BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Hello all,

I was doing my monthly wiegh-ins on all the reptiles and I was wondering what my Meruake should weigh. He's full grown, nearly a full two feet STT length (23.5 inches). He doesn't appear overweight or underweight looking at him, he's 805 grams right now.

He was very underweight when I got him at 420 grams at 21 inches long (he was a rescue), now at 23.5 inches and 805 grams I just want to make sure he hasnt hit the other end of the spectrum and become overweight.

Thanks

There is no correct weight for an adult - it varies depending on sex and genetics. Gigas species put on weight in the jowel area so that is a good indicator, but your best bet is to post some pictured for people to see.

Just to give you an idea of how much it can vary, these are two healthy adult meraukes I keep:

Female
22 1/2" (57cm) long
958 grams

Male
21" (53 1/2cm) long
497 grams

In my experience, meraukes vary in size more than any other species I keep. Some people try to draw a line somewhere so they can say any skink shorter than "this" is an indo, and any skink longer than "this" is a merauke, but from what I can tell both meraukes and indos seem to vary a lot.

My smallest Adult Merauke is 700 grams, and the largest I have ever had was 26.5 inches and 1100 grams. Like others have said, there is definitely a range in size exhibited in this subspecies (or whatever you would like to call Meraukes).