BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

My two pairs of Egernia stokessi produced a total of eleven babies this year, which are now 1.5 months old. I'm interested in holding back one unrelated pair this year and selling/trading the others in a few months (want some Eastern BTS as next project). My question is, is there a reliable way to pair them off this young? I was figuring I might need to raise a small group together, mark them, and wait. All are still in with parents in 4x2x2 enclosures. Wondering if anyone has any methods Of establishing new pairs they'd care to share.

I have a 1.5 year old trio, were less than a year when I got them. Was told by the breeder they are difficult to sex until adults, these we guessed were 2.1, and that seems to be the case. The females are larger, the breeder pointed out to me. I've seen one of the smaller ones chasing around the larger one so lets see what happens!

Thanks for the reply. I'm going to separate four out and watch them for signs of aggression. I do get the sense that some "look male" and "look female," but that's guesswork with any skink until one has babies. I know the girls are larger, so I have my eye on one giant one as a holdback.

I see you are in Florida, you may want to look to Ron Couto for your Easterns. I also breed them but depending on where you are possibly you can avoid shipping. He is in Miami. I got three of mine from him, the females are huge!

Thanks for the referral! I'm sort of torn between Easterns (having had some in the late 90s) and getting into some pink tongues.

splashy07 wrote:I see you are in Florida, you may want to look to Ron Couto for your Easterns. I also breed them but depending on where you are possibly you can avoid shipping. He is in Miami. I got three of mine from him, the females are huge!

Was corresponding with Ron via email. He did his first shipment to Canada this year. Said he had a good experience with it. Not sure if you do as well. So a potential contact for any Canadians looking for easterns. That can't find a breeder of easterns inside Canada.

I am running into the same issue. Did you have any luck pairing them up?

This is tentative, but I believe I have an unrelated pair out of four holdbacks. They prefer each other's company, though obviously are a couple years away from maturity. I've been raising them together since January or so with only one observed squabble over a basking site (solved by creating an additional basking site).

They're all huge now and still getting on harmoniously. Have some babies this year and may try a similar tactic but starting earlier.