New eastern water skink rescue

[kingofnobbys]

My handyman was trimming some overhanging branches and some very low branches off my big mature Bluegum , and removing 1 cu-m of accumulated leaf litter off the front of the roof of my house , and removing a pile of broken concrete from around the trunk of my tree when he found a very sleepy and cold adult water skink between the bits of concrete and shed bark sheets and twigs and leaf litter.
This is my handyman and the little spoil heap from my old front path ( replaced in June ) where the skink was hiding :


Brought it inside , and I'm keeping it for now ( too dangerous with work being done in my yards and heavy getting dropped , more yard improvement to happen over the next month or so . Will see how it settles in and gets on with the resident pet water skink Fluffy. I'm hoping this new one is a male and they don't fight , any sign of fighting and the new rescue goes back outside.

Will get a better photo of "? him ?" when I the skink has settled in more.
Is not as fat as Fluffy , but has a glorious very long original issue tail.

So far it's been a bit skittish , but discovered the food dish and had a feast of mealworms and fresh killed crickets , and discovered the warm water in the water disk ( had a drink ) and been doing fair bit of headnodding at me and at Fluffy.
Been studying me for the last 5 hours.

[kingofnobbys]

Fluffy at the front, new girl at the back


Fluffy doing one of her fav things - raiding the food dish taking her pick mealworm pupa and lavae , crickets , and BSFL .

She's dead easily to care for, prefers to feed herself from he bowl. But now she has to share ,and has been guarding the food dish this afternoon …. lots of tail wriggling / twitching which I think mean "mine til I say so".
Meanwhile new skink has been doing lots of headnoddies at Fluffy.

New girl on top of Fluffy's grotto , lovely long tail .


And I do think she's pregnant judging that tummy shape .


If I'm right, she'll be giving birth in late October. So once again , no boyfriend for Fluffy.

[Dratth]

Very nice little fellows
Do you deworm them? I ask because i too would like to have something this small like anolis or small skink but i am scared of parasites from wild caught reptiles now after what i have experience with my WC BTS.
If yes how? I mean, i have used panacur but even for BTS there was so little dose of it...i can't imagine how i can give panacur to something so small as this skinks.

[kingofnobbys]

Very nice little fellows
Do you deworm them? I ask because i too would like to have something this small like anolis or small skink but i am scared of parasites from wild caught reptiles now after what i have experience with my WC BTS.
If yes how? I mean, i have used panacur but even for BTS there was so little dose of it...i can't imagine how i can give panacur to something so small as this skinks.

Eastern water skinks are very rarely parasite carriers. Refer to Brown : A Guide to … Australian Skinks In Captivity.p227 - p242.
Key is to ensure bedding is kept clean , water is changed frequently, temperatures and UV levels are kept at correct levels, and high quality live insects provided daily. (Water skinks are primarily insectivorous.)

Keep in mind I live in their natural range and these skinks have an inherently immunity to the parasites that found in other native insects and reptiles and in the environment that has evolved over many millions of years (unlike the situation overseas where they will be exposed to pathogens and parasites they have no resistance to).
Poos are well formed , no evidence of blood , and not much smell about them ( all good signs).

I'm changing the paper bedding every few days, and water daily ( or more often if Gutzy poos in the water ).
Will be changing over to a mix of gumtree leaflitter and course kritter's krumble and expanded coco peat soon.


Been a month now and Gutzy has settled in nicely , and learnt the routine , and thankfully there's been no signs of violence between Fluffy ( my older lady water skink ) and Gutzy , I often see them basking together and both peaking out for their little "house". I've even had Gutzy out for nurse a couple of times and she was very chill for most the time. ( First time was accidental = I got out the little house and thought Fluffy was inside , only I discovered Gutzy instead ,she promptly leapt out and ended up on my on my shoulder and I was able to pick her up and cradle her in my open hand while petting her - quite a pleasant surprise as I didn't expect her to trust me and let me touch or handle her so soon.

There is certainly no issue with Gutzy's appetite, she's raiding the food dish several times per day (loves her crickets and mealworms, and taken to BSFL lavae and flies very quickly - being pregnant she eats small portions frequently. Fluffy has decided prefers me to take her out and hand feed her lately and her appetite is fine too.

