who has the biggest bts?

[Richard.C]

5921376115_0bcccd083d_b.jpg

this is a pic by scott eipper of his 82 cm northern

26 incher.jpg

26 inch nt northern female ive actually seen in the flesh ,the male behind it is your typical average sized adult male,late 50,s cm in length and reasonably solid to,but dwarfed by the female

[Susann]

I don't feed super excessive like most people on here

[Scincoides]

Comments like that have no business here. Everybody has a different way of doing things here, especially when it comes to feeding. Blueys would eat everyday in the wild if given the opportunity in the wild, I'm sure of it. I wouldn't consider any amount of feeding excessive unless the animal is becoming seriously obese due to diet.

[critterguy]

One thing this thread shows is that there does not seem to be much difference between species in size? Lots of overlap. Meraukes tend to be longer than Northerns and some Northerns may be a bit heavier but the difference is not huge...900g Meraukes are larger than a lot of the Northerns I see. Looking back on previous threads I know some people have full grown female Northerns that weigh in at 600g or less.

My male is about 49cm in length but he does have a small regen tail tip. Weighs in at about 600g. He's 3 years old so I'm guessing his growth is done.

I have a female that just turned 2 who is around 50 cm and 750g. She may have more growth to do yet as she hasn't been fed much-certainly not the way I fed the male when he was young. Despite that she is still a fatso-thats her in my avatar.

[Jeff]

After raising multiple babies from different litters each of the last several years, my conclusion is that growth rate and adult size is largely determined by genetics. My male northerns are all about the same size, but my females vary quite a bit. The babies from the larger females always seem to end up larger than the babies from the smaller females.

Some of the females produce babies that grow a little faster every year too. It is not necessarily the largest females that produce the fastest growing babies either.

The growth rate of all of them can be increased by feeding more, but there is still a subtle difference in how fast each litter grows whether they are fed less or more. How they are fed makes more of a difference in growth rate than the genetics alone. I can easily make one of the slower growing bloodlines grow faster than a faster growing bloodline by feeding them a lot more than the genetically faster growers. I have not found that feeding babies and juveniles more will increase their adult size. They just get there faster.

Not sure if that is too far off topic on this thread, but it IS about size.

[Richard.C]

no thats a great point jeff,

as an extreme slow grower of tiliqua,mine dont end up stunted they just get there size wize alot slower

another thing that relates to genetics that is often over looked is locales,some parts of there range they just grow bigger on average than other areas

they dont stop growing either,its just slower as they get bigger,alot of the big ones over here tend to be over 15

[sdraiders619]

Do halmaheras grow as big as northerns? I've never seen a full grown halmaheran. If any1 can post a pic of one or video I would greatly appreciate it

[Dakota]

This is a full grown roughed-up Halmahera.
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/ ... p?t=427530

[Scincoides]

They might get as long, but not as girthy. I have an adult female and I'll post some pics this evening. Mine is probably only 20-21 inches or so.

[Richard.C]

gigas gigas are generally the smallest gigas form

[sdraiders619]

This is a full grown roughed-up Halmahera.
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/ ... p?t=427530

Thanks for the info and pic guys. I was kind of bummed to hear mine won't get as huge but when I just measured him I found out he is only 13 inches and then I saw how long 20 inches is on the ruler and it amazes me to think my guy might get that big! My gyy is about 4 months old. How long do u think it will be till he is a 20 inch beast? lol

[Jeff]

In my limited experience with the various species, I have found that the meraukes I have seen vary in size more than any other sub-species. With every species/sub-species that I have seen many animals from, the difference between the largest specimen and the smallest is much less than it is with meraukes. With most species (you have to limit it to sub-species if there is one) you will occassionally find a giant or a dwarf, but the vast majority fall within a fairly small size spectrum. With meraukes I have seen MANY 26" long adults, and MANY 18-19" adults.

I agree with Richard that different locales of a specific skink are very likely to have different average sizes. I just think that there is a larger range for what would be considered "normal" size for meraukes than there is for the other groups I have seen at least a few dozen of.

[Spindown]

wow Dakota...just wow.

My female Merauke, last time I got a length on her, she was 25 inches long. So, not the biggest ever ever, but the biggest at my house...and of course most of that is tail

I guess I'll have to get a new weight and length measurement, things have been hectic since we just moved

[donkeybuff]

That 82 cm northern looks like it has big enough head to swallow a grapefruit.

[critterguy]

Jeff: What are the smallest adult Northerns you know of?

[sdraiders619]

They might get as long, but not as girthy. I have an adult female and I'll post some pics this evening. Mine is probably only 20-21 inches or so.

Hey can I please see a pic of ur female? I would love to see what mine might look like

[Scincoides]

Sorry i completely forgot.

[Scotts1au]

I have a 56cm blotch girl who was 1.3kg when gravid.

[Richard.C]

thats one hefty lass scott

[Jeff]

Jeff: What are the smallest adult Northerns you know of?

I have 2 northern lines that top out at 20-22". I haven't ever seen an adult northern noticably smaller than that, although have not searched for one either. If I ever saw one that looked smaller than those I would remember it though. My other northerns get 23-24".

My biggest girl is 24", and has weighed up to 1127 grams when not gravid. The heaviest weight I have gotten on her while gravid was 1273 grams.