LOST SHNGLEBACK OUTSIDE HELP! :(

[Dwarfbeardeddragon]

I just can't beleive it i just recently moved my shingleback skink to his outdoor enclosure, saw him on the second day but for the third and forth day he was out there i didnt see him, thought he was going into brumation since its winter here, so i figured he buried himself in his hay or woodchips, but i wanted him to skip his first brumation here, so when i went to move the flood light and find him, i couldnt, ive thoroughly looked through all his substrate and nope not there, looked through the whole thing and im 100% sure he aint there i just dont understand how he got out, i thought it was escape proof, i honestly just dont know where to go from here

[kingofnobbys]

have you checked for holes in the wire ?
...... If no holes in the wire big enough for him to squeeze though or for a cat to pull him through , then he's still in there somewhere and you need to be methodical.
I'd have a big tub handy and take everything out (a bit at time) and check he is not buried / hiding in the substrate or between sheeting / tarping or what ever you used to keep the substrate in there. Don't return the stuff that is removed until you've checked through everything (spread it out on a tarp and make sure he's not in any big lumps of substrate by teasing it apart with your fingers).

I'm betting he's still there only well buried / hidden and you moved stuff about and missed him. (Unless someone local has been in your yard and taken him.)

If there is a hole , he's in the yard somewhere , likely under shrub or bush or somewhere under the house or even in the garage (if your boundary fence is "escape proof" to him).
If he could have slipped under / through a boundary fence, he may be curled up in one of the neighbours' gardens or sheds or under their house , so in that case if you can't find him in the outside enclosure , and he's not in your yard, I'd put the neighbours in the picture and ask if them if you can search for him or if they'll keep an eye out for him. Assuming he's not encountered a dog or a cat. I dpn't think he'll travel very far if he managed to escape.

It's encouraging you haven't found his corpse in the yard (indicating a neighbourhood cat got him out and tortured him and killed him) or he wondered onto the road and was run over..

If he has wondered off , and not been killed, it's fortunate you are in his species' natural range , so he has a good chance of surviving in the wild once he establishes his own territory, and if he can stay out of the way of free roaming cats and dogs , and away from kookaburras, crows, ravens, eagles and hawks, and off the roads.

Hope you find him.

[Dwarfbeardeddragon]

thanks king, im gut wrenched, im almost 100% sure it was escape proof which makes me wonder if maybe our neighbour stole him, although i doubt it, the enclosure has a plywood floor i think so he couldnt dig out, ive checked the whole enclosure and checked all the substrate, my only hope is that ive heard they are good at finding there way home, its literally a mystery he just vanished, im just so deperessed about it, ive wanted one for so long and this happens. ive literally had him for 2 weeks

[Dwarfbeardeddragon]

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as you can see if an animal broke in the door would be open or the brid net would be ripped, there is hardly any cats in our neighbourhood and only a few dogs which is good. we live in perfect habitat for him so if i dont find him i hope he has a happy life

[Dwarfbeardeddragon]

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A few days before

[kingofnobbys]

Have you completely emptied the bedding out and searched through it ?

Not stuck inside the hollow branch is he ?

Under / behind the BBQ or the freezer (?) I can see maybe ?

[Dwarfbeardeddragon]

nah emptied it all looked through it thoroughly and looked under bbq and in the area.

[Janella]

I am so sorry you lost your skink. When Mintaka got loose on me outside I about had a heart attack. Thank God we found him. Don't give up...search and more searching! I pray you find him.

[Dwarfbeardeddragon]

Thanks Janella, i will keep searching. it just hasnt sunk in yet but i wont give up, my gut instinct is telling me he hasnt gone far...

[Dwarfbeardeddragon]

Thanks Janella, i will keep searching. it just hasnt sunk in yet but i wont give up, my gut instinct is telling me he hasnt gone far...

[kingofnobbys]

Keep putting his veg and grub out in the same place every day , and set up a basking spot on the dull / cool days, they are creatures of habit, and if he's still somewhere in your yard he'll soon find the feeding station and come a visiting , you could lay some tarp and place the food dish on it , sprinkle baby powder on it, you''ll see little shingleback skink tracks if he's the one eating the stuff, might even give a clue where he's hiding.
Come the warmer months - don't be surprised if you go outside one day and spot him basking on the driveway , or a sunny garden path.

