BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Alright, I have a couple of questions. Might as well knock them all out at once.

1. My Indonesian BTS, Ganymede, hasn't shed fully since I've had her, about a year. The scales flake off one at a time instead of all at once like a snake. I'm not sure if this is normal, abnormal, or even something to worry about.

2. Summer's coming around and that mean scorching temperatures. Should I turn the heat lamp off during the if it gets too hot? I know this sounds a little obvious, I just want to make sure.

3. As previously stated, my skink is an Indonesian, I've heard also about "Halmaheras". I noticed multiple people calling Indonesian BTSs "Halmaheras". I googled it and Halmahera is an Indonesian island, so it makes sense. Why call them "Halmaheras" though? What's the point?

1. They don't shed like a snake. They shed in pieces, sound like she's fine on shedding.
2. If it gets to hot I turn my heat lamp off. If I were you, I'd do the same. Make sure your skink isn't sitting in the dark though. They should still get light even if its not a heat lamp.
3. Halmaheras are a certain type of Indonesian. Not all Indonesians are halmaheras.

Hope I helped!

1. That type of shedding is normal. They definitely do NOT shed like snakes. You could try upping the humidity during a shed, sometimes that helps it come off in bigger pieces, but still, they are not going to shed in one piece.
The only time you really need to worry during a shed is if there is stuck skin constricting toes or the tip of the tail. If there is, up humidity, or give them a quick warm bath (80*F is a good temp) and assist them to get it off. They aren't going to appreciate you touching their toes or tail, but if its necessary...its necessary
2. If your temps are getting to where you are concerned about turning your heat lamps off, do it. Mine are all off, but that is because my herp room is unbearable right now, and HOT! If you are over 80*F and the heat lamps are making the room or cages unbearable, they can live a few days without them.
3. Halmahara Indonesian Blueys are a) from a very specific region of Indonesia, and b) they are very dark, much darker than "normal" Indos are. So basically, Halmahara, when correctly used, refers to a very specific "look" which is dark and normally believed to come from the Halmahara region.

Halmaheras look like the goth Merauke to me, but they are accepted to be an Indonesian. They have a big stripe down the neck, and a whole lot of black on them. Really gorgeous.

As far as I could see, you don't have a Halmahera.

Halmahera is a specific island in Indonesia - like Kei or Tanimbar. All Halmaheras should come from that island as opposed to other places in Indonesia. But unlike Keis which are a ssp. of gigas and Tanimbars which are a ssp. of scincoides, they have not been given a separate subspecific designation and are just considered T. gigas gigas (i.e., lumped with other "Indonesian BTS") .

I just give it time before they become a subspecies, here soon.

Basically here is the difference.

Top Left: Normal Halmahera Indonesian
Top Right: Axanthic Halmahera Indonesian
Bottom Left: Mainland Indonesian
Bottom Right: Merauke

All photos were found on "http://image.google.com/", besides my Merauke photo.

I wouldn't use those photos to demonstrate halmahera vs "normal", especially since there are merauke photos in there. That is just confusing. Hopefully one of our Halmahara owners can chime in with some good photos

Dakota Nivens wrote:I just give it time before they become a subspecies, here soon.

Highly doubt it. Look at IJ.

Ophidiophile wrote:Halmahera is a specific island in Indonesia - like Kei or Tanimbar. All Halmaheras should come from that island as opposed to other places in Indonesia. But unlike Keis which are a ssp. of gigas and Tanimbars which are a ssp. of scincoides, they have not been given a separate subspecific designation and are just considered T. gigas gigas (i.e., lumped with other "Indonesian BTS") .

Thanks Ophidiophile always love reading these kinds of posts. I am confused as to why tanimbars are lumped in with scincoides? Aren't they an Indonesian (tanibar island)? which would be Gigas whereas scincoides would be Australian?

SapphireTigress wrote:I wouldn't use those photos to demonstrate halmahera vs "normal", especially since there are merauke photos in there. That is just confusing. Hopefully one of our Halmahara owners can chime in with some good photos

I put the Merauke in there, to show the difference compared to a regular Indo vs. Merauke.. What's confusing?

especially since there are merauke photos in there

There is only one Merauke photo in there..

PoultryKing wrote:

Dakota Nivens wrote:I just give it time before they become a subspecies, here soon.

Highly doubt it. Look at IJ.

True..

I took away the Merauke comparison to cease confusion.

This is a normal Halmahera Indonesian, along side with an Axanthic Halmahera Indonesian compared to a classic Indonesian.

Chris.J wrote:I am confused as to why tanimbars are lumped in with scincoides? Aren't they an Indonesian (tanibar island)? which would be Gigas whereas scincoides would be Australian?

Great question Chris. Here's the deal (as I understand it): Politically, yes, Tanimbar is part of Indonesia. But if you look at where it is geographically, it lies in between the north coast of Australia (around Darwin) and the south coast of New Guinea (on the West Papuan/Irian Jayan side) but is just slightly closer to Australia. Apparently, Tanimbars share characteristics with BOTH scincoides (specifically, intermedia) and gigas. That's actually why it's given the subspecific designation 'chimaerea' which means 'mix'. When it was first discovered it was first described as gigas (and actually put in keyensis) but it was later moved to scincoides because it has just a bit more in common with scincoides (but only somewhat!)

Now here's a tantalizing little detail -- right next to Tanimbar is a tiny island called Baber that allegedly has "Tanimbars' (i.e., T. scincoides chimaerea) on it. It would be cool to see if they are exactly the same as the Tanimbars or vary somewhat in color or pattern (like the different color forms of keyensis). Right now I don't think we know because it seems no one goes to Baber Island. The collectors go to Tanimbar because it's bigger and they can catch more animals there. I'd really love to see what Baber Island BTS look like though -- maybe just exactly the same as Tanimbars, maybe not!

Oh wow! That is very interesting.

Wow - Ophidiophile thanks.

that clears up question I have had for quite sometime.

All these comments have been very helpful, thank you very much.

Dakota Nivens wrote:Halmaheras look like the goth Merauke to me, but they are accepted to be an Indonesian. They have a big stripe down the neck, and a whole lot of black on them. Really gorgeous.

As far as I could see, you don't have a Halmahera.

Are you sure? The way you described it, she might be. Here's a top down pic.


[img=http://s24.postimg.org/7z53i38td/104_2039.jpg]

She has a lot of dark bands on her back, unlike the pic of the Mainland Indo you provided which had bands that weren't as full of dark. She may just be darker though. Idk.

Does look like she has a presence of a a big dark stripe that all Halmaheras have, but I can't see for sure.. that Indo is super deep in shed. I'll try to go through some older photos.

EDIT: You do have a Halmaheran! It is really hard to tell with the super dark shed, but going through your old photos, looks very Halmahera-ish to me.

Now give her to me.

just remember your talking about a locale,halmahera,someof them look just like mainland indos,and some mainland ones look like halmaheras,there all highly variable even from the one locality

a lot of these coveted names are are made up for the pet trade,often based on coloration,like with the green tree pythons,not actually based of accurate collection data,its hard to know for sure where most of these imports are truelly collected from,and calling them certain locales based off coloring is very innacurate as has been found in gtp,s

I can safely assure you that they don't all look the same in one type locality,andthat its next to impossible to look at one and say yep,this ones definatly a this locale specimen

That is true, but when you look at the Axanthics, they have this HUGE black stripe down there neck with little presence of the other 2. I have a friend in Malaysia, and she knows exactly where her pairs were collected..

But then again, you have a great point.. you can't say for sure, unless you are certain where they are collected..