Early signs of 'boyhood'

[splashy07]

This eight month (third and fourth pic) old started dropping sperm plugs at six months. He did not brumate this winter, but went into season along with the adults. The first and second picture is of his five year old dad. If you see these signs, there's no doubt you have a male! These two boys are still tearing up their cages expecting to meet a female this year, but neither will. One is too young and the other has this year off. The disturbing part is they do not eat during this period, and lose quite a bit of weight. I'm not sure if they exhibit this behavior only in the presence of females, as I have never owned just a male. Anyone see this type of behavior just keeping a single male? Here in the northeast the season is generally January to March for the northerns.

[Janella]

Mintaka does the exact same thing and he has never been around a female at all. He climbs the walls and slows down his eating habits. I think he is a handsome guy. I feel bad I don't breed him sometimes.

[splashy07]

It's just what they do I guess, just drives me insane about the hunger strike thing. My males lose so much weight. My Eastern males are just starting to eat again, but the Northerns sometimes don't until mid March...the ones that did breed are still going crazy too. Same every year, but the worrying never stops!

your poor boy looks sad...get him a lady friend!

[Janella]

Yeah Mintaka goes off and on from food for several months. I don't have the slightest idea on how to breed skinks. I would have to look into what to all do first. Not sure if I would want to. I guess he will have to be sad for a little longer. The one I should try to breed is Noodles. He drops sperm plugs ALL the time. I joke he is a horney little guy. Lol. Not to mention his personality is the best. I am so glad he is doing well again.

[splashy07]

I'm so glad your Noodles is doing better. If you ever want to breed, just email me and I'll give you a quick tutorial, Northerns are easy. Meraukes and other Indos, however are challenging and you'd have to seek info elsewhere for those. Oddly enough, a friend of mine bred IJ's totally by accident! One day he looked in the cage and there were four little babies. Obviously the pair was kept together. Unfortunately, my constant sperm plug dropper is the only one I do not have a mate for! He is a QLD locale Eastern and I've had absolutely zero luck finding another.

[Janella]

Thank you. Trust me I am so happy Noodles is better also.
As for breeding, I am not sure. If I do decide too I will definitely contact you. Thank you for that.
That is amazing about breeding by accident. I guess they took the risk having them together. Thank God it was successful.
Have a great day!

[aaronhouts]

Oh yeah!
Our little guy, Lucky, started dropping plugs less than a year old, but kept eating through his first season.
He did the hunger strike thing last year which was his second season and is just coming out if it. It was scary because he was so small already.
To get and keep him eating, we even make him different food than the other two.
He’s our spoiled teenager.
The other two are older and one is female.
And these are Halmaheras.

[splashy07]

Hi Aaron! When I kept Halys they never brumated or stopped eating. Everyone says they are troublesome but they never were to me. Never had one single issue with them. And they are such eye candy! If only we could get them to breed....you can do it!

[mb606587]

I don't keep Halmaheras, but I have witnessed brumation behaviors in both my Irian Jaya and my Meraukes. Several years back, my IJ burrowed herself and refused all meals for nearly 6 months, prompting her one and only vet visit (she started eating consistently literally a week after the visit in mid March so that exam was a waste of time and money). Currently, one of my Meraukes just ate her first meal on Sunday since late November/early December and has only emerged to bask for short sessions a handful of times during that period. Now I don't, nor have I ever, attempted to influence my skinks into brumation by altering the photoperiods or temperatures as many keepers so often do with the Northerns, so the natural drop in ambient temperatures in the winter is the only explanation as to what triggered it. With that said, most of my skinks seem unaffected by a gradual drop in temperature and the ones that have typically do not repeat year after year so I'm still unsure as to the very sporadic nature of that behavior, at least with the skinks that I keep.

[aaronhouts]

Hi, Splashy!
Thank you for your confidence!
I hope we can prove you right. We are dedicated to the Halmaheras for sure. I really hope we can crack the code. We have really developed our husbandry to better suit them and it seems to be working.

We tried putting our Axanthics together this past fall, but not for long. We quickly decided that our male was too small. There's still a chance that our girl, Scout, may be gravid though. Regardless, we should have her and two males ready to go for this fall.

We've had the exact same experience as you, @md606587. Lucky, our little male Axanthic, went for months without eating at all. This surprised me because I really didn't expect that a more tropical species of BTS like Halmaheras would do that. We don't manipulate the temperatures though it's possible they could still feel the change of the ambient temperature in their room. We DO adjust the length of the daylight they get according to the season.

Janella,
I'm glad about Noodles, too. I forgot to mention that earlier. Sorry!

[Janella]

Thanks Aaron, we truly wouldn't know what to do of something happened to our much loved Noodles. My three year old is obsessed with him and asks to hold him all the time!
I would love to have one of your gorgeous skinks babies if you ever get any . Your skinks are awesome!