New BTS - seminal plugs?

[Redphoenix3]

Hi everyone,

Been lurking here a while and was wondering if you could give your opinion on the sex of my skink. We got her in March, she's now a 2 year old Meraluke and is our first BTS but not our first reptile. I know sexual dimorphism isn't strong in skinks so we told a guess that she was a girl because she's quite sleek and called her Penelope. However, I read the care sheets that this website provides and I think that "she's" been dropping seminal plugs. I've got a picture of a recent poop, pee and the two suspected seminal plugs - looking for a second opinion from an experienced skink owner (I'll keep on referring to her as she until I get a second opinion).

penelope poop.jpg

Also, when we got her, she weighed 427g but we think she was pretty stressed out at the shop she was in (she's very skittish). Originally, we overfed her and her weight increased to 500g, but we've been following the care sheet advice and not over-feeding her (although she still preferentially goes for the snails and fruit over the veg!). Is this a good/bad weight? She's shed about five times since March, which we've put down to her weight gain - do you think this is normal for the circumstances?

Here's a photo of her/him

penelope long.jpg

[Janella]

Yes, you have a male. As for th weight we would have to look at your skink from about and the side to determine if it is a good weight or not. My male 4 year old Merauke weighs in at about 900g and he doesn't have a drop of fat on him.

[Redphoenix3]

Thanks for the confirmation Janella! It looks like we'll have to change his name.

I'll try to get some good photos of him tomorrow and post them - I was told by the vet that 500g would be a good weight for a female Meraluke but your male sounds like an absolute unit! Do you have any recent pictures of him?

I'm a bit paranoid about the weight issues as my beardie was overweight - and I want to have a healthy weight for my skink. He's not been eating much recently but we live in Scotland and between the weather and the latitude our winters are wet , dark and a bit cold. I know that Meralukes are equatorial lizards but he does seem to be slowing down - perhaps a very deep ingrained lizard behaviour?

[Janella]

Hi again. I apologise that it took me so long to respond. Here is a picture of male Merauke, Noodles. His last weight he was at 900g.

Your male may be slowing down of it is winter time over there. How old is your skink again? Depending on its age will depend on how big it is. Hope that helps :-)