New blue tongue :) IJ?

[Orchamo]

Hey everyone i bought a blue tongue from someone who didnt really knew anything about her... all i know is that she is 4 years old and he was told she was a female. By what i found online she is an irian jaya(front feet are and pattern). I dont really know if i am right or not. I read alot about blue tongues in general and one of the things i wanna know is if she i an IJ, because if so i need a higher humidity. And she ia a big girl! By my measure she is about 60-62 cm.
Another thing i whould like to ask is weather she is a female or not. I know its hard to tell and not accurate but anyway,ill be glad if you try
Thanks alot!

[tcopitho]

Definitely an IJ, good eye. Very nice looking one at that. As for sex I'm afraid I don't have the experience to make an educated guess.

[Orchamo]

Thank you very much!

[Orchamo]

Another question i have, is how old does a blue tongue has to be so i can put him with another blue tongue and observe them to try and figure out their gender. I know that method is a reliable one. ( i know she is big enogh but somone i know has quite a young one so i wanned to try and sex her with that method)
Thanks alot

[Dakota]

I know that method is a reliable one.

Behavioral sexing is not reliable at all. In my experience, it just leaves you with more questions. I would say to stay away from introducing for now until you can grasp the different behaviors they exhibit and you are able understand them. Behavioral sexing can go wrong in the blink of an eye. You are not likely to get any true breeding behaviors until the end of this year anyways if she is cycled to the Northern hemisphere.

You have a very beautiful Irian Jaya, by the way. Can't say I've seen too many members here from Israel.

[Orchamo]

Thank you for the answer funny you say that because everywhere i looked people said it was the best method. So your saying the only way is if i identify sperm plugs? Which probably wont happen, i keep him on coconut fibers. And just for general knowledge. If i will want in the future to buy another bluetongue(and i will ) what is the youngest age to put them together? Its probably when they reach sexual maturity right? Which is? 8 month?
And thank you for the compliment actually the hobby(reptile keeping) in israel is not the most edjucated and developed. Many people here dont know what they do at all. I mean there are some great reptile keepers and breeders, But its kinda rare. I try to see how its done in places that are more expirianced.(im new to blue tongues, but i keep BP's Boa constrictors, corns and leopard geckos) I will move from here btw, allso because of that reason. I whould like to keep animals for a living eventually. Or atleats try
So yea you wont see many israeli people on many forums around, people here tend to rely on what they are told from the person who they bought the animal from (i guess you know how it turnes out).
Not many are fermiliar with research online unfortunetlley.

[Dakota]

Yes, sperm plug is the most reliable way to determine the sex of your skink. A female giving birth or passing unfertilized ova is another 100% accurate way. Behavioral sexing can give you an idea, especially if you know what to look for, but it is not 100%. You can have very submissive males; you can have extremely dominant females. Your age questions depends on who you ask. The main care-sheet recommends at least 2-3 years of age, but people have been able to get them to mate as early as 8 months of age. It would probably be best to only breed (especially females) when they are not noticeably growing anymore. You could probably get breeding behaviors their first breeding season (~8 months of age), but it just depends on how quickly the skink matured (more food = more growth).

[Orchamo]

Yea dont worry i dont breed small females.im aware of the risks. I have bred snakes and leopard geckos, and the most important thing is their health.
Thanks alot for your time!

[Gao]

why do IJs all look so different to each other?

[Susann]

why do IJs all look so different to each other?

IJs are one of the most varied (if not the most varied) species of BTS --which may make it seem that they all look different from each other.

As far as behavioral sexing goes, I have to agree with everything Dakota has said. It can be accurate when you know what to look for; if you've observed many skinks together and have learned how the different sexes tend to act towards each other in different situations and during different seasons, it can give you a good idea. Otherwise it does just tend to leave people with more questions than when they started ...and sometimes they have an injured skink or two on top of the questions...

Due to how hard they are to sex, trying to put together a breeding pair of skinks is one of the hardest things in the BTS business. Good luck!

Here's a thread on sexing.

[alichamp]

Quarantine before any BTS are put near each other.

Another issue I think with behavioural sexing or people wanting to breed BTS when they are new to them is that Indonesian species especially can be hard to identify and this can lead to hybrids if not careful or knowledgable. Case in point. Breeding or pairing BTS is not as simple as some people seem to think.

Of course the main issue with behavioural sexing is that many people in the world don't spell it correctly, like in the posts above; until mine.

[Susann]

Of course the main issue with behavioural sexing is that many people in the world don't spell it correctly, like in the posts above; until mine.

...I never noticed until just now...
Stupid Americans! (And their behaviOral spellings...)

[Orchamo]

Lol thanks alot for all the information guys! And i will try my best to make sure the other blue tongue is a irian jaya. Ill ask for identification help here in the forum. I hate when people are breeding hybrids. And i know its kind of tricky to breed them. But i fell inlove with them! And with experiance of breeding other reptiles, im not starting from scratch so its better than nothing im gonna learn alot and make it interesting! i hope i will be succesful as well