BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

I forgot how humid it gets up there over warm period

What locale are the gidgees in the pics,they look like a more northern inland type than your typical sa forms

Yeah Queenslanders, almost from the northern limit of their distribution.

Nice,northern forms are very nice looking,might have to look at adding some down the track

Popped a vid up of possable laboured breathing in gidgee skink on u tube,shes hard to vid,as she freezes up abit concentrating on me or buggers off into hide,lol

A pic from today

Starting to wonder what these guys are thinking,they have mated before brumation,after brumation and now in the middle of summer

Is there horny goat weed in pedigree dogfood or what,lol

Ha. Male gidgees are horny b*stards, that's for sure!!! I have one which is insatiable, to the extent that I can't even keep him with two females, they were just too harrassed. I have tried Ray's idea of mixing them in the middle of the cooling period so they get used to each other at a time when the male is not trying to mate all the time, to see what happens when I warm them up.

Mark.

Ahh,good

Its not just me then,she wasnt impressed,but i think shes due soon so understandable

I filmed them a bit so will add to u tube channel when i get a chance

I'm actually finding gidgees a bit of a pain compatability wise. I have a pair that have been together from very young and they seem ok, but my other animals are difficult...

Mark.

They can be interesting at times,sometimes my female actually harrases the male,but usually its just him getting frisky or harrassing her

Most of the time they get on well though,i imagine if they hated each other it would be pretty full on

Found this picture on another forum (not my picture) - a yet to be described black morph E. stokesii subspecies from WA.

That's amazing, but wouldn't it just be called a hypermelanistic stokesii?

My understanding is that this black morph has a fairly well defined range and a different habitat preference to others in WA. I have read in a couple of places that they could be given their own subspecies status. It seems the DEC has outlined a separate protection plan for this morph along with those already in place for E. stokesii stokesii and E. stokesii badia. It is currently known from 96 sites within its range, and unfortunately already threatened.

Do the black animals have completely separate communities, or are they mixed into groups with the common colors as well? That would be really cool if they are truly a separate sub-species. I just wish they would have been discovered before exportation was illegal. Not that it would matter if they are already endangered. Hopefully you guys will get some captive breeding going to take some pressure off the wild populations.

They are completely separate. I think the DEC is aware of the potential interest from private collectors for these and made it a priority to prevent any illegal collection. I would love to be able to go out and photograph them one day.

Ive seen a few pics of these guys lately,there nice looking specimens,would love to see more pics of wa animals if you get the chance

Most certainly there are none outside of Australia. I like the looks of them but then again I like most black lizards.

KL

Im not sure there are any black ones captive in aus either,unless zoos ect have them i think there off limits for wild collection in wa,all gidgees

I could be wrong though

That's true sadly Richard. There are 4 different currently recognised locals in WA including those from the Abrolhos Islands, all are stunning and all are threatened. Given how cagey they are about even adding common species to the keepers list I can't see these being added any time soon.

http://www.dec.wa.gov.au/publications/d ... -plan.html

Makes for interesting reading - lists 6 known different morphs, amongst 3 genetically separate groupings (stokesii, badia, and the black morph). It also lists aethiops although this subspecies is apparently questionable.

Wow is that impressive. They make the ones we typically see look kind of bland.

KL