BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Spotted this beautiful guy in the rock piles in our backyard last spring (October). Easterns are born in summer so was probably about 9 months old at the time of photo. I left him a small tub of water and mouthful of dog food just in case and left him to it. When I went back to clear it up he'd moved on (or hiding). Thanks for visiting! Grow well little one!!

a good looking little bt.

Been petty cold, "WINDY" & "a TAD wet" , so I expect the little skink will be curled up somewhere sheltered and dry ( likely in the shed, garage, under the house ) and hunkered down til it warms up again.

Not seen any of my resident wild water skinks , or heard the geckos for the last 3 or 4 days either.

Wont have gone far.

That's amazing. What a beauty.

If those things were in my backyard I'd never leave the house. I'd lose my job, starve to death unless I could buy food online...........
Oh lucky you!!

Always nice to see photos of wild BTS. Such a foreign concept to me on this side of the world.

I was hoping to find a wild thread
ive got a resident myself, "naga" indonesian for dragon, also means reptile, lizard monster, in alot of world dialects

shes a common eastern, terrified me at first. she somehow got into my house during the drought we had, came crawling from under my bed and almost was a victim of a snake misidentification clobbering

fast forward a few weeks, shes a regular visitor. sometimes disapearing for days only to return when we have floods

I never considered myself a lizard person, infact on that very first day I have to admit to throwing this green repulsive hissing thing onto the lounge chair from the floor to get it outside as quick as I can!

but..we are friends now




shes oftern found curled up in obscure places like empty computer case drivebays, baking on windowsils

and my favorate
asleep ontop of my router because its warm and flat on a cold day

something ive termed, network monitor

That is just so amazing. I couldn't even imagine.

lalat wrote:I was hoping to find a wild thread
ive got a resident myself, "naga" indonesian for dragon, also means reptile, lizard monster, in alot of world dialects

shes a common eastern, terrified me at first. she somehow got into my house during the drought we had, came crawling from under my bed and almost was a victim of a snake misidentification clobbering

fast forward a few weeks, shes a regular visitor. sometimes disapearing for days only to return when we have floods

I never considered myself a lizard person, infact on that very first day I have to admit to throwing this green repulsive hissing thing onto the lounge chair from the floor to get it outside as quick as I can!

but..we are friends now
5508E268-DB67-414F-993C-09BFA0E1152F.jpeg

FCC52065-E825-4B72-9851-47C81D66645A.jpeg

shes oftern found curled up in obscure places like empty computer case drivebays, baking on windowsils

and my favorate
asleep ontop of my router because its warm and flat on a cold day

something ive termed, network monitor

I stll reckon there's a strong likelihood she's so ubertame and friendly that she's either a lost or dumped pet , and she's definitely decided she likes you and your house is part of her territory now. She's a skink who wants to be a pet and have her own personal human slave.

I've had similar experiences with wild eastern water dragons, wild eastern water skinks , and green tree frogs . Had one particular and very special water skink who was regular house guest for over 6 years and even camped out inside over most winters , who was so tame she was taking insects from my fingers , and another who lived in my garage who learnt to come when I called her and loved bits of fresh raw shelled prawns ( bait ) as a treat - a discovery I made by accident one day when I got home form fishing for live bait (yellowtail and mullet) and dropped a bit of thawed prawn on the floor, she was ontop it in a flash, loved dead crickets and mealworms .
My garage dwelling skink became so tame I often had to pick her up and move her out the way when I was working in the shed ( very curious skink had to investigate everything ).
We tell visitors ( especially women ) not to leave open handbags of shopping bags on the floor o the lounge , our "house skink" found things like that irresistible and would soon be investigating it's contents very thoroughly and was at risk of becoming a "bag stowaway" and going home with them by accident.

When my mum was living in Forster Keys , she had a regular "wild" bt who often came inside , to raid her little dog's water dish and food dish ( she even found it curled up on her day bed and on her bed a few times). Her response was she'd drop a bath towel over it , pick it up and deposit in the vacant lot she had next door.

When I was kid ( in the 60s and 70s ) wild bluetongues and bearded dragons and frogs were very common pets , mostly "come and go" pets . was a rite of passage for most little boys and tomboys especially if they lived in a rural or semi rural area or close to areas of bush . Pet magpies , wallabies and possums were also common .

Been my experience with "resident in the house" skinks and geckos and frogs that they very rarely poo inside the house , I think they poo outside because it's instinctive to poo outside "their territory" so as not to attract predators like snakes and larger predatory lizards.


I think you'll have similar relationship with this bluetongue .

she has a good slave and a mobile sleeping bag to sleep in

eg

https://youtu.be/-R_87Jk9hiQ



I dropped by here to ask about a similarly free range captive pet its great to see the species appreciated more than just "rarrr just let it die in drought!!1" response

lovely place

Thanks for sharing lalat (and welcome!).
Amazing that you have a wild bluey that's decided to live at your place, and I love that you leave it to do its thing without forcing ownership of it. Such a lucky bluey (and person!)!

