Hi Everyone

[TinyBear]

Hey there peeps! I am a new BTS owner but I've been interested in them (and watching this forum grow!) over the past ten or fifteen years. Due to some un/fortunate circumstances I will soon come into possession of a skink of my own. I live in Georgia and a friend of mine in Tennessee rescued this guy from Craigslist. She's fostering him and well versed in reptiles (she has chameleons and iguanas mostly but she's had all kinds of reptiles in the past). She didn't really have space for him and she's known I've always wanted one so I will be traveling there to get him this week with any luck!

In the mean time I've got a local reptile specific vet and pet insurance on him as I'm not sure exactly what condition he'll be in. She said he looked a bit thin but she does not know a lot about skinks. The person she got him from said that he is an Eastern but she and I think he is an Indonesian. I'd love y'alls opinions on that. Also if you might know of an age? The person on craigslist wouldn't say how long they had him and she's only had him a week or so.

I've got a terrarium, heat lamps, substrate and all the other goodies for him already though I'm doing research now to make sure everything is what it needs to be. I'm excited to finally have my own bluey. She says he is just the sweetest thing. I've attached a photo and a video of him eating so you can get a good luck at his tongue. Between it's paleness and the all black legs I really feel it's an Indonesian.

It's nice to meet you all and I look forward to getting to know you all better now that I am an active member!

Eating video: http://bit.ly/2bTNiAJ

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[alichamp]

Hi and thanks for posting.

I'm no expert for the non Aussie species but I agree it looks to be an Indonesian, specifically a halmahera to me. If you've been around reading the forum a while you would know that these guys need really high humidity, 60-80+% otherwise they can have significant health problems as we've seen on the forum.

Heres some info to help.

Which substrate is the best for my BTS?
Let's see your humid hides

Not sure how old but looks adult to me I think.

Let us know how he settles in.

[Janella]

Hi TinyBear and welcome to the group! Thank you so much for rescuing this new skink. It looks like a merauke skink to me. Hard to tell if it is skinny or not from the photo, but it doesn't look to bad to me. However, I am newer to the group also. Hopefully some more experienced BTS owners will give us their input. Good luck and keep us updated on your new baby.

[Susann]

You have yourself a Halmahera type Indonesian, Tiliqua gigas gigas. Looks to be an adult in perfect condition to me.
Congrats!

[TinyBear]

Thank you all for the warm welcome! I feel comforted to know I was right about him being Indonesian. I wonder if he is actually a he now as well, though I imagine that the vet can help with that. Thanks for the links Alichamp! I have read over those but not recently so I do appreciate it. I want to make sure he gets settled in as smoothly as possible. I absolutely will Janella! I'm really excited and hope that he is as healthy as he looks.

So glad to hear you say he looks to be in good health Susann! You're very experiences so if you say that then I'm inclined to believe it. I have a vet appointment set up for him on 8/6 and plan to pick him up from my friend either tomorrow or Saturday so I should be able to get some better pics and give him a good once over.

[alichamp]

Yes I'm interested to know why he needed "rescuing" as he (or she) looks good. This is your first reptile right? Just remember how important quarantine is if you have an existing collection.

[TinyBear]

Yes I'm interested to know why he needed "rescuing" as he (or she) looks good. This is your first reptile right? Just remember how important quarantine is if you have an existing collection.

Apparently in the pictures on the craigslist ad the guy didn't have him in anything other than a cardboard box. He said that that when he obtained the skink the person he got it from said it was a Chinese water dragon. He went on to say that now it was getting too bag, didn't look right, and was chewing through the cardboard boxes. My friend saw this ad and ran to get him thinking he would be in horrible condition but like you all said he looks good to me as well. Either way the guy sold him to her for $150 which was apparently what he paid for him. I don't really know all of the story behind it because I never saw the original ad. She takes in a lot of reptiles so she cruises CL pretty often for them.

This is my first reptile or rather my only reptile currently I've had snakes in the past. I currently have two cats and that's it but they won't really be near him.

[alichamp]

Well your gain
Keep in mind that you don't know what he's been through so he may need a bit of time to settle in to his new environment with you. Keep us updated and please post some more pics whne you can. We love them!

[splashy07]

Beautiful Halmahera, congratulations! I kept them for years, they are wonderful pets. Humidity is the key to their success.
Good luck!

[TinyBear]

Hey hey guys! He was helping my friend prep dinner tonight and she got an awesome top down shot of him. Also I've found my enclosure says around 80% humidity. I've seen around the forum for a recommendation anywhere from 60% - 100%. Does 80% seem ok or should it be higher?

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[Janella]

Wow Tinybear your soon to be new skink looks amazing. Absolutely gorgeous. I am pretty sure 80% should be great for humidity, but I am newer here so I will leave that up to those who know more then i. I can't believe your back story on this one. Poor thing. How people can abuse animals or reptiles is just beyond me. Cany wait for more updates and to hear what you finally decide to name it. Good luck!

[TinyBear]

Thank you so much Janella! He really is gorgeous. I got him home safe and sound today. My friend said he hadn't eaten in about 3 days but considering I was moving him I didn't expect much but he ate half a strawberry, a small okra, and some dog food! He sat around in his basking dish for awhile and just a moment ago crawled under one of his hides. Current temp is 89F current humidity is 82%. He has been sneezing but his nose mouth and eyes look clear. I'll keep an eye on that though.

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[alichamp]

Glad he's home with you now.

Do you have a warm end and a cool end? Warm end should have heat and basking area at 95-100 Fahrenheit with a temp gradient down to the cool end of the enclosure of about mid 70s. Temps is really important to get right so he can get the body temp he needs to digest his food properly.

80% humidity should be fine, just see how it goes. You want the enclosure humid but not wet or soggy so keep an eye out for that. And if you have a couple of humid hides and drier hides you are giving options.

If you would like to post a pic of the enclosure we can give you some tips.

[Janella]

Hi Teddy bear again. Your welcome and glad to hear he is eating. Definitely ditto to alichamp previous post. The temps have to be spot on. See what you can do to raise that basking spot. Good luck and send us more pictures when you can :-)

[TinyBear]

Do you have a warm end and a cool end? Warm end should have heat and basking area at 95-100 Fahrenheit with a temp gradient down to the cool end of the enclosure of about mid 70s. Temps is really important to get right so he can get the body temp he needs to digest his food properly.

Ah yes sorry so the basking end has a slate tile in it and is right around 98 - 100 degrees, mid was what was around 85 and he's got a cool hide that is 74 - 78. Unfortunately I only have one thermometer at the moment but I have another one coming in the mail tomorrow. I've attached a picture of the terrarium below though I have plans to order a larger one in the future. Forgive it's barren-ness.

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[TinyBear]

So today he ate a small amount of God food and some endive and arugula. After he ate he was sun bathing for awhile then went into his tree hide. A couple of hours later I went into my room and he was sitting like the pic below but I noticed some discoloration at the corners of his mouth. As I mentioned he had been eating so I don't know if this is normal or something I should be more concerned about? It was not there in the pictures I took yesterday.

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[NickBrahz]

Skinks are little pigs they bury into the food so they get it all over them, just wipe it off with a wet tissue or something similar.

[TinyBear]

Cool cool that's what I figured I just wanted to make sure that it wasn't signs of something else. He's got a very appointment on the 8th so I'm sure he'll be fine.