BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Judging by optimal weight ranges my boy is at a good weight, just appears very thin in comparative photos of other blue tongue skinks, though i mostly see pictures of blotched , centrals, etc and they might be chunkier. Anyone else notice this with easterns / other blueys?

On the topic of wild caught, I've had my boy for 11 years. He was actually a present to me from my parents when I was 12 as I've had a love for reptiles since I was very young. Anyways, judging by his un-potato like behaviour, he acts very uncharacteristic of regularly handled skinks. Quite skittish, almost always wriggly and generally only tolerates me, huffs a lot though doesn't bite, pee on. Regularly handled him pretty much his whole life, he was quite young when I got him though I don't remember quite how young, he was bought from a pet store. I know some lizards can just have personalities like this but my beardy is more potato than my bluey and it just seems odd is all. Not sure if anyone has had any experience with wild caught here but it just raises suspicion is all and that's multiplied by it being from a pet store.

photo

My experience with wild bluetongues and other skinks as rescues is they tame up very nicely , especially with frequent handling . Being shop bought a cecade ago is no guarantee it was captive bred even if sold as a baby or juvenile. Things are supposed to have tightened up now.

That said , after 11 years I'd thought your skink would be very comfortable and laid back .

More information on your husbandry , the skinks tank and lighting and tank temperatures might help id a reason for your skink's behavior and condition .

Has the thinness been a recent development ?

Same with it's behavior when handled ?

Certainly possible that your skink is wild caught. I really can't speak on how common that is in Australia. However, I do have experience with wild caught Indonesian skinks being in the US. Many have tamed down to the point that you'd assume they were born in captivity. On the flip side, I've also seen CBB Northerns that wanted nothing more than to be left alone. So just behavior alone can be an unreliable indicator of such.

kingofnobbys wrote:photo

My experience with wild bluetongues and other skinks as rescues is they tame up very nicely , especially with frequent handling . Being shop bought a cecade ago is no guarantee it was captive bred even if sold as a baby or juvenile. Things are supposed to have tightened up now.

That said , after 11 years I'd thought your skink would be very comfortable and laid back .

More information on your husbandry , the skinks tank and lighting and tank temperatures might help id a reason for your skink's behavior and condition .

Has the thinness been a recent development ?

Same with it's behavior when handled ?

Thinness has been life long, always been a more sleek looking lizard hes never been chunky.

Behaviour wise hes always been like this. It isnt terrible, he still tolerates me, though hates being outside of his tank for anytime greater than 10 minutes and generally doesnt tolerate strangers or more than one person.

I'll give you the exact dimensions when I get home tonight as im replying from my phone, the tank is plenty in size, the original owner actually housed a pair of ackies in the tank before i obtained the tank. UVB is about 3 weeks old and is replaced regularly, i'll need to wait until i get home to tell you the temps but on a moderate day ( i dont generally use the aircon so house temps can be high on a hot day) the basking spot is around 33c and cool end around 26c. Plenty of hides and cover, deep substrate if he wants to dig, clean water and big enough dish to bath in. The substrate is a recycled paper substrate made for reptiles.

Generally offer him as much as he wants to eat.