BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

After giving him his medicine I decided to get a few pics of Venners. Thought you guys may like to see.
I’m still not sure if he’s ij or Merauke so tell me what you recon.
Thanks
Also included a cheeky shed glove shot, cuz o was so proud when I saw he had shed a glove haha. Needless to say nobody I showed shared my excitement so I thought you guys might.

Ventress is stunning! He has got beautiful colouring - sorry I can’t help you out with what species he is.
One of my Blueys just shed yesterday, and I found some shed gloves too! They’re really cool and also quite funny

Cute I have a glove from both of my easterns. Here’s one from my 2 year old.

Angel_BTS wrote:Ventress is stunning! He has got beautiful colouring - sorry I can’t help you out with what species he is.
One of my Blueys just shed yesterday, and I found some shed gloves too! They’re really cool and also quite funny

Thankyou! Yeh the gloves are brilliant and as you say too funny!!

Y33T wrote:Cute I have a glove from both of my easterns. Here’s one from my 2 year old.

Wow!! That puts ventress’ glove To shame! Very cool picture!!!

So sweet! Glad to see he's doing well ^__^

Hope you'll get an ID soon! It's difficult as while it's tempting to say an Irian Jaya, Ventress doesn't have the full black legs as common with that subspecies. But yet, the dark eye band isn't common for Meraukes (as far as I'm aware!). And you've already checked for the dark pattern underneath, so we know he's not a Halmahera! But what I do know - is that he's cute

kayla990 wrote:So sweet! Glad to see he's doing well ^__^

Hope you'll get an ID soon! It's difficult as while it's tempting to say an Irian Jaya, Ventress doesn't have the full black legs as common with that subspecies. But yet, the dark eye band isn't common for Meraukes (as far as I'm aware!). And you've already checked for the dark pattern underneath, so we know he's not a Halmahera! But what I do know - is that he's cute

Thanks very much yes he’s a confusing little fella!! Fingers crossed somebody can figure him out for me, thanks for your input.

Looks to me like Irian Jaya.

splashy07 wrote:Looks to me like Irian Jaya.

Thanks splashy07 I think you're right he has 3 lines on his neck (although either side ones are faint) and a pinky white belly, I am thinking a merauke would have a stronger colour underneath?
He's being rather amusing today so I think he is feeling better. I popped home at lunchtime to check on him and he had decided it'd be fun to burrow under his water bowl and wear it like a turtle shell! was a surprise to come home to!

They can do the cutest things. I'm constantly blowing out my pic storage on my phone taking pictures of them all the time! Yes as far as ID I would go with IJ, could be IJ/Merauke also as there are a lot of those crosses around. There is way too much hybridization going around out there, I actually saw an Alpine Blotched/Eastern cross someone came across at a recent expo. Absolutely stunning looking but such a bad idea. What people do for money.
IJ/Merauke not too bad figuring out care as both have similar needs, but when you cross something from two totally different habitats and locales that must be one confused little animal. Seasons, breeding, food...everything will differ even if slightly.

splashy07 wrote:They can do the cutest things. I'm constantly blowing out my pic storage on my phone taking pictures of them all the time! Yes as far as ID I would go with IJ, could be IJ/Merauke also as there are a lot of those crosses around. There is way too much hybridization going around out there, I actually saw an Alpine Blotched/Eastern cross someone came across at a recent expo. Absolutely stunning looking but such a bad idea. What people do for money.
IJ/Merauke not too bad figuring out care as both have similar needs, but when you cross something from two totally different habitats and locales that must be one confused little animal. Seasons, breeding, food...everything will differ even if slightly.

Yeh that would be a nightmare! I find it challenging enough trying to get everything right for Ventress, but if unsure of what to do for the best because of two opposing locations that would be horrible.
As you say it must be for money because I doubt anybody who truly cared about the animals would do it intentionally, really unfair on the little guys.

Have you considered a meraukee irian jaya crossbreed? I know that this stuff can happen with dart frogs, and it may be possible with skinks! that could explain the eyeband and legs.

Happyherper wrote:Have you considered a meraukee irian jaya crossbreed? I know that this stuff can happen with dart frogs, and it may be possible with skinks! that could explain the eyeband and legs.

Thanks for the input, It’s definitely a possibility like you and splashy say, I would ask the guy at the shop I bought him from but he thought it was a northern because “Indonesia is the northest” ... I kid you not!! Haha

Unfortunately many dealers call them all Northerns. A Northern in a pet shop would be a rarity, as dealers get imports at very cheap wholesale prices, and the name 'blue tongue skink' is generic to them. Most dealers are not willing to pay the prices cbb skinks command, and have zero knowledge about the background of what they sell. Many times I have seen incorrect labels in retail shops, and if you try and tell them, of course they know it all. Most times their parents were in junior high when I started keeping reptiles.

splashy07 wrote:Unfortunately many dealers call them all Northerns. A Northern in a pet shop would be a rarity, as dealers get imports at very cheap wholesale prices, and the name 'blue tongue skink' is generic to them. Most dealers are not willing to pay the prices cbb skinks command, and have zero knowledge about the background of what they sell. Many times I have seen incorrect labels in retail shops, and if you try and tell them, of course they know it all. Most times their parents were in junior high when I started keeping reptiles.

Yup, same old story I think. I’m imagining it must have been a gravid wild caught that had Ventress and his siblings as they did have them all at the shop. Shop owner said he had two of his own adult BTS at home but lack of knowledge on his part makes me think otherwise (or concerned for them) I’m just glad I got Ventress, his chest seems better today aswell, no clicking *touch wood*
Here’s a pic of him this morning... he’s grown!

He looks great! So glad you found eachother!!

I keep a 2 year-old Merauke female named Madame V., and she has very thin striping and very little peppering. It is my understanding that the Irian Jaya variety have much thicker striping throughout, and I believe that their heads are supposed to be a bit smoother on the top with black markings in the cracks if that makes any sense. Both the IJ and Merauke are known to have speckling on their limbs, whereas the indos tend to have solid black limbs. With all that taken into account, I'd say your Ventress is an IJ because the striping is MUCH thicker than mine, but then again, as suggested in other posts, crossbreeding is always possible.

There are 5 different species and subspecies of box turtle native to where I live (Southeast Louisiana,) Eastern, Three-Toed, Gulf, Ornate, and Florida, and they can all interbreed which makes it VERY difficult to identify them in my area as this is where their ranges all overlap, so it stands to reason that if the BTS ranges overlap as well, it may be possible to have hybrids in the wild as well as in captivity.