alot of vegetation in the wild,its because they dont have the luxury of choice,survival diets,they have to eat whats available with out expending all there energy,which often leaves them only vegetation at certains times of year,or harsh years

Mother nature is quite harsh on them at times,captivity in comparison offers good times consistently,well if they are set up right

Anyways thought this might be a good topic,would love to hear others thoughts

I agree with your thoughts - it seems many people dislike things, especially dog food, because it is not natural or not something they would eat in the wild. Being in Canada is not natural for them, being in captivity is not natural and being well fed is not natural. There are lots that people overlook when they want to make their point - dog food isn't natural or isn't made for them, but one should feed ground beef or pelleted reptile diet that is primarily grain fillers??

The bluey bible is quoted a lot but it doesn't have a complete picture on their wild diet, especially not for Tiliqua gigas species. Parasites and ticks are natural.

I don't think we know enough about their life in the wild so that it is kind of dangerous to hold onto facts from a journal article and assume it holds true in all cases across all species. Scientific studies really focus on very small details so it takes a long time to put together a complete picture, and Tiliqua really isn't studied enough to have a very good picture on their diet or even their species in the case of the Indonesian ones. If someone finds a single fact that they like and quotes studies as proof, they often don't have a good idea of the background or the scientific process and are just trying to sound smart. Knowing how little we do know, it makes much more sense to go with what obviously works in captivity. People who have kept them for many years likely have more first hand knowledge than most scientists who study them as scientists are studying very specific details and won't be focused on Tiliqua for decades.