BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Hi folks,

I'm a wildlife carer and often deal with injured eastern blue tongues. I thought you might be interested in some of the pictures and stories I have of them. They are easily my favourite reptile to care for, and they're such tough little guys, it's amazing the sort of damage they can recover from.


This guy was attacked by a dog. He dropped his tail, and also had some puncture wounds on his sides. He was eventually successfully released.


Juvenile bluetongue, no idea what happened to him. His skull was crushed - possibly someone dropped something on him. I had to have him euthanised as he was unable to open his mouth and was in a horrific amount of pain.


This guy was named Lucky. My dad happened to see him on the side of the road and brought him home to me. I was sure he was going to die. One eye and the top of his head was bleeding profusely, and he'd failed to entirely drop his tail. I started applying pressure to the bleeding and rushed him off to the vet. He came out of it minus an eye and his tail, but otherwise alright. He turned out to be the greediest blue tongue I've ever seen, was in my care for quite a while until his eye was healed up. He was released as far into a national park as I could take him, well away from any roads.


Smallest and feistiest blue tongue I've ever had. He was a cat attack. You can see some of the puncture wounds on his side in the second picture. He died after two days unfortunately, despite medication. I counted the puncture marks after he died, the total number was 11. Lots for such a little fella.


This is Lt Dan. Dan was attacked by a dog and taken to a vet by the dog's owner. The vet who saw him had no idea how to look after bluetongues and he came into care with a terribly infected leg and very weak. He was taken immediately to another (good) vet who performed an emergency amputation and gave him meds for the infection. He had a very slow recovery. Dan was an incredibly friendly bluetongue and wouldn't actually leave when we tried to release him. I ended up taking him on as a permanent education animal and he is the friendliest blue tongue I've ever met. He's been on the radio, to schools and fetes, all sorts of places, and he's never once hissed or gotten cranky. I absolutely adore him. I wish I had pictures of how skinny and beat up he looked when he first came in, you wouldn't even recognise him as the same lizard.

I also have another two easterns (both who have birth defects), two northerns, and a shingleback on my personal reptile license. Love em!

Its always great to meet new people who share our passion for these awesome critters! Sounds like you've got loads of bts-keeping and care experience, I hope you'll stick around.

The photos are really interesting, thank you for sharing! Any chance we could see pictures of the rest of your 'herd'??

Sure!

I also forgot to post the blue tongue I'm currently rehabbing, somehow. This is him:

I've no idea what happened to him, he was left at the vet with no information. His eye is all messed up and he has a big dent in his head, as well as puncture wounds and no toes. Seems to be doing okay so far, and has been very cooperative with me treating his injuries. He's currently living in my bathtub and will probably stay here now until August, since I won't release reptiles during the winter. Need to get a box for him to live in so I can have my bathtub back for the turtles!

Anyway, these are my pets.


Charlie, my baby shingleback. He's finally starting to get over the 'urinate madly when picked up' thing, yay.


Matilda and Banjo, my Kununurra Northerns.


These are my newest additions. An acquaintance of mine is selling her entire collection (she's moving states) and I went along to pick up some enclosures and stuff. While there, she showed me these two blue tongues. The mother apparently had a calcium deficiency and they were born with a deformity. Since she couldn't sell them she figured she'd have to euthanise them. I'm a sucker for damaged animals so I said I'd take them. They're quite friendly and seem to manage perfectly well despite their deformities. The one with the more pronounced 'dip' is called Dippy, the other is Arthur Dent.

Also, I just found this cute picture of Dan. That face

So nice to hear of specific groups that are helping our wild BTS friends. It takes a special person to do what you are doing.

Thanks

Amazing.

Strangely, I find the shots of Luckys tail to be quite interesting, the way the muscles are and such - Looks like it was quite painful though, poor baby!

And Dan is quite the stunner!

Lucky was a fascinating animal for many reasons. I had to syringe feed him for a little while because he also had a split lip on the other side of his face. One of the biggest concerns I had was whether he would ever be able to eat again. Yeah, that ended up not being a problem. As soon as he was offered food he started eating. I also got bitten by him because I stupidly put my finger in his mouth while trying to figure out if his jaw was actually broken. Cant say I blame him for it, definitely won't try that trick again.