Thanks! its been quite an experience
ive grown up with magpies visiting and hand feeding from the early 80s and as a 39 year old bloke, ive got my own family of magpies that visit

nagas basically a flightless green magpie

one thing Id like to ask
the easterns you found in your garden, theyre a different colour to naga. I never saw her as a baby so I wouldnt know, ive had people comment on her more grey colour, shes recently shed and stayed the same so not sure

got any more pictures? id love to see
its good to see someone with alot of love and respect for common skinks too

My skinks ( eastern bts and eastern water skinks ) darken up a bit prior to their sheds.

Their colours are much brighter afterwards ( it's like they are brand-new skinks afterwards ) .

There's a surprising variation in the colour of Easterns I find. There's the more grey colouring that you have lalat but there's also more of these warmer orange type colours and we typically get those around our area.

I don't have any more pics of this guy, it was just the one interaction (quick hold, photo and off he goes) but here's a pic of another wild eastern that I saw a few years ago, not in my backyard but in my region. Again the warmer rusty type colouring.

https://youtu.be/M1kdQAySoxQ

I found this, seems to be our kind of thing
ill reply later (work now)

thanks both for getting back to me too

lalat wrote:https://youtu.be/M1kdQAySoxQ

I found this, seems to be our kind of thing
ill reply later (work now)

thanks both for getting back to me too

Gotta love water skinks …. they are full of personality and know when they are on a good thing.

Those little head nods are very endearing .

That resident huntsman better wait out if gets on the floor , that water skink will make a meal of it ( one leg at a time ).

Id like to post naga's update here too for those who dont visit ths other forums -

Yesterday it was with a heavy heart and a feeling of loss comparable to losing my dog of 17 years, that as a good citizen and having reasons such as job preservation


(I work in an industry linked to our wildlife authority, one I might gather is quite trigger happy looking for revenue right now)

and wanting the outright best for naga, That I handed her in at the local vet hospital to be, I was told picked up by wildlife rescue and rehabilited.

for those who dont live in Australia. or specifically NSW, the laws and regulation punish those doing the right thing and dont bother about much else

its likely correct to say we have less rights than people say in the US might with the same species

I wrote a heartfelt letter to the relevent authority, who I fully admit due to the tone, if it was upto the officer herself id simply put naga on licence and live happily ever after, alas she worked for a very rigid authority with the same risk as myself

I was advised to hand naga over to the wildlife rescue people, with many thanks

the wildlife rescue group I contacted had no people nearby, even the offer to bring naga an hour on a train was met with strange surprise, in the end it was sorted naga be handed to the local vet hospital that happily also treats reptiles.. the goal being to be picked up when they see fit

the bus trip was something I hated, naga happily in my pocket the whole way, in her "trowser snake" safe and warm place shes grown to love

when I got to the vet, I was greeted with a vet that had her own bearded dragon and great love and respect for reptiles, nagas story is as endearing as it is beautiful and everyone in the vets waiting room cat and dog people alike all took great pleasure and comment on how healthy naga looked, a prime example of the species

eventually after a long hug she was placed in a pet carrier with a warm water bottle to snuggle upto and that concluded my time with this beautiful animal

an hour or so from time of writing, I had an update:

due to her good health as confirmed by the vet, the wildlife rescue people never did pick her up. instead giving ownership to the vet herself

naga was released close to the vets home that backs onto the mountain that seperates wollongong and sydney, happily safe from the roaming cats and dogs common to my area

laws are a strange thing, unlike other states in australia, NSW (the home of the eastern bluetongue naga is) its 100% illegal to keep a wild bluetongue (or any lizard) irrespective of how well its cared for, all reptiles are protected and this applies to even the tiny common green garden skink, they actually have a species code for them on the licence

ive also recently found out that the common eastern bearded dragon, the brown grey yellow throated common lizard that survives without alot of heatlamps is against the law to sell at a pet shop here (licenced for reptiles)

the bearded dragon thats sold legally is the central bearded dragon, whos home comes from dry scorching desert regions (not sure why...)

all that being said, accidently mincing a bluetongue, garden skink etc in the lawnmower isnt of any interest to the law, only caring for sick ones that might be injured by said lawnmower, you can lose your reptile licence for this

anyway! terrible laws aside, its been an absolute honour to have had naga in my life
in short order the reptile shaped hole in my heart she left will be filled with either captive bred eastern bluetongue, or thanks to some advise by my good friend here

an eastern water dragon, which to my surprise is a large bearded semi aquatic dragon wearing an eastern bluetongue coat of paint

The one ive seen locally I always mistaken for a very large strange shaped bluetongue

With a companion reptile keepers' permit you are permitted to keep ONE reptile .

Some of the reptiles permitted are listed below :
beardies in NSW

water dragons in NSW

BTs in NSW

Note need L2 licence to keep northern BTs
The common BT is the eastern BT.

For the americans here who might never have heard of eastern water dragons here is some info


a very handsome adult male in full colour looking to impress the girls !
They grow to about 1m long (including tail) and close to 1kg.

Local population here ( Lake Macquarie , Hunter River region ) are more grey than green on their flanks and I regularly see them in my front yard and back garden.

If you live near a water way or lake in Qld, NSW, Victoria or SA , you will see them often , and might even if you are lucky get visits from the resident juveniles and adults in your garden. They make great pets ( every bit as good as a bearded dragon ) .