BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Sooo.... I got my first bite! Compliments of Mr. #1. The smallest of the new Meraukes.
"#1" still since naming has been on the back burner, but this will shortly get moved up on the "to do" list.
When you see #1's face from the side, he is the spitting image of Joey! It's been kind of neat. Suddenly ending up with 3 new skinks helped the healing process a bunch, but getting to see what Joey would have looked like if he got to grow up to full size has been an unexpected gift. Why I'm telling you this now, is that I have kind of half-heartedly been calling him J.J.--for Joey Jr. It probably won't be his name, but for now, I'm calling him J.J. 'cause it's better than #1.

I don't blame him one bit for biting me, and I knew it was coming. I would have been more surprised if he hadn't bit!
I was misting his tank down, which is the top tank, so my hand, arm, and shoulder were right there by the open doors; he decided to crawl onto my arm, trying to get out.
For those of you that don't know, I have recently acquired 3 new adult Meraukes that are pretty wild--not used to a lot of handling, and "J.J." is one of them.
So when HE, voluntarily, wanted to get out, I didn't want to stop him, so I let him crawl up my arm. He quickly got on my shoulder and continued behind my neck and over onto the other shoulder, so his face is now pointing in the same direction as mine. He then started to crawl down my other arm, but now it was getting a bit more unstable-feeling, so I reached up with the arm that he was starting down on, and as soon as my hand touched his back I KNEW what was coming because my forearm was VERY close to his face. And, sure enough, CRUNCH!

It really wasn't that bad. I've seen the teeth on these guys, I expected a bite to be quite a bit more painful and damaging. I could tell though, that he wasn't necessarily scared and biting to save his life; he was just wondering what that thing was coming at him, and when my hand, at the end of "that thing", touched his back to grab him, he was just letting me know he wasn't comfortable with the arrangements as they were turning out. He really just gave me a "Hey!"-pinch. I'm very surprised it left a mark at all.

It's quite the mark, but that's probably more because of where he bit than how hard. It's a nice fleshy place and therefore bruises nicely I had the same thing but on my neck. Looked like a hickey

I think J.J. would be an adorable name for #1 What an honor to have such a beloved namesake.

So you told us what led to the bite (great tale-telling skills, btw), but what happened afterwards? Back into the tank? More exploring? Cuddle times?

As you can imagine, once his teeth were attached to my arm, I got in a bit of a hurry to get him OFF of my arm. Thankfully he really just chomped once and let go, but by the time he let go, the spray bottle that USED to be in my other hand was now on the floor and I had grabbed J.J. (Fatal, when you put it that way, maybe JJ WILL be his name...) with both hands. I think THAT scared him more than any of what led to the chomp, so I made a point of waiting until he calmed down, still holding him. I am probably very likely giving JJ a bunch of attributes he doesn't necessarily have, BUT, I didn't want him to think that biting leads to him being put back in his cage where he wants to be, that if a person is holding him he can get "out of it" by biting.
So I just stood there holding him until he stopped trying to squirm out of my hands. Then I sat down on the couch with him in my lap and just let him calmly crawl his way off my lap to go explore the couch, which I let him do for a while. THEN I, equally calmly put him in his cage.

IMO you did exactly the right thing the whole time You knew the bite was coming but didn't pull away and drop the skink, you didn't toss it or pull it when it bit, you remained calm, waited for it to calm down, and continued on in a most excellent fashion. For a first-time bite you're a pro at it Way to be!

Merauke was his usual benign

lol at least he didnt learn to fly! Sorry you got bit, but that is actually an adorable story.

I am not looking forward to getting bite by a bluey, however, I am also a chicken about getting a vaccine!

ReptileKing wrote:I am not looking forward to getting bite by a bluey

.....you mean.....even with your Tanimbars and Keis, you've NEVER BEEN BIT? How'd ya manage that? I thought I was doing good having made it to almost one month before it happened!

minimal handling I guess? As we always say, each skink has its own personality. I guess I have them remember and the ones that are mean, simply dont get the same amount of handling as the ones that tolerate handling. With the mean ones, Its simply grab and go, I have a gentle yet firm grip on them anytime Im holding them. The docile ones are able to just sit on my hands/arms.

As for the tannies, they are really one of most docile skinks I have had. WHen I had the northerns, I had more docile tannies than northerns.

That makes sense. At this point, I still consider all my animals "pets", and since I only(!?!) have 5, I still try to "socialize" them so they, some day, can come with me when I take them to schools and such. I still have hope at least one of them will tame down to the point where I can let others touch and hold. --fingers crossed--

You have never been bit?!?!
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=19087&hilit=keis

Ive played with wild ones for yeeears - Never bitten

ML - remember an earlier discussion about copying people's photos and posting them without permission? I'm not sure why you save everyone else's lizard pics, but I hope you had Brad's permission to post them. Rather than reposting pics that aren't yours, maybe you could just link the original thread?

I didn't save it... I remembered, went to a different thread and put it here...
I mean... What are you talking about I have the link right there

xxmonitorlizardxx wrote:I didn't save it... I remembered, went to a different thread and put it here...
I mean... What are you talking about I have the link right there

Silly me - what was I thinking!? I'll go and remove this from my "list of reasons not to give ML stars", I must have been mistaken!

Yes please do so

At least there was no blood drawn. I too, have played with wild blueys and never been bitten.
Bliss thought I had food in my hand one day and pounced. She pulls her head back like a snake and strikes.
OMG it hurt. She drew blood and those jaws are extremely powerful for such a little blotchie!
I didn't pull away but said Blissie, you have my fingers. When she realised it was me she let go.
I got a black look. Had to feed her after that !
I have never hand fed Bliss for this reason. She was very feisty when I first got her with lots of hissing and lunging.

ive had more bites from blueys than you can poke a stick at,lol,mostly small nips,the blotchys seem to think my fingers may be food when im digging up water dragon eggs in there cage,worst bite was a new born blotchy when i was 8 or 9 years old,it was the runt of the litter,it latched onto my lil finger and didnt let go,dunked it in water,tried a gentle jaw squeeze,even just tried sitting hand on table and not moving,as everything we tried made it bite harder,must have been on for a good 20 minutes i reckon,thankfully they dont always do that,lol,mostly just a quick nip warning type bite,my prob is im to trusting,ive copped them from easterns,blotcheds,a couple of big stumpies we had years ago,and a few near misses from my westerns,they are way to food orientated,if it m
o
ves
it must be tucker is there motto,they even bite at water when i fill there water bowl

It's been a bad week for Suz, bite-wise!
My boa struck! Another case of "should've known better" on my part though, long story, won't bore ya, but I'm feeling a little bit unwanted at the moment....

I lasted 3 weeks before Slinky bit me then after that bite it was only 4 days till he bit me again and drew blood. That's the last time I think it's cute when he climbs in my shirt! He's a Tanimbar but technically it's not his fault as his previous owners have never handled him before. He also nearly took my boyfriend's finger off yesterday when he stuck his hand in the viv and in Slinky's face. But that was the man's fault *sigh*. He's still got a lot of work to do before he's crazy tame but he'll calm down eventually At least his bites aren't bad, he's only 8 - 10 months old, still has an inch or two to grow I think! Still surprised at the jaw power the have!