BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Hi all,

New here! I was at a huge reptile expo this weekend and stumbled across a single adult BTS that was being sold as a captive-bred Northern by a custom enclosures vendor that had only four other hodgepodge reptiles for sale. (I had gone looking for Northerns as I fell in love with a previous boyfriend's BTS). The seller said that it was living on walnut shells with a diet of "crickets and mealworms" and no source of humidity. Not too great. I ended up checking him/her out and it was a gorgeous, healthy animal regardless (minus one toe)! I now have it set up in a 60 x 14 x 18" enclosure on some walnut shell the seller gave (I will be switching to a cypress mulch, moss, soil blend in a couple weeks once the BTS is acclimated).

I am thinking that it's an Indo or at least a Gigas species? I'm having the toughest time deciphering. Has speckled legs and a cantaloupe orange under the chin and front (haven't handled to see full belly yet) with the same coloring on the sides of the neck. Sold as 2-3 years old and is 18.5 inches (47 cm). Want to know its subspecies so I can give it the best set up possible + I'm dying of curiosity!

Thanks for any help!

That is a merauke tiliqua gigas evanescens. Looks like they made the correct enclosure improvements. The original owner must’ve not had him that long to be in that good of condition.

Thank you for your help!

starscream3232 wrote:That is a merauke tiliqua gigas evanescens. Looks like they made the correct enclosure improvements. The original owner must’ve not had him that long to be in that good of condition.

Thank you for your help! That's what I was thinking, too, since the animal is so healthy. Could you explain the distinction you see? I'd love to develop a better eye for spotting a Merauke vs an Indo.