BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Okay so I just had Ruckus out on the couch. He was exploring like normal. Well he decided he could burrow thew the back of my knee, That wasnt happening, so he decided to burrow threw my calf, and that wasnt happening eithor SO HE BIT ME. Hes done this before, but he really bit me this time, I could feel all his little teeth.

Anyways so I put im in his cage for punishment, and he like ran threw his cage, and decided to knock over a branch, move his hut, and run threw his water and get everything wet.

Now I can hear him huffing somewhere. (Like when he gets dirt in his nose) But hes Hiding.

What is up with that? I didnt know BTS's could get mad like that, or even know how to get mad like that. Hes like a teenager. JEEZE.

Is this normal behavour? or odd?

Mine will throw tantrums sometimes too.especially if I won't let them burrow into my bed or couch. They've never bitten me but they get pretty angry. My male will knock everything over if he's angry or excited. My female just hangs her tongue out the side of her mouth and huffs. Probably pretty normal, all animals can get angry and irritated on some level usually depending on there intelligence or how instinctive they are.

Lol, they are so smart.. I wonder if when they get older it changes Just like in humans.

The behavior that the skink is displaying is normal for the situations that were presented to it at the time. You are anthropomorphizing the situation way to much. The simple fact that you think you can punish the skink by putting it in its cage tells me that you need to completely rethink the way you interact with your skink. Your skink does not understand the concept of punishment. But lets just pretend he does understand it. The skink's enclosure is its sanctuary. Why in the world would you want to cause the skink to relate to its cage in a negative way as a form of punishment? There is a simple and logical explanation to your skink's behavior. When skinks are exploring, they will test obstacles by pushing up against them with their nose in order to determine how solid or sturdy they are and if they can move it of just push through it. This is normal behavior. Now when the obstacle is a nice warm fleshy leg, feeding responses come into play. The nose and mouth of a BTS are very sensitive, and when their nose and/or mouth comes in contact with a nice warm soft body part, that is often all a skink will need to get the green light for dinnertime (dinner being your leg). Again, this is also normal behavior given the circumstances. It was just a case of mistaken identity Unfortunately, his mistake, and more than likely your reaction to his mistake, obviously frightened him and caused him to panic when placed back in the cage, and it looks like the skink was still showing obvious signs of stress even later after the incident. In a situation like that you just want to minimize any stress to the skink and calmly place him back in his cage and give him a chance to calm down. I will include some text from some of my old writings on the subject, and I hope it helps.

Handling
It is important to always make sure your Blue-tongued Skink feels as safe and secure as possible during handling. I have found that blue-tongues like to have secure footing when being held. If this is provided for them, most skinks will remain quite calm. However, when a blue-tongue is picked up with its legs dangling in the air it can be very frightening for it, causing it to twist and turn in an effort to get into a more secure position. Some skinks may also defecate, urinate, or even bite in a last ditch effort to be liberated from the careless person's grasp. Blue-tongues have relatively blunt dull teeth, but they more than make up for this with shear jaw power. While blue-tongues are the most easy-going of lizards that are generally not prone to bite, it is still a good idea to avoid provoking them, as a bite from a Blue-tongue can be a painful experience. Over-handling is another mistake that is often made by many new reptile owners. Most blue-tongues are so placid that they seem to enjoy our love, causing us to have a tendency to smother them with it. It is important to realize that most reptiles do not appreciate the petting, stroking, holding, and kissing that their keepers subject them to. While Blue-tongued Skinks are usually extremely tolerant of it, they do not generally like excessive handling, and would almost always rather be left alone. However, it is still important to handle them on a semi-regular basis, for short periods of time, in order to maintain their trust. This is easily done during their basic daily maintenance through cage cleaning, nail trimming, occasional baths, and health checks. I have found blue-tongues to be one of the most curious reptiles that I have ever had the pleasure of keeping. I have a large skink enclosure behind my desk that often serves as a mini vacation for my skinks when I place them on top of it. After they have explored the area I can always catch them peering over the edge (inches from my head) watching intently over my shoulder as I write this book.

oh yeah, haha. i was gonna ask you about the 'punishment' thing. that doesnt apply to reptiles (or any i know of) lol. i agree with james, they are awesome animals and can be sweet and even bond on some levels but i dont think they draw alot of connections that we think they do. honestly my skinks know my voice and try to get out if i come into the room. but think about it, they know they are getting out of there cage if you come in. so they are either associating you with freedom or food. now my chameleons only associate me with food, if i dont have any they could care less about my exsistance. but bts (when older) know we are not a threat and excite at the opportunity to come out and be 'free' for a while and sometimes (depending on the personality) like to just hang out with us on our shouldars or laps. i always compare bts more to cats in behavoir. in the way that they do what they want when they want, if they want to be alone they will. they are independant animals and only want to be social when they please, unlike dogs who are dependant animals who adore our attention and seek it out.