I think that's the only time I've been bitten by a bluey though. Lots of them hiss but they're such a pleasure to work with its not at all difficult. I actually mostly do mammals - possums, wallabies, bats etc - so its a relief to get a lizard in. I don't have to get up in the night to feed lizards!

Wow, what an awesome job you are doing caring for these beautiful creatures, they are lucky to have you!

This makes me so happy to see how much you are helping all of these skinks! <3 It's so sad what happens to them :[ but I'm glad that many who would have died, now have another chance at life because you saved them! I also think it's great you saved the deformed skinks, it's so sad how many animals are euthanized because of deformities who are otherwise perfectly healthy and unbothered by them.

Yeah, I have a soft spot for crippled/deformed animals that nobody wants. I feel bad for them. As well as Dan and the two deformed easterns, I also have a partially paralyzed Land Mullet, a blind sugar glider, a partially paralyzed sugar glider, and a snake that was given to me for free because she hadn't eaten in almost a year and is underweight. Plus the wild animals in rehab. My house is like a zoo.

Great initial post! I'm happy about Lt. Dan. That's a nice story.

Thank you for sharing and thank you again for helping out these poor skinks. They are very beautiful <3

Retaboop wrote:Yeah, I have a soft spot for crippled/deformed animals that nobody wants. I feel bad for them. As well as Dan and the two deformed easterns, I also have a partially paralyzed Land Mullet, a blind sugar glider, a partially paralyzed sugar glider, and a snake that was given to me for free because she hadn't eaten in almost a year and is underweight. Plus the wild animals in rehab. My house is like a zoo.

yea lol. I have/have had some with problems as well. I like rescuing ones like that because most people see them as "not good" or something. Plus their different little "quirks" make them unique. Like my ring-neck dove who was being bullied and pecked at by other birds he was in a cage with at the bird store i used to help out at and where i got most of my parrots. One of his feet is basically paralyzed or just doesn't work for some reason and the toes don't move. I felt bad and I had to save him, plus he was goofy and friendly. :] Whenever I see animals like birds that fell from a nest or anything I help those and release them as well, but I don't do anything as great as you do with all those skinks you help!

these are some very sad and interesting stories. good some of them ended very good
its so nice to hear someones accepting and helping injured blueys

Welcome, and I think your work with wild skinks/other animals is amazing! I understand the need to take animals no one else wants, that's how I ended up with my barely feathered, fairly aggressive male eclectus parrot lol. keep up the amazing work, and you we always love to see pictures!!!

welcome to the forum,

great job your doing with your patients,not just the blueys,they are pretty tough buggers,thecat attack ones often dont make it,normally get infections,dogs do so much more damage,yet amazingly they pull through

love your kunnanurra northerns,they look similar to mine,lil stumpys quite cute to

Yeah - dog attacks seem to make it most of the time if they are treated quickly enough, but I don't think I've had a cat attack victim survive, even with antibiotics and wound treatment. Cats have filthy mouths. I lose a lot of possums from cat attacks, too. It's why I keep animals like Dan - to try and educate the public about keeping their cats indoors where they won't kill our poor wildlife!

And thank you all for your welcome! I'll make sure to keep posting pictures, and I'll try to get some photos of how they look when they're healthy and ready for release instead of just beaten up.

Also, one more picture.

He's not a bluey but I want to show him off. This is my Land Mullet, Forrest. He lives with Lt Dan. He was a dog attack too and is having all sorts of shedding problems because of how many puncture wounds he had. I also pulled a whole bunch of ticks off him, and he has a partial paralysis in his hind legs so he can never be released. I use him to show people the difference between Land Mullets and blueys, since a lot of people just see a big skink and that's it. He doesn't try to bite me, unlike every other Land Mullet I've ever touched.

yeah even cats claws are bad for infecting wildlife,some do pull through,but unfortunatly not the case for the majority,especially if not treated straight away

Welcome!! Wonderful pictures and stories, thanks for sharing.

thats so awesome! Thanks for sharing that! I wish I could do rescue! I do foster though

you are such a good person you inspire me