One year ago today...

[aaronhouts]

...we brought home Zipper, our first BTS from Herp Hobby Shop in Tampa and things haven't been the same since!







to be continued...

[Janella]

Aw, what a cutie!!! Love him

[aaronhouts]

Thank you!
Here are some comparison shots for size taken about a year apart.
He weighed about 64 grams when we first got him and now weighs about 640 grams. He's increased his weight by about 10x in one year!

[aaronhouts]

...and here he is helping me post these pics.

[Susann]

SO gorgeous!!
It's so cute how the scale outlines above his eyes makes it look like he has eyelashes!
Love how well you care for your animals too, it warms the heart

[alichamp]

Awesome! A new black and white photo shoot would be nice. Just sayin'...

[Janella]

Absolutely gorgeous! I love the color. Thanks for sharing

[teamh]

Thanks, all!

Here is the shot in black and white just for fun... (I love taking pictures of these guys!)



And next week will be Scout's first birthday; here is one of me having a talk with her, probably about potty training. We love our Team H Bluey Family!



-- Susan Houts
"Mother of Blueys"
We are on Instagram: @susanhouts #teamhfamily

[splashy07]

Exquisite. Gorgeous. I'm at a loss for words...and that's a rarity too...!

[StitchedTongueSkink]

Awwww that is one happy loving skink! Happy Anniversary! Speaking as a noob what species is he, I'm curious

[Susann]

Both of their skinks are Indonesian (Tiliqua gigas gigas), the Halmahera type, and an axanthic color form. Pretty rare in the US.

[StitchedTongueSkink]

Both of their skinks are Indonesian (Tiliqua gigas gigas), the Halmahera type, and an axanthic color form. Pretty rare in the US.

Cool! Thank you for responding so fast, I heard the Halmehera type was shy and did not like being handled as much as other species. This one is so mellow!

[Susann]

Halmahera Indos may tend to be more shy, but each is still an individual, as is each owner and how much time they put in, how much patience they have, etc.

[Susann]

StitchedTongueSkink, I LOVE your avatar!!!!!!!

[StitchedTongueSkink]

StitchedTongueSkink, I LOVE your avatar!!!!!!!

*blush* lol Thank you! I spent a good 15 mins looking for a photo I liked

[teamh]

Exquisite. Gorgeous. I'm at a loss for words...and that's a rarity too...!

Thank you so much!

[teamh]

Halmahera Indos may tend to be more shy, but each is still an individual, as is each owner and how much time they put in, how much patience they have, etc.

Thank you for replying with the info, Sue!

StiitchedTongueSkink:
Thank you for the comment! We have heard some of the same about the Halmaheras; we tend to handle ours quite a bit which keeps them really tame.

And as Sue mentioned, even within the species, the individual personalities are different: Zipper is very chill while Scout can give a bit huffy at times. Some other things we do that we think might have helped make them so calm is that we feed them outside of the cage, we turned off the overhead lights (ours seem to have run from the lights and were always trying to hide; we do give them ambient light on timers so they can move to the front of the cage if they want or go to the back for more darkness), and we ended up giving them "see through" hides (we cut the front out of a larger sterilite tub) so that they can feel secure but we can still see them and, most importantly, they have to "see" and interact with us.

Also, when we first brought them home from Herp Hobby Shop (these were captive bred imports), we did start handling them right away to get them used to us. (Scout was REALLY huffy on the first day, but since she was so tiny, it wasn't intimidating at all so I scooped her up and started working with her, including a full-body rub down with a bit of aloe and a wet paper towel to help hydrate her). I know many people say to give them two weeks to settle in, but as they had come from being in cages with other animals, we figured they were used to chaos and we wanted them to settle into our handling routine.

And we also started with feeding them outside of the cage immediately, by hand when possible, to get used to our environment.

(Of course, A and I are kid-less (yes, these two have "become" our children ), so our schedules are flexible and we have a solid amount of time to spoil these two.)

Anywhoo, thanks again for the comment. We LOVE these types of BTS and are really hoping to breed them this upcoming year. If we don't get these two to hit it off (they like hanging out with each other in the same general vicinity, but that might not translate to actual breeding), we are hoping to find two more to mix things up a bit. As Sue mentioned, these are rare in the US so we are always on the look-out for some to add to our Team H Family.

And ditto to what Sue said... very cool avatar!