2012 Eastern Baby

[Jeff]

Well, since Richard keeps dropping hints that I should post some pictures, this is one of the two eastern babies born at my house this year. This one and its sibling were born extremely premature and small. The sibling was even smaller than this one, and due to an oversight by the person who was watching my skinks while I was on vacation in June, the smaller baby didn't receive the extra care that it needed, and didn't make it.

This one was neglected while I was gone as well, but he was big enough to endure it. Unfortunately, since I got home he has not eaten well (he ate great from the time he was born until I went on vacation), and he is not growing as fast as I would like. I am concerned about him, but he is 3 months old now and alert and active so I am encouraged by that.

I have 3.2 easterns adults, so two babies is a pretty pathetic breeding season, but I believe the main reason for that is because I did not know the sex of any of my adults before this breeding season. Now that I do I will be able to cycle the males and females appropriately rather than treating them all the same as I had to this year.

As you can see, the tail is much shorter than the typical gigas or IJ. The short "carrot" shaped tail is much more pronounced in adult easterns than in young animals, but even at this age they look much different than the skinks non-scincoides skinks from Indonesia

[Dan]

Wunderschoen, super geil!

[Richard.C]

very nice jeff,sorry to hear about other one,dont be harsh on only 2 babies though,its a great start to the project and like you said,painted a picture to the sex of the adults

its great seeing more of the un common forms popping up out of aus now,fingers crossed for the coming season,thanks for sharing the pic to

another thing to look for with easterns vs ij/indo babies is look at the faces,easterns look smoother of head scalation as a rule,subtle on some ij, though

[AnnaMonroe]

O_O simply beautiful !!

[bella3]

O_O simply beautiful !!

Couldn't have said it better

[Lea]

that is one lucky little chap to have you now taking such excellent care of him. You must feel proud to have brought him along so far- 3 months old after an uncertain start! They are so fragile and vulnerable, when they are little. Whatever happens, though, under your care he will have the best chance at survival.

[Bowdoin55]

Striking little skink, Jeff! Sorry to hear about its rough start, as well as the loss of the other baby. I wish you great success with your breeding group going forward; we need more Easterns in the US.

Cheers,

David

[BruinsEv]

AMAAZING!

[Bluecharlotte]

He is such a cute little fellow even if he had a bumpy ride

[Fatal_S]

Congrats, Jeff. Any new Easterns are a reason to celebrate, and he couldn't be in better hands. He's very small and adorable.

In the last photo, his chest looks odd. Is this a normal thing? I'm asking because one of my babies this year had the same look, but it's not noticable anymore now that she's filled out. I'd been curious about it.

[critterguy]

Jeff: good job with the Easterns so far! Even one baby is a reason to celebrate. Just curious do you pull males from brumation earlier than females?

[Pink T. Monkey]

Very nice Jeff. Congrats!

[Jeff]

Hey Joseph, long time no post! I have never staggered my brumations for males and females of other types, but it was very obvious this year that the female easterns were ready way before the males. I didn't realize that until I was able to determine which are males and which are females though.

My theory is that the much lower temperatures I cooled them at is responsible for differentiating between the genders. I barely cool my northerns, and they do fine being warmed up at the same time. I cooled the easterns way down, and the females were ready 7 - 10 days before the males. Next year I will warm the males 7 - 10 days before the females and see what happens.

[Scotts1au]

Wouldn't worry too much about the size, my exerperience is that Easterns are fairly slow growing - similar to lowland blotched and born tiny - only around 20 grams at birth and put on weight about half the speed of Alpine blotchies.

[Jeff]

Wouldn't worry too much about the size, my exerperience is that Easterns are fairly slow growing - similar to lowland blotched and born tiny - only around 20 grams at birth and put on weight about half the speed of Alpine blotchies.

That's good to know Scott, thanks. Since I have never bred easterns before, it didn't occur to me that babies might grow at a diffrent rate than baby northerns. I'm really not concerned with how fast he grows though, it is just that he was eating like a pig, and nice and round before I left for vacation, but since I have been back he eats next to nothing, and looks much thinner.

Mel, I have had many babies that have that chest thing. It is only visible when they are thin though. As soon as they start putting on some weight you can't see it anymore. I think it is just the normal chest structure, but more noticable in some than others.

[El Lobo]

I'm sorry one didn't make it Jeff but the other is a nice looking specimen. There is no obvious protruding of the hips, which is a good sign and only a slight prominence of the spine, definitely not emaciated. If you recall Clancy when we firtst found her, she had both the hip and spine very prominent.

I don't know how useful it is to compare the growth rate of Blotchies and Easterns but I found the same as Scott with the Blotchies; they grow like weeds. Our first two were very small when we got them so I concentrated with more protein and calcium in their diet until they started to fill out. I fed them smaller portions of that combination but more often, daily at first and then reduced as they started to leave some.

[Richard.C]

easterns are just as capable of rapid growth as any species,maybe not to the same length ,but they breed at smaller lengths,i know of quite a few that have bred before 12 months of age,wild easterns also get a good head start,being born alot earlier than wild blotchies,so by wake up after first brumation are quite sizable compared to late born blotchies that dont have time to pack on much growth,down south anyways

[James Wilson]

Yet another great looking that Jeff has produced. Nice work.