Vet update

[Angcious]

Duma went to the vet on Monday for bloodwork because I felt there seemed to be more urine and urates in his enclosure than is normal. The urine at one point had a smell but when I changed substrates, the smell seemed to go away.
Duma was such a good baby, he's so calm about everything. My older Tequilo was good for the vet but did massive poops and pee each time lol. Duma didn't even go to the bathroom there, he never huffs either, he's just so amazingly calm. The vet fell in love with him and couldn't get over how “tame” and personable he is. He said that when I'd first bought Tequilo to him, he'd only had a few bts patients but in the past few months, he's gotten a couple more. It was good to hear that bts may be getting more popular!
Duma got the blood taken from his tail, it wasn't as awful as I thought it was going to be. He didn't seem to feel when the needle was in but as soon as the needle was taken out, he turned his head to his tail. So, he felt it more than he let on at first.
The vet did a quick panel there but said that it would be sent to a lab also. He called me yesterday to tell me that I have a very healthy wonderful little blue tongue skink on my hands, thank goodness!
So the vet did tell me that maybe, from what I said, that he was getting more protein than he needed at the time. He's had fantastic growth in the 3 months since the vet last saw him (when I first got him), put on almost 400 grams. I had started adding more veggies to his mixture the past few weeks. He said that if I still feel there is more urine and urates after a month or 2, that we could do blood work again and an ultrasound to get a better look at his organs. I'm hoping, for my wallet's sake, that it doesn't come to that but I feel more confident now.

Anyway, he had asked me if I was planning on breeding my two. The honest truth is I have been thinking about it. Two of my friends have been smitten by my Tequilo and said they'd love to have one of his babies. I have 2 beautiful sweethearts who I adore but I know it would be a year or two before I could even try to pair them. My Tequilo has his first birthday next month, Duma is still a baby yet (500 grams). Plus, I think I have 2 boys on my hands although the vet said he thought Duma looked more like a girl but certainly couldn't rely on looks alone, he kept referring to him as a “her” or “she.” Anyway, the vet said the bts are making their mark on him. He really loved Duma's personality and coloring, said he looked like a little bengal tiger in lizard form. Told me to keep him in mind if I do have babies...that was flattering!

Just out of curiosity, I have a breeding/genetics question...my Tequilo is dark (the one in my avatar). Duma tends to go through 3 different shades in between sheds. Fresh off a shed, he's more of a peach color, then it changes and stays mostly to a pumpkin color, then a few days before shed it'll be like a tannish mauve.
Genetically, how would the coloring on the babies turn out? Would it be more like half the babies being Tequilo's coloring, the other half being Duma's. Or would the babies be more like different shades in between both of their colors?

[Susann]

Sorry no one's responded on your thread yet Angcious; I'm still catching up from taking a week off...

There's really no way to tell how babies will turn out. In my opinion, that's part of the fun
Most of us who breed pick adults with the traits we hope will get carried on to the babies. The traits I try for are thin bands and high color.
Just to give you an idea, here is a thread with my adults (plus Lucy, who is a baby from Xyla and Milo):

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=28841

And here is a thread that shows some of the babies that they've produced:

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=28236

Glad to hear Duma got a clean bill of health and that (s)he charmed the vet.