BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Got some more baby Northern BTS yesterday May 8th (hmm... Jeff's birthday, he might need some !) From female #14 X male #4 .

Mon and dad Jan 21 .

And Jan 26 .

Mom plump, April 21.

Oh yeah ! She had 15 babies . Mom looks a bit deflated !!









This time mom was pretty calm to me when I removed her babies , she must have had them
right before I found them, because the babies still had their first shed coming off of them.
She was probably still mesmerized from giving birth, so she didn't try to attack me , unlike the last bunch !!

Geez Ray! It seems like you are getting really nice sized litters. Do you attribute that to anything specific?

Jeff wrote:Geez Ray! It seems like you are getting really nice sized litters. Do you attribute that to anything specific?

Only from the last two , because they are now 8 years old and have never been bred before. Then again ... last year I missed the breeding season for all the Northerns , so it might be that they didn't breed , and had more time to get their weight back I guess its good to give them a break every now and then.

Nice job ray,good looking babies again,surely the parents of these and there parents have never been fed dogfood,lol

Interesting observation on litter sizes jeff,always makes me curious to,my older kunnanurra sister females ,ones a teen dropper,always in the teens,her marginally bigger sister has only ever dropped 7s,had this season off because i tried to see if the male theu reside with was getting the job done,last 3 seasons its been 7 then 7 then year off,her sister in comparison was 16,13 then 15 this season,babies between litters have always been around same size to

What is your average number Ray? Oscar Rose has had 14 viable every year for the last four years. The first year, she also had one stillborn. Second year, four babies had head compressions from their skulls being locked like puzzle pieces in the womb and two slugs. The third year, she had iusix slugs. Last year, she has one runt that died two days later and six slugs.

I've always thought she had 'average size litters', but now I'm thinking they're pretty good sized batches. She's full again, so it will be interesting to see what she throws here in another month or so. I'm also seeing that your gestation period is shorter that mine. I bred before or the same time as you, and based on previous years, I estimate that she's not due for another four to six weeks. Any thoughts on why that is?

Gestation varies ,depending on conditions,like incubation with eggs i guess ,consistant warmth,faster incubation,cooler equals longer,variable temps can also prolong gestation.

Also depends on how u cycle them,some people fully shut them down,they breed after warming,others keep them warm year round and they slow down with cooler nights and lower ambients,which is what i do,mine mate in the middle of winter when temps are at there coldest,so takes a while after mating for conditions to warm up a bit

Last season i kept a young female warmer than the rest,with night warmth to,she was mated after all the other females were done and dusted,yet had her litter before them

All very interesting. I pretty much let mine do what they do figuring they know better than me. Oscar Rose has gone down harder each year. She had her longest breeding season this year, which was between January 17th and February 14th. Based on Previous years, I figure her delivery will be somewhere between June 11th - 22nd. She shed today but hasn't started gulping air when breathing yet so who knows. I guess they all do it in their own time.

Congrats on your new batch of babies. It would be interesting to know what your final count is at the end of the season.

So when they first give birth the babies shed their skin? Is that with all blue tongues?

I believe so. They've been surrounded in an enclosed, wet area through the gestation, and when they are born there's a very thin layer of "shed" that sloughs off right away.
You can see it on little newborn Luigi:

I saw that in some of rays other pictures and when he mentioned it I was curious haha that would make sense though. Want to get rid of that soft baby skin before a bird tries to nab you!

how long untill they first shed

The newborn shed sloughs off right away. The next one is in three to seven days for my guys, then another one in about three weeks or so after that.. You can get a fairly good idea what their colors will be by the third shed even though they continue to brighten a bit even after that.

cool thanks!