Most under appreciated in today's pet trade

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splashy07
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Most under appreciated in today's pet trade

Postby splashy07 » Sun Jun 02, 2019 10:07 am

I recently took in a Schneider's skink that came in rather beat up, and the situation just presented itself again, so here come two more.....I just happened to be at my friends shop having something shipped when the wholesaler came in with his tubs full of stock for him to pick from. I took these two home, poor little things had missing toes and whatnot. I am by no means an advocate of bringing home imports but they're already here and it's not like we can send them back to their native land, so I'm giving them a proper home. Pet shops would all be out of business if not for imports, but seeing the way they come in is no picnic. Anyway, these personable little lizards are friendly and fearless from the second they're here and every time I go and maintain their cage they're climbing out on my hand saying hi. They eat anything, from insects and greens to your normal bts fare. I am so happy I got to know this type lizard, purely by accident. They are not to be confused with the closely related but much larger and way more expensive Berber skinks, which are quite rare in their true form and command high prices. These little guys wholesale at $25 and can be seen in pet shops for around $49.99. What great little pets that demand next to nothing and give so much. They are actually more friendly and outgoing than some of my BTs! My original one is in a community setup and gets along fine with everyone. It's bio active and he digs up insects and hunts naturally, it's just so cute to watch. These two will eventually join him there. Pretty little additions to any collection. Worthy of a second look if you ever see them around. Take one (or 10!) home, they will win your heart.
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kingofnobbys
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Re: Most under appreciated in today's pet trade

Postby kingofnobbys » Mon Jun 03, 2019 4:53 am

I feel the same about my eastern water skink ( Eulamprus quoyii ).

She's a wonderful pet , very friendly , loves being out on me ( crawls all over me and loves to watch what is happening about her ) and she's super easy to care for.
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Loves a nap on her toasty soft fat daddy
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Loves playing on / with me - when she is having a lot of fun she makes little barely audible barking sounds.

Trusts me enough to let be handfeed BSFL to her (I do this once a week , the rest of the time she feeds herself by simply raiding her food dish and picking the bugs that take her fancy each day , often each time I eat , she rouses and checks her dish and has a little feed.
She even let me trim her nails for the first time last week - wasn't keen on it but tolerated it - I took my time and trimmed one tiny but long nail at a time (VERY CAREFULLY).

But very hard to find anyone who is breeding the species (I only know of maybe 4 breeders here in Australia who have captive breeding colonies of eastern water skinks), makes it almost impossible to find captively bred babies and juveniles , very rarely see anyone advertising them for sale.
Last edited by kingofnobbys on Mon Jun 03, 2019 11:41 am, edited 7 times in total.
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Re: Most under appreciated in today's pet trade

Postby splashy07 » Mon Jun 03, 2019 5:11 am

Same with these, unfortunately. No one is going to bother breeding an animal that whoesales at $25, until the country of origin closes out and there are none to be found. I would like to try and work with these, they are so delightful.
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Re: Most under appreciated in today's pet trade

Postby kingofnobbys » Mon Jun 03, 2019 5:59 am

splashy07 wrote:Same with these, unfortunately. No one is going to bother breeding an animal that whoesales at $25, until the country of origin closes out and there are none to be found. I would like to try and work with these, they are so delightful.


Last batch of water skink babies I saw advertised were in South Australia and the breeder was asking $50 each and 3 for $100 (no shipping :( ) , this was a couple of years ago. So about the same price as eastern bluetongues skink babies here abouts (very commonly bred).

If I could get hold of a juvenile male water skink , I'd love to set up a breeding group (of 2).

I often see baby water skinks in my garden from September each year (when the mums start give birth of late in summer breeding encounters , so regularly see new babies in September / November and again in about April , I have a colony of wild (semi tame) eastern water skinks living on my property who are very successful since they get all the bearded dragon and bluetongue left over food and all the dead crickets , I also buy mealworms just for them and my pet water skink (so all well fed and they are very healthy).
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Re: Most under appreciated in today's pet trade

Postby splashy07 » Mon Jun 03, 2019 7:57 am

Aww what a sweet thing. And spoiled too I might add! But well deserving of that!
Oh, my! Easterns for $100...........
My babies go for $750, that is about rock bottom here in the states. I do not breed for profit, everything from sales
goes back into the hobby for supplies, caging and new bloodlines as I do not inbreed/line breed.
I absolutely adore your water skinks. What type of environment do they need?
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Re: Most under appreciated in today's pet trade

Postby kingofnobbys » Mon Jun 03, 2019 11:21 am

splashy07 wrote:Aww what a sweet thing. And spoiled too I might add! But well deserving of that!
Oh, my! Easterns for $100...........
My babies go for $750, that is about rock bottom here in the states. I do not breed for profit, everything from sales
goes back into the hobby for supplies, caging and new bloodlines as I do not inbreed/line breed.
I absolutely adore your water skinks. What type of environment do they need?


Yep she's a sweetheart , and she's a rescue .

She's my 3rd pet EWS as an adult, all three were rescues
No1 (Lucky) a cat attack victim and juvenile (ended up dying from a SI due to the attack after recovering and long course of antibiotics, unfortunately we didn't know he'd developed an abscess in his body which ruptured ,
No2 (Wriggles) was victim of a accident when my lawnmowing guy hit her in the long grass with a whippersnipper , she recovered completely and was with us as a pet for 6 years and died of natural causes peacefully in her sleep one afternoon while having her regular siesta - I believe she was about 10 years old ,
and so was Fluffy who's been with us for 2 years and I think is about 5 years old , I've known her as a resident EWS in my garden since she was baby and befriended her (by giving her small crickets and mealworms from about when she was a newly born skink (living in my shed at the time with her siblings and mother (who'd lived there for several years and was also given food by me).

She gets crickets , woodies , BSFL (by hand) , mealworm lavae & pupae and beetles , grated carrot & shredded choi greens . Loves a drop of honey as an occasional treat , and hard boiled egg and berries occasionally.

See my other thread about her.

Eastern water skinks are found from South Australia ( Adelaide) right around the east coast of Australia to Cook Town (far north east Queensland) and inland along the rivers .
Image
A common coastal skink that can be seen basking on rocks and vegetation beside water during the day. May also be found on ridges away from water. It feeds on aquatic insects, small invertebrates and occasionally native fruit and berries.
Prefers Water courses and swampy areas.


Very common skink in most gardens and yards and parks here. Here eastern bluetongue skinks are regularly found in peoples gardens and sheds and drains as well , I have regular visits from EBTs too but unfortunately don't have one living on my properly .

The nearest creek to me is 1/4 mile away , you can find eastern water dragons there too . Often find eastern water skinks and eastern water dragons living in the same area and even basking on the same prime sunny rock or fallen tree limb .
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Re: Most under appreciated in today's pet trade

Postby splashy07 » Tue Jun 04, 2019 5:00 am

How absolutely wonderful to have such awesome reptile neighbors. I sure wish I lived there.

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