BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Hi Guys, I'm just looking for someone to confirm if I indeed have purchased a Tanimbar BTS or if it is a Kei island.

The shop keeper wasn't sure he just told me its from the islands north of Australia, which could be either really. I'm leaning towards Tanimbar. It is captive born, parents very tame but this baby is very huffy and hissy and doesn't want to be handled atm.

Any ideas?

It's for sure not a Kei island; Tanimbar would be my best guess.

Susann wrote:It's for sure not a Kei island; Tanimbar would be my best guess.

This was my guess as well. It wouldn't have been my first choice, I would have liked a northern. I guess I will have to just keep taming it until it becomes the way I want, it's very huffy and shy at the moment so I think it will take a lot of effort. The bonus is they go a silvery colour when mature and I think that looks cool.

How long have you had it? If it is fairly recent he might need a little time to settle in.

alichamp wrote:How long have you had it? If it is fairly recent he might need a little time to settle in.

I've had it about 6 weeks now. I have been taming it by feeding it from a spoon so it doesn't see me as a predator and associates me with something nice. It was on crickets originally so at first it would charge at the spoon and try and attack it before starting to eat, was very amusing. After a week or so though he got the idea and now just walks over to it and starts eating the chow.

When its hungry I think its hunger response out weighs its fear response and it feeds. As soon as it has had its fill it runs away to the hide, the fear response then wins over. lol

I've heard all Tanimbars are hissy and never like being touched on the top of them. I have seen tame ones hissing before being picked up. I read they are likely more cautious than the northern because the Tanimbar islands have quite a number of predatory birds so they likely have to be more cautious in the wild, guess this defence instinct is then just in the DNA somewhere.

It sounds like you are making progress anyway, and it can take some time. There is a thread on taming BTS over in the FAQs.