Kiah, Nippy and Lava-pics added 13.8.12

[Lea]

Spring is here! It's slowly warming up in SA and the skinks have been rummaging around in their enclosure for some food. I offered them a little dish, which they happily enjoyed and then recommenced basking in the warm sun. They have been fairly active for a few weeks, even though there has been some wet and wild weather, but the forecast is good, so hopefully they won't feel inclined to bed down again for too long.

Nippy, Kiah and Lava were all out and lazing around in the sunshine, but showed surprising speed and I had to keep my eyes on them as they kept diving into dense bushes while I took photos. Lava was a little flighty, but Nippy just meditated, while Kiah kept his eagle eye on the proceedings. He hasn't lost his title as the "watcher" and I don't think he missed anything! He's always been calm, but never lets his guard down.

Enjoy the pictures!

Kiah:

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Lava and Nippy

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[Lea]

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[Richard.C]

have a few out enjoying the sun today here to,not quite spring though,17 today,but rest of the week is icky,not long now though

nice shots lea,bit of sunshine shoqs em off well

[Lea]

We are lucky here, with the forecast being in sunny for the rest of the week. The enclosure is sheltered from the wind, so their basking rocks get lovely and toasty when the sun is out, probably why they defiantly chose not to properly brumate! Its 21 degrees today, very mild for this time of year.

[Richard.C]

hopefully it pushes up to that temp here soon as well

the yellow on that stumpy is gorgeous,i like the chocalate one as well,are they both local occuring to you

the eastern looks like a kid with a grotty face,haha,nice looking eastern

[Coomassie]

No pictures of little Estrella? I love her. Although the rest of your bunch is awesome too! Lava is gorgeous.

[Lea]

No pictures of little Estrella? I love her. Although the rest of your bunch is awesome too! Lava is gorgeous.

Little Estrella died on 1st January- I just haven't removed her name from my list of skinks ... Guess I ought to

She was a special girl.

Lava has beautiful colours, she's from the onkaparinga river area, south of adelaide. Nippy is from the north western river lands, about 200kms north of Adelaide. He's not fussy, though and is happy to hang out with any of his girls! He's never had a 'mate' but he's had a lot of 'girl' friends!

[AnnaMonroe]

what stunning photos and the camera quality is absolutely incredible.
i am also amazed by that shockingly yellow belly

[Rush]

Estrella is new news to me. Thats very sad, she had a big heart.

Nippy looks great!

[Karen]

Beautiful and adorable pictures Lea, though I'm sad to hear about Estrella. Hopefully everyone else is doing well. These three sure do look good!

[Coomassie]

No pictures of little Estrella? I love her. Although the rest of your bunch is awesome too! Lava is gorgeous.

Little Estrella died on 1st January- I just haven't removed her name from my list of skinks ... Guess I ought to

She was a special girl.

I'm so very sorry. Somehow I missed that.

[Jenn]

I always love your pictures!

[Lea]

Thank you for your lovely replies! Lava is incredibly yellow and the green plants just show her off even more! Lutea is still sleeping a lot and not as active as the others, so i've left her in the enclosure, for now. Hopefully, i'll get to see some more of her in the coming weeks.

Suunto had a bad winter and has surfaced extremely underweight. She's not doing so well, although appears to have improved slightly since I brought her inside and warmed her up. I'll post some pictures soon, hopefully with some positive news, although it's touch and go for her right now.

[Alioop]

Sorry to hear about Suunto, Lea. Although if anyone could make that skink well again, you're definitely the person to do it! I have a lot of faith in your skink-healing abilities!

The other kids look great!! Your skinks have so much personality, Nippy especially- its all over his face! Thanks for taking the time to post photos of your gorgeous critters!

[Lea]

Thank you, everyone, for your nice thoughts for Estrella. She was a fighter to the end, though and died peacefully in her sleep after battling many illnesses.

Thank you, alie! Nippy is a gorgeous skink and has a lovely presence about him, no wonder the girlies seem to tolerate him following them about all the time!

I took Suunto outside for some sunshine this afternoon. It was quite cool, but warm enough to keep her toasty while she foraged about in the undergrowth. She seemed fairly bright and her energy levels improved, too. She was happy climbing up and down the low "one brick high" wall and only slowed down when I decided playtime was over and took her inside. Hopefully tomorrow will be just as sunny, I think it does them good, mentally speaking, to give them a dose of real sunshine when they are sick- she certainly appears to show more interest in what's around her with the slightly higher stimulation than just her four glass walls inside.

[Lea]

Suunto is still being kept inside until the warmer weather comes to stay, but she's having some daily outdoor time. She looked bright and much more alert today, than she has been, so it looks like she's still improving. The other three shinglebacks were taking it easy together. Lutea hasn't been around much, but she'd come out to bask this morning. There isn't a lot of sun, but it is fairly warm. They looked so content!

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[lourdesv89]

I'm so jealous!! My biggest dream is a shingleback! That and a pignose turtle...

both impossible.

[Richard.C]

wont be long and they will be moving non stop,they all look great lea

[El Lobo]

Looking good Lea and great pics as always.

Lutea is appropriately named, she has the same richness in the yellow as our blotchies and I suspect it is even more striking that the pics can show.

You have plenty blooming already, so far we only have wattle putting on a brave face.

[Bowdoin55]

What a beautiful group of skinks! Lava's colors are just gorgeous; outside of the Goldfields form of rugosa, I've never seen such contrast on a shingleback.

Thanks for sharing these pictures.

Cheers,

David