I've injected skinks as small as 6g , and yes , they are tiny , and it's something that involves a bit of skill . (My first rescue about 10 years ago was a juvenile water skink who I rescued , was a cat attack victim and I had to inject him every other day for 4 weeks with prepared doses of broadspectrum antibiotics, and give antibiotics twice per day orally ( I used a 22G catheter with the needle removed to the meds into the little skink's mouth

syringe-and-22-G-SUREFLO-CATHETER-TUBE-ONLY
- not easy - a two person job, one held and immobilized the skink and guided the fine Teflon tube into the corner of the mouth just far enough to get past the teeth and rest on the tongue,the other person slowly depressed the plunger on the word 'now'.

[Dratth]

Sadly, i can't keep reptiles from my locality because they are protected. I would like definitely keep something like this little guys in the future

[kingofnobbys]

Have a juvenile water skink living in our kitchen as off yesterday.

Cheaky little devil has decided the corner under bench cabinet (where we keep the crockery) is a great place to hang out, everytime my wife go to get a plate or glass or mug out she's greeted by the skink looking up at her)
Just backs off if her hand gets too close.

This one was another rescue that my handyman brought in to us on Sunday when he was cleaning up the yard in preparation for my beds to be filled with dirt .

Was monstered by Gutzy who took great exception to the little skink ( boy ? ) being deposited in her & Fluffy's 120L rearing tub. She wouldn't give him a moment of peace. (Unlike Fluffy who as usual is a sweetheart.)

Though it was likely Gutzy might kill him if I left him in the big tub with the two big girls, so I removed the little harassed juvenile water skink and had him in my 10L hospital tub ( which is only 6" tall ) overnight , to give him a chance to feed and relax , and was fine until I took the lid off to replace the water and change some soiled paper towels , out he leapt onto the coffee table and from there onto the carpet and then switched to explore mode and disappeared behind our big display cabinet last night.
Was planning on moving him to a 27L tub ( too high for him to leap out and high enough for me to have a 26W UVB150 in a nanohood under the lid).


Found him sitting the water dish on the kitchen floor this morning at brekky and he's spent the day exploring the kitchen / dining area lino floor and under the car fridge/freezer ( my 'bar fridge' ) and then discovered the little gap in the foldling corners under bench cabinet door, and discovered he really likes in there amongst the plates and cups and mugs and glasses and pyrex - cook ware .
Been in there all afternoon and doesn't seem to want to come out as "he" seems very secure in there.

[kingofnobbys]

1am : waited for him to be sound asleep or very sleepy and literally emptied all the crockery from the bottom shelf , he just sat there and watched me , dropped a 600ml tub over him (one of my spare silkworm moth tubs and slid it and him along to the edge to get the lid on the tub.

So he's back in the 10L tub for tonight , will transfer him to the 27L mini-rearing tub tomorrow.

This is my little boy :

mug shot from left


mug shot from the right


the 10L hospital tub in the background.


back in , safe and secure , watching TV.

[kingofnobbys]

Gutzy my new big girl still hasn't had any babies , she's really good in the tooth , lots of small meals each day , can't long now .
She's still very skittish , I think she's had a fright at some stage with something nasty trying to pounce on her or swoop down at her as she really doesn't like my sliding the big skink tub lid off , dashed off to hide either under her shared grotto or into the shared " home made skink hide " .
She does seem to like interacting with me , but under her own terms, ie with me on the other side of the plastic , she's got a little ritual now that she gets very active again about 8:30pm and has her visit to the food dish , the she stands up in the corner of the tub an looks at me ( if I don't pay attention she then strays stranding there and scratches at the plastic in the corner to get my attention and wont stop and drop down until I speak to her and respond by also by scratching with my finger tips the plastic where she is ).

Meanwhile Fluffy my old girl has decided she want to come out and have some funtime and for me to give her 5 * service my handing her crickets , mealworm lavae and pupae , bsf lavae to her with my fingers, she show how much she appreciates her special treatment by licking my finger tips clean. She's a spolt girl.

Cheakie has started crawling onto my hand when I refresh his water and top up his food dish. He no longer wriggles and squeaks and threat displays ( by threatening to bite me ) when I gab him to put him in the little weight tub or when I'm changing out his bedding because it's soiled and mucky or wet from his being nutty in his water dish (loves his water dish !!). Likes his 29L rearing tub , lots more space the 10L tub, and will soon out grow it , so I'll be moving him into a 120L tub about Xmas.
Cheaky has gained 10g , so nearly doubled in size , now 26g , I can see a noticeable increase in length since was rescued , he's thriving.

There is now a resident wild water skink living in the house too, it's little juvenile , and lives behind / under the lounge. We've seen several times , always makes a dash from under the lounge if we come too close.