BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Ive been slack with weighing lizards,read only bought a scale last march,lol,forgot to way eastern before she dropped ,was meant to get around to it but she pipped me so decided to weigh the 2 year old blotchies and western female

Western female 41 cm and 652 gm

Vic alpine,not measured but similar to westerns size,still lots of growing to do 630 gms

Bluemountains 2 year old,similar length again,660 gms

Doesnt sound heavy but they are still quite small compared to my older blotched females and tiny compared to my old girl,be interesting to see what they lose when they drop what ever they drop,they look like 2 dudes having a push up comp with there laboured breathing,lol

Btw had first lot of alpine babies today. beat you again

*darn you scott,haha

Maybe mine will start soon now,thought i may finally pip you with the indoor youngens at least

But im always last,lol

Good stuff

Squeeeeeeeze me,lol

Hard to say whos going to be next

Fat and skinny

If u look close you can see the males hemipenal buldge still quite easily,has gone down a bit since spring,the lass has darkened up again,im thinking another sheds looming ,must be 5 or 6 weeks now since last shed

Pretty sure im seeing first signs of contractions in vic alpine 2 year old,also thinking shes in fact from my vic alpine lowlands cross,i didnt think it had babies that year,but this ones coloring isnt the norm for vic alpines,nor is her brothers

Will have to set up a cross enclosure me thinks

Funny thing with my female Alpine Blotchies I worked out that the mass of babies and associated organs, fluids etc was almost exactly 30% of their pre-term weight (25-30% ish). I posted the actual weights some time ago on BTS net. The often had the same mass of babies.

Of my females that were 800g to start with prior to mating

Pre-term weight was constantly about 1100g (biggest 1300g) - for lizards 53-56cm (sample size 5)
Average baby no. 6 ish (range 5-8)
Average baby mass was between 35g each (general range 30-50g) = 210g of baby and around 90-100 g of fluids/membranes etc.
Weights of babies measured after they ate their egg sacs.

Since this time I've had a couple of smaller females give birth so my stats might be off a bit but somewhere above are good indicators for Blue Mountains Alpines.

Good info scott,i should probably check things like that as well,these 2 2 year olds are quite small for first timers,they were even smaller back when they were mated,i certainly wasnt expecting them to mate

Ive had small ones do it before,usually the males the small one though,but they have been a few years old and lowlands males,one was only 30 cm total length that mated a alpine lowlands cross female,she was probably similar size to these two now,but was 5 or 6 years old,raised outside

These guys were same age as the yearling female i got off you was at first mating,18 months old but a heck of a lot smaller than her,in the low 40 cm range now,i reckon under 40 easily when mated

I find the females are ready to mate as soon as big enough - 45cm or so. I have had one - accidentally mated in the first year and happily gave birth - all happy. Raised with heat to September and 45 cm long when put outside. I didn't expect mating due to being put outside relatively late.

I'd have to say though my small males are normally not successful at mating with my big girls, this is why I wasn't particularly concerned about a lowland male being with them, he went on a few pony rides around the enclosure. I find normally only on their 3 year are they successful when big enough.

My young males show interest early,but that stops when the big boys start showing interest

OMG that western is HUGE can't wait to see those babies! It's interesting how the females show their pregnancies- I see many like your Western that swell through the whole middle, but my Northern girl last season was mostly huge in the bottom half, and she is doing that again this season.

Lots of variety in how they show it,some its very obvious,others i swear arent even gravid yet they drop,they keep you guessing i suppose

2 year old bluemountains lass is in blue again,gone white,safe to say this will be her pre birth shed,looks like normal litter time for these guys,both 3 year old bluemountains girls have shed recently as well,one a week ago the other today,but im not sure they have been knocked up,but they have both gone off there food so could just be hiding it well



This oddball is a southern highlands nsw alpine,got it and a male 6 or 7 years ago now,this is the one blotch that i cant work its sex out,its a pin head girly headed thing,but skinnyish maley tail,weight goes up and down alot,never seen it get mated or attempt to mate,it often gets scuffed up though and did abit this year to,went down to folks to check on the vic alpines and noticed this one deep breathing,whole body rolling and head rising and falling

Its one heck of an oddball ,doesnr look as fat as it is,but ontop of thickness it feels rock hard,so have brought it home to keep a closer eye on,hopefully i finally can figure its sex out,but with its behaviour today im leaning female once more,lol

Forgot to mention,6 female vic alpines look pretty close to dropping,another couple of maybes with them to,ill have to weigh this nsw one tomoz just in case my predictions are correct

One of the gravid vic alpines from yesterday basking next to a male

Checked on the vic alpines at folks place yesterday,noticed quite a few fresh sheds around cage and one of the females was sqirming,shouldnt be far off for them

3 female bluemountains have shed in last week 2,only confident in yellow 2 year old being gravid though,she shed yesterday,a 3 year old 2 days ago and the other girl a week ago,both older females arent hugely fat or overly laboured breathing,but skinnier gravid ones generally dont,they have both been very picky eaters of late,actually ignoring food last time i fed them,so see what happens

Nsw southern highland one is only 450 gms

The oldline aspera is at 525 gms,last season at this time she was 465 grams just prior to dropping slugs,shes actually dropped a bit of weight lately,mellowed right off the food so fingers crossed i finally get a 2nd gen from that line,past mid march now so jopefully some of these guys finally start popping

Having a laboured breathingathon,lol

In this pic,a lowlands,vic alpine x lowlands covered by a bluemountains,a nsw southen highlands and a yellow bluemountains

Got some vid of lowlands and nsw southen highlands laboured breathing so will pop it up on u tube