Wild Tiliqua gigas! *outdoor photoshoot*

[Dakota]

Haha, not quite. Decided to take some photos outside.. and please CLICK the photos to view them as they were supposed to be viewed.. thanks!

Hunter:

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Maxx:

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Virginia:

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Ema:

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Thanks for viewing!

[donkeybuff]

You have a great looking group of gigas!

[Dakota]

You have a great looking group of gigas!

Just wait a couple more months.

But thanks!

[Vengeance]

I like Hunter's banding, Meraukes have an interesting variation in width and colour of bands. Maxx sure is a handsome fellow! The red of the flower shows just how vibrant those bands are. Virginia has an interesting range of shades, yellows to a dark salmon colour, gorgeous! How can you not love something with such a expressive face, Ema has some nice pink colouration under his chin. Does that extend to further under his body?

Impressive group of Meraukes, Dakota.

[Dakota]

Oh yes, all my skinks have pink bellies! Bell besides Maxx, his belly is black. I actually have a scan of Hunter, Ema, and Maxx's belly (Ema actually has the least amount pink on his belly):

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Of course they have a little more pink than what the scan picks up (I don't have the highest quality scan. ), so just imagine them with a tad bit more pink. Out of all my skinks, Virginia has the pinkest belly.. and it almost full on RED! I'll have to take a picture of it. It actually looks exactly like like Xyla's belly (Susann's orange Merauke.. she started a thread a couple days ago with her belly picture):
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[Dakota]

And yes, I scanned my lizards' bellies.

And thanks for the awesome comment!

[Dakota]

You should see it right after shed..

Here she is now:

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[Vengeance]

I was thinking, did take them shots from underneath a glass tank? I'm surprised they stayed still long enough to get a clear scan.

Maxx's chin to belly sure is different in comparison to Hunter and Ema's! That is one very pink belly Virginia has, lovely colouration. I like the washed out colours of Ema's belly, I also like the pattern of the banding on their bellies, especially the banding on Hunter's belly. It is interesting how different Indonesian locales are varied in appearance (i.e Maxx's Halmahera locale to 'normal' Meraukes).

[Dakota]

You should look at the differences in coloration between the Halmaheras and Classic Indonesians..
There is so much variability with such a small range.. and that makes it harder to situate subspecies for the gigas, from what I'm reading in the buley bible.. that is why I would like to devote a career in studying mostly Tiliqua gigas in the wild. Already been asking around on the cost of the trip and stuff to PNG. I can't wait.

[Toria Dawn]

I still think Maxx is just the cutest guy ever!

[TJreptiles]

Team Virginia! All the way.

[Vengeance]

Sorry guys, I'm now a self invited member of the Ema Appreciation Association, or EAA for short.

I wish you the best of luck in that career Dakota, even just a trip to PNG to see them in the wild would be a fascinating experience, I am sure. The colour difference is astounding, quite a bit of variation is present. I suppose that is one of the things that makes Blue Tongues what they are, hardy, 'bulletpoof' lizards, for their varying appearances might be a result of adaptation to the surrounding ecosystem. I have to look into getting that book soon, from the comments I've seen about it, it has a wealth of information and even has information on other small skinks.

[Dakota]

I'm team all of them. >:D

I'm surprised you guys didn't ask about Xaunder and London. I took pictures of Xaunder but she was in shed, so I didn't post so you guys wouldn't think it was her true colors.

And by the time I got to London my neighbors were doing something and it would be awkward to see a guy outside doing weird positions to take photos of a 2 foot lizard. I guess I'm a bit of a recluse. Hehe. And I'm also afraid to take London outside since he turns into a wild child out there.

[Lea]

Looking great, Dakota. The colours look so beautiful in natural light and I bet they appreciate going outside, too.

[Dakota]

Looking great, Dakota. The colours look so beautiful in natural light and I bet they appreciate going outside, too.

Apparently I have some vampire BTS. I think they enjoy the sun, but not so much the open air.. haha.

[Vengeance]

I'd ignore the neighbors! I've gone down on my stomach to get some nice photographs of our skinks, snakes and cat. Although we do have an 8 foot fence so the only odd looks I get are from my family, they give me very odd looks when I go all "Oh my, you're so cute look at you!" to our snakes, my mother's on the Bluey Bandwagon though! Although I did sit and kneel quite weirdly when we went to the zoo, just to get some nice pictures. I'm more of an indifferent socially awkward person therefore I tend to ignore people unless I'm about to walk into them, I try not to initiate conversation and if I do it's the halting, awkward silences type, so I ignored the other people around me.

I've taken Astro and Ninja out for a romp in the grass. Ninja tries to dash for freedom while Astro would rather try to bury him/herself under the grass. I think they need more settling before I take them outside again. Planes go over sometimes and I know it bothers Gizmo (he turns his head to watch them up in the sky), not sure what the little two would do! When Gizmo was small he'd just sit there, maybe try to climb the retaining wall, but he was a generally chill skink, still is in fact.

Just scoured the forums for pictures of Xaunder and London, Xaunder is the one with light colours like Ema, but different banding? Some nice patterns on that one.

London is your Irian Jaya? He is a handome fellow too! Love the light colouration under his jaw.

Do you still have Thiswai? I must apologise if you don't, I haven't read every thread in General Discussion yet.

[Dakota]

Yeah Xaunder is siblings to Ema, they do look a like pattern wise, but her base color is a light peach-y color, and the color in the banding is a lighter orange-y brown, while Ema's is a darker, almost red, orange-y brown if that doesn't sound confusing..

Yeah, London is my little dude. I decided I would never breed him, so he is just a pet. A lot of people think I just keep to breed, which is not true.

And sadly no, she passed away around new years this year.. out of all the years I had, I never really wanted another BTS, but whem she died, I knew from then they were my dream reptile.. the reptile I want to spend the rest of my life with.

[Jeff]

They are looking good Dakota. I am interested to see how they go for you.

[Dakota]

They are looking good Dakota. I am interested to see how they go for you.

Hehe, did you not hear the news exactly 1 month ago? I got a couple pairings.. Ema x Virginia. I believe I got ovulation (I THINK I seen she was swelled a bit for a day) about 2 weeks afterwards, so fingers crossed everything will turn out okay.. I'm just hoping I wasn't imagining the swelling, lol.

And my father said he wanted to get me 3 more female BTS (pretty cool, huh), and I chose 2 female Halmaheras and 1 more female Merauke.. but might be replacing that deal with something even MORE awesome.

[Dakota]

The gist of the photo-shoot is to make it look like I stumbled upon them in the wild.. and out of all of them I like:

The 2nd to last of Ema
The last one of Virginia
The 2 one of Maxx
The last one for Hunter

I failed on the rest, but they were too cute not to post.

And I'm quite surprised no one asked why Ema was so angry, haha.