BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Cleaned these guys out today. They are a group of four babies that I traded for four of my own as a blood line swap. Currently growing them on and they are coming along nicely.







Mark.

They look great. Mark! I am frequently fighting the urge to get a group them.

Very nice mark,im keen to keep them to,but havnt got around to it yet,there babies are tiny

Jeff wrote:They look great. Mark! I am frequently fighting the urge to get a group them.

Don't fight it Jeff! They are a very rewarding species to keep and very easy once you've mastered feeding them.

Mark.

Richard.C wrote:Very nice mark,im keen to keep them to,but havnt got around to it yet,there babies are tiny

True the babies are tiny and can be delicate. It is not unusual to lose one or two out of a litter of 20 or 25. If you can get them once they are maybe 12 or better still 15cm, they are well past the delicate stage. I feed on chopped up garden slugs and snails mixed with minced beef, defrost apple snail meat (Chinese supermarket) or dog/cat food. In my experience they don't do well without the snails mixed in though. You can reduce the amount of snails to wean them onto dog/cat food or mince only, but sooner or later, mine always go off their food and you need the snails to get them going again. My adults get mostly big snails - I throw in a couple of handfuls once in a while and they gradually crunch their way through them. Luckily they show absolutely no tendency to bite, because they must be able to bite HARD, the way they crunch through snails!

I love how you have set yours up mark,trying to convince misses we need a nice display cage in the house for a group of pinkys

They i assume would make great display animals

Richard.C wrote:I love how you have set yours up mark,trying to convince misses we need a nice display cage in the house for a group of pinkys

They i assume would make great display animals

Yes they are great display animals although they can be inactive at certain times of the year. I think the trick is to have an attractive display with branches and plants, and if the skinks are on in view that is a bonus...

Thats spot on what i was imagining mark,which may help persuade the misses

You hardly ever see adult pictures of them for some reason.. could you post some adult pictures?

An adult at melbourne zoo

Another from melb zoo at top of cage,4 to 5 foot up from ground level,i dont think ive ever seen them active at melb zoo,though being crespucular probably explains that

Interesting skinks

Here you go Dakota.

Female



Female


Very heavily gravid female


Male

Ohhh nice! I have been tempting to get these for many years, too.. lol.

Thanks for posting these pics Mark. I have 2 Pink Tongues of unknown sex and your male/female photos have convinced me that I likely have a pair.

mark_w wrote:Yes they are great display animals although they can be inactive at certain times of the year.

Mine are totally inactive right now but I'm hoping they emerge in Springtime to make me some nice baby pink tongues!

Thanks for sharing, love these guys, and I don't see pics very often. They are on my wish list

What beauties! Mark, how old would you say they should be before you can which gender they are?

Gorgeous animals. I have been condsidering them for a while, but I want to grow my bluey clan first.

Have you had good luck with your breeding overall? A local breeder who primarily focuses on New Caledoneon and Madagascan geckos has a pair, and he has had nothing but "slugs."

Are their different locales available outside of Australia? Or are they all one like Northerns, not specific to a locale anymore.

saisaac wrote:Gorgeous animals. I have been condsidering them for a while, but I want to grow my bluey clan first.

Have you had good luck with your breeding overall? A local breeder who primarily focuses on New Caledoneon and Madagascan geckos has a pair, and he has had nothing but "slugs."

Thanks. I have had a good deal of success yes producing up to 26 babies in a litter. My female has bred for a few years consecutively now. I did lose a heavily gravid female a couple of years ago. With two females I was getting 45 -50 babies a year!!! I am now growing these four on to hopefully start a second breeding group off...

Mark.

Dakota wrote:Are their different locales available outside of Australia? Or are they all one like Northerns, not specific to a locale anymore.

Well there are some very dark banded animals from the Sydney area but I don't know anyone with distinct locale-specific bloodlines no.

Mark.