New here. Meet my Hypomelanistic Northern! :D

[Linnea]

i realized as susann wrote that i think i have an exo terra 5.0 uvb bulb. but i dont remember the package looking exactly like that....it says something about being for desert lizards?

works great with 16 inches if its the same as i have, ( my terrarium is 50 cm) after you added everything.

[James Wilson]

Hello Brian, Welcome to the forum. I believe I saw photos of this skink posted on the fauna forums by who would seem to be its previous owner (Sam). Sam mentioned that he had picked him up from a Local, and that he was now looking to sell it. According to Sam, the local apparently sold it to him as a 3 to 4 year old Hypo Northern for a very affordable price. The local could not provide any other information about the skink. On the forum, Sam asked similar questions about the ledgitimacy of this claim and I will tell you what I told him.

The skink does look to be a Northern. However, it is a bit unusual in that it is also very tanimbarish in appearance. The muted pattern, unusually shinny appearance, and the fairly small size for a Northern (20.5 inches at 3 to 4 years old). All lead me to believe that this animal could very possibly be a cross between a Northern (Tiliqua scincoides intermedia) and a Tanimbar (Tiliqua scincoides chimaerea). While I currently have no desire or intention to do such a breeding, I can say that if I were to cross these two subspecies, your animal is exactly what I would expect to get as offspring.

[Brian(:]

Thanks Everyone for the repliesT I think I understand it a little better now. So if he were a cross between a Northern and a Tanimbar, is this a bad thing?

[Katrina]

I can say that if I were to cross these two subspecies, your animal is exactly what I would expect to get as offspring.

You know when something is so obvious that when someone mentions it you can't believe that you didn't see it before? Yeah, that is what I'm feeling. Couldn't put my finger on it earlier, but there definitely is a "tanny" look to that guy. Thanks James!

Brian - if he is a cross, it isn't a bad thing. He is still as healthy as any other BTS, and looks a bit more unique. I wouldn't breed him though - it is much better to keep the species pure rather than crossing them, especially for Northerns. Because Australia no longer allows export of reptiles we have limited genetic diversity of the Australian species, so we want to keep that diversity rather than mixing it with other species. It is unfortunate that this guy was sold as a pure Northern - people who don't know any better and breed various species and then sell them as pure Northerns ar definitely not helping. The link to Andrew Seike's page that I posted earlier will have some information on hybrids and integrades and the caresheet on this site does as well.

For a pet there is absolutely nothing wrong with that guy - he is gorgeous! But it would be best not to breed him as you would be contributing to the problem, same as the guy who sold him to you. I hope this makes sense.

[James Wilson]

If a cross between the two (and I think he is), it would be a very good healthy pet that would most likely thrive due to the advantage he would have over other BTS from the benifits of hybrid vigor. That being said, I would agree with Katrina that there he would not be the best choice for a breeding project as most of us here that breed are really trying to maintain the distinct colors and patterns that are unique to the different species and subspecies that we have available to us here in the US.

[Brian(:]

Lol well breeding is something I will not consider. But thanks! He gave me a nice poop today. It looked like it was full of like long skinny wood chips. He's been on aspen shavings that are squarish for about 2 weeks now. He's previous owner had him on skinny woodchips. Could he have held the poop that long if he had ingested the substrate? I'm worried.. ]:

[Katrina]

Yes - he could have held poop in for a while. As long as he is pooping alright, don't worry and just don't feed on the substrate. Provide a nice big dish to eat off and things should be fine.

[Brian(:]

Okeydoke sounds good!