Brumating Babies

[Fatal_S]

There are breeders who cull weak or abnormal babies in order to keep the bloodlines they work with strong and classic. And then there are breeders who specifically hold those ones back to be breeders because they're more interested or have the potential of being a morph.

I myself am struggling with the conundrum of which is more right - I have an abnormal skink who was born tiny and with strange colouring. I'm curious to see if it's genetic and can be reproduced, but I don't want to put something negative into the gene pool. But talk of culling and genetics probably belongs in it's own thread.

[pisces20]

Hi All,
I have spoken about this on other forums so my comments are not new. When one looks at nature you need to look at the correct picture. Most keepers I know make the mistake of brumating animals the same cold temps day and night. This is where the probs come in. The studies I have undertaken in the wild with scincoides shows that while outside temps are down to the minus figuresat night microclimatic temps are as high as 32 C. The suns rays on a rocky west facing position reach these temps even when temps are only 12 C daytime. After dark these areas where I found scincoides never fell below 15 C ( night was 2 C). I dont brumate young until they are breeding size and then with natural conditions in mind only. Daytime 23 to 25 C and night down to 15 C minimum. Fatal mistake is to keep too cold during the day.