Reptiles do not understand punishment. Most animals do not understand punishment. Sometimes humans don't understand it either. Biting you is not your skink being 'bad'. Your bluey doesn't understand good/bad/right/wrong.
Remember they will use their mouth to interact with their environment, some more than others. One of my blotchies, Barnum, does this much more than all the others. James is correct, IMO you have looked at this situation from a human point of view. Be gentle with your skink; support him under the pelvis & back legs. If you get bitten, try not to react in a frightened manner. Barnum has latched onto my hand quite severely at times, when she realises she can't eat it, kill it, drag it, or bash it against something as she does with snails, she will let go. Yes, she's drawn blood on more than one occassion but she does let go. I just hold my hand still.
Blueys are not snuggly cuddly animals. They're burrowing skinks. In the wild (as well as captivity) they will try and get from point A to point B undercover. While they do have different personalities, they tend to like solitude and can appear aloof.

Dont get me wrong, I didnt throw my skink back into his cage yelling at him!

When he bit me I jumped and sat up. I then talked to him (Not yelling) and picked him up (like I always do) with all his limbs on my arm. And put him back into his cage gently. I didnt do it in a mean manner. Just how we usally go back into his cage.

I figured he wouldent understand punnishment, but I thought it was odd he did what he did.

Thanks for the information though.
Next time he mistakes me as a yummy dinner Ill just move him to a diffrent part of the coutch.

I didnt mean to sound like a mean owner, Id never be mean to Ruckus.

I had a similar situation happen with Liz. He (yes Liz is male) did not push against my arm though. I kept putting my arm in front of him to keep him from going where I didn't want him to go and moving him back. He was very determined to continue going in the direction he wanted and about the third time I layed my arm in front of him, he tried to bite me. Now I found this very interesting because it seemed to be real anger and planned retaliation on his part. Now me saying that sounds like I'm anthropomorphizing. So what is everyones opinion? Was he just showing aggression at my arm like he would another skink in the wild?

I definitely Liz was showing aggression as a basic last resort to get to where he felt he needed to go.

Hello James,

Would you say as skinks get older they are better able to tell your appendages from food? When I first got my male as a baby he would bite your fingers if they had any hint of food-he even latched onto my big toe once. Now even when my hand is covered with food he won't bite it unless I trigger a feeding frenzy response(such as taunting him with a mealworm just out of reach).

The little one I got from you is basically the same right now and will try to munch your fingers-way too cute.

Out of the cage, the only way I can possibly get my male to bite that I have seen is applying finger pressure to the lip area-as you observed. Even then i is a rather reluctant mouth open display. When I take him to presentations I do make the point that he doesn't appreciate being touched around the mouth/eyes and he does great.

ssr wrote:I had a similar situation happen with Liz. He (yes Liz is male) did not push against my arm though. I kept putting my arm in front of him to keep him from going where I didn't want him to go and moving him back. He was very determined to continue going in the direction he wanted and about the third time I layed my arm in front of him, he tried to bite me. Now I found this very interesting because it seemed to be real anger and planned retaliation on his part. Now me saying that sounds like I'm anthropomorphizing. So what is everyones opinion? Was he just showing aggression at my arm like he would another skink in the wild?

This happens to my bf too, oddly enough not to me. Hell just try, then go the other way. He just likes to eat me for dinner lol. Ive acually got a bruiss where he bit me. Another question. Can bts's smell ferimone and testostrone? Is this why hell bite my bf when he wants to go somewhere and not me? (if knowing were male or female even matters to them)
P.s. Im the one who feeds him, could that have anything to do with it also?

MissMeg wrote:I didnt mean to sound like a mean owner, Id never be mean to Ruckus.

You didn't sound like a mean owner at all - I think James was just trying to explain how Ruckus might "view" the situation (in a sense). Your explanation and conclusions sounded like you were assuming Ruckus thought like a two year old child. It is easy to anthropomorphize and assume that a BTS is reacting in a way that we understand and can explain, but it is good to understand how and why a reptile reacts the way they do.

Katrina wrote:You didn't sound like a mean owner at all - I think James was just trying to explain how Ruckus might "view" the situation (in a sense). Your explanation and conclusions sounded like you were assuming Ruckus thought like a two year old child. It is easy to anthropomorphize and assume that a BTS is reacting in a way that we understand and can explain, but it is good to understand how and why a reptile reacts the way they do.

So you are saying that when I spank my skinks for being naughty, they dont understand it? Hmm, maybe I'll try squirting them with a water bottle and see if that will make them stop.

Katrina wrote:

MissMeg wrote:I didnt mean to sound like a mean owner, Id never be mean to Ruckus.

You didn't sound like a mean owner at all - I think James was just trying to explain how Ruckus might "view" the situation (in a sense). Your explanation and conclusions sounded like you were assuming Ruckus thought like a two year old child. It is easy to anthropomorphize and assume that a BTS is reacting in a way that we understand and can explain, but it is good to understand how and why a reptile reacts the way they do.

That is correct. She did not sound at all like a mean owner, just one that misunderstood the behavior of her skink. The fact that she is here seeking knowledge and advice is the sign of a very good owner (or should I say good tasting).

Thanks guys, I just didnt want to sound like a mean owner, because.by all means, im not.

My boyfriend says I think animals are too much like humans, when they arnt. I know this is true, and I gotta work on that. I think it would bw intresting to find out exactally what they think, or even if they do think. Everything could be instinct.

Oh no, Miss Meg, I never thought you were mean

its is great to have james' input on our forums, i'm learning a ton! great topic OP