BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Hiya ladies and gents, new guy and first-time bluey owner here. I've been lurking the site and forums for a while, and picked up my skink at a local reptile convention on 9 August. According to the breeder/dealer I got her* from, she came to him about six months ago from another dealer and was billed as a Kei Island. He was fairly knowledgeable about skinks in general, and had been feeding her on an appropriate diet, but freely admitted that, as a breeder, blueys weren't his primary focus. She hadn't been handled much, as he dealt with a large number of reptiles and didn't have time to interact with each one, so she was a little huffy at first. She's continued to be fairly huffy and hides quite a bit, but I'm putting that down to her settling in--or at least I was. I was pretty sure she wasn't a Kei Island from the start, as her markings don''t seem to match the pictures, but I'm leaning more and more towards her being a Tanimbar. She's got the glossy scales, the attitude, and she's pretty firm compared to the IJ I also handled at the con. At any rate, I'm far from an expert, so if any of the locals can maybe hook me up with a positive ID, I'd be much obliged. She's currently picking at a chow mix of dog food, mango, squash, and collard greens, with blueberries as an occasional treat. I've got some can o' snails in the mail, so hopefully that'll perk her up a bit.

*I'm not sure of her gender, but she seems like a she, and so I'll use female pronouns until proven otherwise.

UPDATE: As I was typing this out, she started splashing in and out of her water dish, rubbing up on tank decor, and leaving chunks of skin everywhere. Surprise shed, which might explain why she was so moody. Didn't see it coming, since she never did lighten up, and she stayed shiny right up until pieces started coming off.

Anyway, on to the pictures:























So, that's my girl. She still doesn't have a name yet, although 'you big huffy baby' and 'big scary lizard' are seeing fairly regular airtime so far. I'm usually more of a lurker than anything else, but I'm also one of those people that loves to take pictures of their pets, so I may be posting a lot more of her. Looking forward to being around the forums, and thanks in advance for any assistance with an ID or (long shot) gender!

You're right, that's a Tanimbar! Very pretty too You should definitely post lots of pictures whenever you can!

Aww she's a cutie. She seems to have a lot of personality and is quite photogenic lol

Gorgeous Tanimbar! What an awesome find! Look forward to lots more pics!

Yay!!!! I love tannies and your's is lovely! Welcome to the site.

Awesome, thanks for the welcome and the ID! She was pretty well done shedding when I got off work today, and she is a lot lighter now. The dark grey/black outer banding of her stripes is now a light grey; there's nearly nothing dark on her anymore, and her lightest parts are actually nearly white. She seemed to shed everything in pretty large chunks, except for a bit on her face that you can probably see in the pictures, and a bit on her rear right leg. That one's going to be fun, because while I've been mostly leaving her alone to settle in, that shed's going to have to come off, and I suspect she's going to be less than enthused about the whole thing. Any advice for removing a bit of stuck shed from a likely less-than-happy bluey would be greatly appreciated!









I've had her for ten days now, and she's gotten to where she'll come out and roam around and be curious if I'm sitting in my office chair right next to the tank, but she tend to dive back into hiding if I stand up or move too quickly. While I do quite a bit of sitting when at home, I'd like to think she'll start being a bit more sociable soon, as I'm going to have to start handling her at some point. I've read the taming guide on the main page and the thread in FAQs, but any additional advice in that department is definitely welcome as well.

Honestly, shed that is not constricting (wrapped around an appendage) doesn't need to be worried about IMO. When you start handling her you can rub at the shed gently to see if it comes loose, but don't worry too much about it.

Nice find! Tannies seem to have gotten much less common recently. That's a really nice one.