BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

I've noticed that my Northerns really try to use their tails in a much more prehensile way than any of my others do. Is this a Northern thing?

My merauke uses his tail when he is climbing and needing to prop himself up.

My northern uses his tail to "grasp" things. For example when I'm handling him he will kind of wrap his tail around my finger.

So you may be onto something here?

yes! that is what my northerns do as well! Not to say that other species that i own NEVER use their tails, it just seems like my Northerns do it all the time, and are able to use them in this manner more efficiently.

Last year I had a baby Northern climb along the back of a kitchen chair, using his/her tail to cling on. Grabbed it as soon as my brain kicked in, but was pretty amazing in retrospect.

My IJ won't 'grab' things with his tail, its more or less a notion of 'you're picking me up, so I'm going to curve myself in these plants and take them with me'.

The only time he really uses his tail is when he defecates, and that's just the lift-out-of-the-way motion, or when i'm gently teasing the tip with a finger, he'll squirm it away from me.

Toxique wrote:My IJ won't 'grab' things with his tail, its more or less a notion of 'you're picking me up, so I'm going to curve myself in these plants and take them with me'. .

LOL! Mine use their tails for balance obviously but dont wrap their tails around objects. just lean them to the side. But maybe because Tassie blotchies seem to have shorter, stubbier tails compared to most others

Toxique wrote:My IJ won't 'grab' things with his tail, its more or less a notion of 'you're picking me up, so I'm going to curve myself in these plants and take them with me'.

Hahaha that's mad funny! xD
Spyro uses his tail, but not when he climbs. I usually catch him moving his tail when he's laying down & resting. One second its straight, the next second the tip starts curling in, and the next second his tail is chilling on his body lol
He never ever ever has a problem with being touched, but he does stare confusingly when I pet his tail lol

My easterns and blotcheds use it when climbing branxhed ect used for water dragons snd cunningham sjinks that share there outside cage,more so for bslancing though rather then wtappung around branch,but use it often when getting down ,like a brake to stop them sliding off logs or the rock pile

Branches and rocks are to big to wrap tails around though,but they curl it over to help stay on the logs,they suprisingly often spend alit of time up in the logs basking with water dragons and cunninghams ti

lol, my Merauke has used his tail to prop himself up before XD

There quite adapt at using the tail to reach up higher to get over things

I will say that over the years I've realized the tail is quite a lot stronger than I originally thought. Having heard that they can drop it just from fear (extremely rare, I only recall one case), and that grabbing or pinching would take it off, I always try to be very careful the tails. Saying that, I have at times grabbed a skink by the tail, or pinched the tail slightly (closing a bin/door). I have caught a skink by the tail when it was about to cliff-dive - the entire weight of the skink was suspended by the tail for a moment. I have also had to grab the tail to stop skinks from getting away from me. Not to mention that the girls have to cope with a bite-happy boy during breeding season (tail bites are always quickly separated, but still). Basically I've seen/done things where I thought they should have dropped it for sure, yet they've never seemed to notice that anything happened at all.

I am saying this to share that those tails are pretty amazing, not to say these are things that should be done. I always, always try to be gentle with the tail; I've yet to have one lose any tail and I would like to keep it that way.

I've seen a skink biting in the tip of it's own tail once. I wonder if he was smart enough to realise why his tail suddenly started to hurt.

Niels D wrote:I've seen a skink biting in the tip of it's own tail once. I wonder if he was smart enough to realise why his tail suddenly started to hurt.

LOL! did it just nibble or full on attack it?

It looked like the way he would bite to catch a food item. It really looked ridiculous. Love my dumb little skink.

LMAO i wish u had that on film. mine has been eating worms and one squirmed over to his side, my bluey turned around and bit his own leg lol. at least it was on purpose like yours. thats just funny

Jenga bites his own tail regularly. Sometimes he holds on for a moment too. But so far he's never done any major damage to it. I suppose it's a minor pain to him; worthwhile for the goal of taking my fingers off.

LOL Fatal, you should try to capture t on video. it would be so funny to see.

I would love to see that as well!

Once I move and have real internet, I promise to upload lots of Jenga videos.