[kingofnobbys]

Thanks Janella, i will keep searching. it just hasnt sunk in yet but i wont give up, my gut instinct is telling me he hasnt gone far...

Nope if he's still around and not been stolen, he'll stay close to where his food source and security are . See my other post.

[Dwarfbeardeddragon]

just got the southwest reptile rescue crew to post something on facebook, went around doorknocking telling neighbours to keep an eye out. ill have a good look tomorrow. hoping for the best.

[kingofnobbys]

You'd be surprised how small a gap a determined skink can squeeze through ....if they can fit their head in , the rest is easy. Have you checked inside the house ? .... I regularly get skinky visitors , some take up residence under / inside the lounge , and under the fridge. He might have followed someone in and be curled up under a bed, under the whitegoods , behind / under / inside the lounge or the furnature , even in the laundry basket or behind a drapped to the floor curtain.

My mum when she was still living in Forster discovered her resident wild bt curled up under one of her bed's pillows .... and it often came inside and knicked her dog's food.

if he couldn't get out , keep an eye on Gumtree and HerpPages and the classifieds over the next month or so , you've photos of your boy , and their scale patterning is unique for every individual skink so you should have no problem id-ing your's .
You could try advertising Wanted One Shingleback , and use a relative who lives in a different location name and address. This might flush out the thief especially if you offer at great price , , I'd bet it's someone you know , or someone who read your posts on FB or one of the reptile forums who lives near you , maybe even the seller (who could have a scam running where he sells then steals and resells the same skinks, he'll definitely have your details and might have casing your home since you bought him).

I hope he's not been trafficked by some moneyhungry scumbag (in the illegal international reptile trade).

[Dwarfbeardeddragon]

doubt the seller stole him, it was from trusted reptile shop, im pretty sure i know what it is now, aftter lookin over it i found a literally tiny gap between the tin and bird net, he might've squirmed through as the bird net probs had a bit of give, so weird tho, didnt think a big lazy fatty like him would go to that effort to get out i would say im more likely to find him in spring/summer, i have a feeling he is burrowed or snuggled brumating in some hard to find spot now. I wont give up tho.

[AndrewL]

Don't give up searching. Try finding him under logs or desks/other heavy objects with gaps underneath in your yard. He may hide there. I pray for the best. Good luck and may your skink be alright.

[kingofnobbys]

Cross those fingers ....

[acanthurus]

He climbed out I'm guessing. Those sides aren't high enough. Given the weather over the past few days I doubt he has gone far. I would put some cover down in a few sunny spots in the yard and check under it daily. If he's found a cozy spot to sleep you might not see him for a few weeks though until the weather warms up a bit.

[Dwarfbeardeddragon]

Thanks tristen, will keep looking and might put some food out and his favourite hide on a bit of tarp with baby powder on a bit of a sunnier day like king of nobbys said so i can see where hes gone. also tristen i was just wondering, since im getting a couple more bobtails soon, how do you go with keeping multiple bobtails together, how big does the enclosure need to be? can male and female 4 and 6 months old who have lived with eachother for a few months live together permanently? how do you go about it all with your bobbies, and what is your basic setup? cheers

[kingofnobbys]

Not bobtails , but eastern BTS, my girl Mildred who was actually a bit smaller than her brother (?) George (who came from the same breeder and were supposed to be same ages) was a vindictive little thing , I had them both a 100L rearing tub at about 4 months old so both were quite small (about 30g) and had multiple hides and feeding dishes as I had read this is helps reduce issues. And being a F and M things would be OK , I thought things would fine for several months before they grew too big to be in a 100L tub together.
How wrong was I !!???!!
she took exception to his presence and was chasing him all over the place - badgering him , and one day he crawled into a hide and she promptly chased him in and I heard a tussle going on and had to rescue him, she'd given him a solid bite on the head and taken off a couple of big cranial scales and he was cowering and cornered .... I immediately separated the pair.

I'm not sure how communal bobtails are , but be careful housing non-related groups of skinks together in a confined enclosure , if they are not a bunch of related females , they are likely to fight, and they wont like having a male with them all the time. As my observation of wild skinks even with communal orientated skinks (who form colonies and even care for each other's young) is the males are more itinerant and will have a much larger territory that includes the smaller exclusive territories of their "harem" or a group of smaller colony territories. I'd be asking the breeder of the bobtails for details how he houses his breeding groups.