Why a bts

[xxmonitorlizardxx]

Of all the different types of animals you could have as a pet, why did you choose a blue tongue skink. Is it because they are easy to care for and are nice little critters to keep. Or is it because their amazing blue tongues? Or is it the charming way they eat their cat/dog food

[Nae]

Well!

First off, Ive grown up surrounded by Shingles and have always loved them.

I became interested in owning a reptile quite some time ago - I guess it was just because I missed having Mazi around, who came to me as a rescue. I was originally planning on a beardie, but because of where I live, crickets, mealies etc are just too hard to obtain, and my parents dont want me breeding crickets

I then decided on a snake. I was doing my research and such then dad comes in with a python. Now his friends had caught said python illegally, and while I was happy to have a python, it only took about 5 minutes for it to settle on just how bad my situation was and I quite quickly became upset - I had no where proper to keep him, I had no lighting/heating, I had no food and no where to buy food, I didn't feel as if I knew enough, it was illegal so I couldn't take him to the vet, I couldnt release him as they are not native around here, I couldnt give him back so then they could realise him as they werent going back up North.

Lets just say I was very upset that they didnt even ask if I was ready to have a snake just yet. I felt terrible for him as I had no heating or food, but I just didnt know what to do. I had no where to take him. Despite eventually getting heating and food, he escaped as I couldnt afford to buy him a decent enclosure at the time.

And so, because of that it left me with a bit of a negative experience with caring for snakes - just the fact that I realised that everything I need to keep a snake was so far away and couldn't be grabbed if needed. I would like to one day have a snake, but not until I live somewhere where I can easily buy food, a new nocturnal globe etc.

And then I found out shingles where legal. Looking into shingles I found I could also get Westerns and Centrals, which were similiar to shingles yet completely different at the same time. They were easy to feed, I could use household globes - basically they are the easiest to care for in regards to where I live ANd not to mention much more cuddly then a snake

[Linnea]

I love animals. But im very allergic to most, and gain new allergies every year. thus i couldnt bring myself to buy a new pet for very long.

I was a bit desperate to get a pet a year ago, but had no idea which one to pick. So i read up on everything i could think off, but to no use.

once i read about ball pythons i got interested in reptiles, not being able to have a snake made me think of an alternative solution - a veggie eating lizard. but i didnt want something too big...

and then i saw photos of bts at random, couldnt stop thinking about them after that xD i really love their eyes, makes me think of jurassic park and theyre my favourite movies, kinda. tiny dinosaurs!

once i read more about it, i decided it was a great pet for me since i couldnt develop an allergy for it, and its got a lenghty lifespan. and, the personalities they have are very interesting. i wanted to see it for myself n__n

[Adalon]

I like to write long posts, I'll apologize in advance for it.

I kept a bunch of different reptiles as a kid/teen which was encouraged by my dad who grew up with a bunch of reptiles as well (he mainly kept snakes, but also had a completely tame full grown iguana for 7 years.) My collection was 95% snakes, but I got a huge African plated lizard that someone gave away since they were going to college in Europe or something.

The snakes I kept were mostly just display animals or monetary sources for breeding, but that lizard was an actual pet with a personality and high intelligence. I used to tote him around in a special sling I made and would walk down to a local park to play and show him off to the other neighborhood kids. He was honestly the best pet I'd ever had, I even had a teacher that let me take him to school and keep him in his class to be picked up at the end of the day.

Unfortunately I was careless with quarantining a new pet store snake and had an epidemic of mites spread to all of my reptiles before I could stop it. In the end I lost several snakes and my plated lizard which devastated me to the point where I sold everything I owned and never got another reptile (or pet for that matter). From age 13 to 25 I never kept animals outside of the family dog and cat.

Last year though a chance encounter when my dad and I were cutting down some dead almond trees for firewood got me hooked on reptiles all over again. One of the trees that we were chainsawing had a lizard under the bark and when we noticed what had happened we stopped and made sure nothing else was on the tree. We ended up finding 6 various fence lizards and a small gopher snake hibernating under the tree's bark and immediately moved them into an empty ice chest before finishing up the wood for the day. I took them home and tried to figure out what to do with them now that they were forced out of hibernation and it was too cold outside to safely release them I think.

In the end, I decided to release the gopher snake at my uncles house in an old woodpile along with 2 of the smaller lizards in another wood pile. One of the adult lizards became extremely stressed when she warmed up and died almost immediately, but the other 3 adults adjusted well and accepted food readily all the way to spring. I started seeing the fence lizards that live around my own house start coming out of hibernation in spring and found good spots for 2 of the adults. The one remaining was a monstrous male who had unfortunately been injured pretty badly before we found him and was missing a foot and several digits which slowed him down and made him unable to climb anything outside (he literally stayed in the same spot when I placed him outside). I've ended up keeping Cotton permanently and this summer found a small female and male in a neighbor's shed that he wanted removed which have got along fabulously with Cotton.

At the same time I found those fence lizards, I started remembering how great my old plated lizard was and started looking around pet stores and classifieds to see how common they were. Eventually though I visited the animals board on 4chan and made a thread asking reptile owners about their experience with lizards and for some advice on how to get a plated lizard. One reptile owner in particular was very knowledgeable and gave me some great information and his own experiences with lizards along with pictures of his blue tongue skink, bearded dragon and plated lizard (I don't remember if he visits these forums but his skink was named Ish I think?). That thread really piqued my curiosity about skinks and after doing some research myself and hearing from a few other owners, I decided a skink would make a good fit for me.

