BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

I just had a chance to weight my fire skink Vendetta (very rare as I don't handle him much). And I cannot find an average weight for adults. I'm guessing it's because no one else handles them much either lol. I know from his looks that he is a great weight just curious if anyone knows an average? He's 11.5 inches and 81g.

Going into why I don't weight him much, if I hover over him he doesn't move but when I moved my hand to view the read out he ran for it lol. The second he realizes he's out of my hand he becomes a wild child trying to run away lol. I had to corner him on my desk and entice him with a wriggling treat. It might be a gram or 2 off since he's a little to long for my little scale and his tail was touching the desk.

I use to keep them but never weighed them. All I know is that they are spectacular looking lizards.

KL

Very much so. I've tuned into his sneeze so I know when he comes above ground. I've held him a few times he's super squirmy at first but calms down almost instantly, even open palm handling. BUT the second he's free of my hand he's back to squirmy. I was just curious if there was anyone else that had a chance to weigh theirs

I don't get the chance to weigh my fire skink very often, but when I got him about a month ago he was 103g. He wouldn't hold still long enough to be measured but I think he is full grown. I hope more people with fire skinks post, it would be very interesting to compare. I have a hard time finding reliable information about them.

It's a pain to find out anything concrete. Thanks for info on yours. I'm not sure if mine is male or female. I know Ven is full grown (at least from the last 2 months he hasn't grown) so he might be a she? From what I can find females tend to be shorter. He's just short of a foot long.

I just go with male so I don't flip around on my genders until I have a conformation as to which gender he is.

I am not actually 100% sure my skink is male, it is just a guess. I keep seeing many different opinions on sexing fire skinks; I have heard females are smaller, or females are heftier, or males are brighter, or males have a broader or more triangular head, or that there is no difference. I really don't know what to believe any more.

From what I read from some breeders they only have a slight guess (sometimes they're right but almost just as often wrong) and have to put the skinks together and wait for a sign as to what gender. There's really not much info as to length and weight playing into gender. I know some were saying wider hip area=female but then a breeder say they had a male with wider hips than all her females. -shrug- I guess we'll just never be certain lol.

Shoot! I just weighed my subadult the other day and forgot to write it down. I think s/he weighed in at 75 grams? Also a bummer, I just dug my two adults up the other day, but couldn't find the big scale to get a weight on either. But I will say that my fatty female is easily twice the size/weight of that subadult!

Bringing back this topic to update. Vendetta is -now- full grown. He hit a stint for a few months of not growing... well he grew. He only gained an inch in length but gained 25g in weight. He now weighs 106g. I've had him for a year and 3 months and he was probably at least 4-6ish months when I got him. He's much more tolerant to handling and will jump on my hand if I'm holding a treat for him.
He just looks so smug lol.

It is so cool to see them grow. Vendetta is a real beauty!
I recently got a very young fire skink and she is a wee 13g! Then I weighed my older fella and found out he is now 130g. But I am sure he is all done growing now.
I am hoping that when my baby grows up I will be able to sex them both.

Wow maybe Venny has some more growing to do if yours reached 130. Lol. Lately he's been eating less than usual but he's still really active and as you can see he has healthy look lol.

So I did eventually weigh my adult female a few months ago: She weighed 109 g. Still need to weigh the male, but he's definitely larger! (He's the one I said was probably double the size/weight of my then-75 g subadult.. Turns out I had the sexes backwards on my pair!) Both are DEFINITELY full grown.