BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Hey everybody!

2-3 weeks ago I got my first northern. I'm so happy about how he turned out! I thought that I was going to have to tame him down a bit because I figured he would be a skittish baby, but boy did he prove me wrong! He's got a lot of self-confidence and a great personality to match. If I go to pick him up, the most he does is a simple, quiet huff before climbing onto my hand. Couldn't be more pleased that I chose to get a blue tongue.

Seeing as today had a rainy, boring, indoor kind of afternoon, I figured it was the perfect opportunity to take some photos already! Without further ado, I present Phin!




(Sides are a lot more orange than in this photo. Flash kinda dulls things out)



(Can't really see in the pic, but in person his belly is a bright salmon pink with orange bars)

Sorry if the pictures have some blurry spots - he's quite the moving machine! He also disliked the flash, so that didn't help any.

And I keep saying "him" or "he", but honestly, I'm not sure of the gender. I know it's difficult to tell at this age, but take a stab at it if you'd like!

From the looks of it all - disposition, size, overall - I'm going to be into geting him another "friend" in a couple of years!

Awesome northern! Who'd you buy from ?

Very cute pics!

hot carl wrote:Awesome northern! Who'd you buy from ?

I got Phin from ReptilePetsDirect, who bought from a private breeder. They seemed knowledgeable about skinks and their overall stock of animals, and worked with me very well. They seem to have healthy reptiles as well, seeing as Phin is docile, chubby and obviously healthy!

And thanks for the compliments guys! ^-^

Great pictures! Have fun with your new skink!

Thank you! Man, I must say, blue tongues grow like weeds... Phin is already looking so much bigger, and is just about to have his second shed with me. It's so weird to think that 10 days ago he had finished shedding and is just about to once again! I'll have to take more photos soon.

Can't wait to see the new pics. Did reptiles direct tell you who the private breeder was ?

Beautiful skink!

Nice looking animal!

Don't know the exact breeder, never really bothered to ask... should've now that I think about it, odd that I didn't. I asked for lots of other information, and they gladly answered. I assume it's just from a private breeder in the Texas area that deals with Northerns. He's in great shape and perfect health with no oddities, so he seems to be from a nice bloodline.

Thank you all for the compliments! The little bugger decided not to shed today, but he will very shortly.

Also, today was interesting because I got to hold a Northern from a reptile breeder about an hour away from me. They have a website called www.ronsreptiles.com, but they have an interesting setup. They converted their house into a reptile shop, though they still live in the back half of the home. I must say, it was definitely the cleanest reptile shop I've been into, and they had a nice little collection including multiple burms, retics, ball pythons and lots more snakes, along with ackies, beardies, fat tails and many monitors. Ron was nice enough to let me hold an adult northern and another that I had troubles IDing (he said it was a northern, but I almost felt as if it were an eastern/hybrid). It was nice to get an idea of the weight of these animals, and a general idea about size.

awww hes cute And OH YEAH they grow fast!! Something really fun is to keep a length log...its amazing! One that I no longer own gained 4 inches in ONE month!!!!!

So as I had mentioned, Phin shed a couple of days ago. I finally had the time to get a couple of photos of him today! They aren't the greatest (used my cell phone), and they really dull out his new colors (recently, he's really been lightening up and getting some more oranges on him!). Also, Phin is notorious for hiding his tongue during photo ops. He'll flicker it all day long until I bring out a camera, and when I do get a photo of that big blue tongue of his, he's moving and blurs the picture. Ugh, oh well, here's some photos!~



He's got quite the hefty chin!~

And of course, on his beloved window seat looking into the backyard;





Wow, it's crazy to see how much he's grown already! Took some bath tile pics so that you could compare them to the originals from the first post.

Also, any ideas on gender yet? I know it's still early and it'd only be a guess, but I don't want to be calling him Phin for too long if he turns out to be a she!