Since it was so late in the year it was difficult to find any available that weren't wild caught or abandoned fully grown adults. I called around a couple places and in that process ended up contacting a seller on kingsnake who was one of the few selling younger skinks, though they were imported and nearly a year old. Out of sheer coincidence I had called just days before one of their gravid Merauke's hatchlings were going through their first sheds and they were in the process of photographing each one in preparation for sale. I got a first look at the photos and after speaking with the owner for a good 20 minutes about the skinks, decided that this was the opportunity I had been waiting for. Out of the whole litter I picked out Adalon who he had said was very friendly and had a gorgeous pattern with an X right above his back legs that I thought looked neat. After some waiting through the weekend, Adalon was eventually shipped overnight and arrived on my doorstep tucked in some cloth and newspaper with still warm heat pads.

Now before I actually got Adalon, I didn't really know what to expect exactly in the way of interaction and sociability, but it was incredible how fast I bonded with him and he learned to trust and recognize me. Before getting a skink I would have never thought that a lizard was so intelligent, perceptive and social, but now I'm shocked that they are so rarely seen as pets among reptile lovers. Every chance I get when I meet anyone interested in reptiles or any threads curious about getting any reptile as a pet, I relate my experience with Adalon and encourage them to look into these wonderful lizards before making a decision. I firmly believe that blue tongue skinks are the absolute best option if you are serious about having an actual pet and not a display animal or breeding project; there really are few animals that compare.

[Toxique]

Honestly the reason I got mortimer was because I remember so long ago I was watching the Crocodile Hunter (RIP Stevo!) and he did a small segment on the bluey, I was hooked from that moment on!

I did, however, muse other lizards and reptiles before I got him though. The deciding factor though was for the fact that they were relatively good for a new and inexperienced reptile owner, they were hardy lizards, had a long possible life span, and I didn't have to fuss with any sort of insects!

Now that I've had him for some reason, I just absolutely love the species! The blue tongue is just adorable and they're so quirky!

[Spindown]

My bf wasnt really into snakes in the beginning, and saw a picture of what i now believe to be a centralian bts. He liked it because it was fat

One turned into four as we discovered that they have much more personality than most snakes, and are easy to care for and feed. They are fun to have out for outreaches and to explore around the skink-proofed areas of the house. Their blue tongues are great too!

[ILoveMyMonsters]

Long post alert!

I've grown up raising several different sorts of animals - mainly hamsters when I was little and grew into rats and mice as I got older. I've been fascinated by reptiles since I was younger, and while most of my family would shudder in disgust at the snakes and geckoes I would pet, I would all but snuggle with them.

I came face-to-face with a Blue Tongued Skink when I was about 12-13, give or take. A pet store near my house had a big, fat one, and I, being the curious girl that I still am, wanted to see him. I had never seen a lizard like him. I was hooked the moment the clerk put him in my arms and he began burrowing into my shirt (I thought he was trying to cuddle ) and fell asleep. My family was not keen on getting me a reptile, so I stayed with rats until I got into college. I started my job at PetSmart in June, saw an adolescent IJ at the store, and realized hey, I can buy him all by myself now! Screw what my parents think! So I saved my money for almost two months, bought everything I needed, and eventually got little Gauge.

Gauge is five weeks old now. She has a sassy personality that is unlike any other animal I have had. Gauge isn't mean and rarely bites - unless you disturb her slumber. She has finally come out into the open and is chilling out in her "jacuzzi" as I call her huge water dish, as I type this. She love exploring and terrorizing my betta and two big, fat ratty boys.

[James Wilson]

The question should be: Why Not a BTS...

[xxmonitorlizardxx]

The question should be: Why Not a BTS...

Cuz you can get a monitor.

[Kurt]

my roommate and i went cliff diving off an 80 ft cliff one day and felt like bamfs. when we were hiking back home we saw some snakes and decided we needed to get one. later that night we realized we both hate snakes so that was a dumb idea and that we should get some other kind of reptile. it came down to geckos, beardy, or a bts. picked up the tank/set up the next day and picked up apollo the day after that.

[James Wilson]

The question should be: Why Not a BTS...

Cuz you can get a monitor.

While Monitors are one of my favorites, there are many advantages that the BTS has over the larger Monitors. The temperment in general is better with BTS. BTS require much less space. Feeding a bts is much easier, as they eat much less, and are much less expensive to feed. They are also much easier to clean up after, and if you are going to get pooped on, I would pick the bts every time. All of that said, Australia has a nice variety of smaller Varanid species. However, these smaller Monitors are still active lizards that require high heat and fairly sizable cages to accomodate their needs. In addition, they need lots of insects, and that is a huge negative for me. Sorry, but BTS win hands down. That being said, you might like these photos of a few of the Monitors that I have had over the years.

[Nae]

Holy moly =O

We used to have ones those size in our backyard, but I never even considered even trying to pick one up - Their claws wouldve torn me to shreds! Even the little ones!

But that is seriously awesome

Would you have any recommendations for someone (aka, me lol~) who is looking into a pygmy stripe tailed monitor?

[James Wilson]

No, I wish I could help, but I never really got into the dwarf monitor craze that we had here back about 10 to 15 years ago. I was all about the Bluies...