BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Hi all,

Just wanted to know what peoples observations/opinions are on hybridisation of the BTS. (For the record I am against it) Personally I have noticed a particular increase in hybrids here for sale in Australia (Northern x Eastern), (Blotched x Eastern) and I was curious how common this is in the US particularly as the supply was cut off from Australia decades ago (barring illegal smuggling) and how often this comes up as an issue. In Australia I can somewhat understand why certain breeders do it as Easterns for example are like pennies (cheap and numerous) where Blotched BTS are far less common for sale.

I understand hybrids have probably happened any number of times in the wild, and if people want to hybridise their own skinks that's totally their decision. What I have an issue with (what I have seen) is individuals selling hybrids as single locality skinks - for example one person selling a clutch of blotched BTS when they were clearly crossed with Easterns, then later selling "Eastern Blotched" baby skinks. I think this is a problem when these skinks are bred and distributed as a locality then bred with other skinks of the claimed locality, diluting the pool of what is actually true locality and what is hybrid.

Intentionally producing hybrid and intergrade skinks in North America is greatly frowned upon due to exactly what you hypothesized, a lack of genetic diversity to work with if the genetic pool were to become dilluted. Those whom knowingly produce these types of skinks tend to be blackballed as a seller. It's an interesting conundrum since the demand for more exotic looking skink morphs (albino, melanistic, lava, etc.) is extremely high, and many of those skinks are the result of breeding different subspecies together.

I agree on the point about the demand for morphs etc. being sky high pushing people to look for the next unique BTS, which is probably contributing to the willingness to hybridise. Perhaps due to the abundance of BTS here, standards may have slipped amongst small scale breeders or the desire to create new appearances and mutations simply outweighs responsibility.

Some have hypothesized that the Irian Jaya species out of Indonesia is the result of natural hybridization between Easterns and the local Gigas skinks from thousands of years ago. Some examples of that species appear to resemble Easterns so much so that they can easily be mistaken for them. Even to this day, Irian Jaya skinks have yet to be formally scientifically classified. I personally believe that if and when the various subspecies of Indonesian skinks are eventually more successfully produced in captivity, we will begin having new conversations regarding the pairing of only distinct locale and island form skinks as our knowledge of these skinks expands.

That's a really interesting point re: the IJ, I had always wondered that myself as the resemblance to Easterns as you described is fairly strong. It would be interesting to know if and when there has been any established hybrid subspecies that have either a: evolved into one of the subspecies we know of today or b: failed to thrive and eventually have died out.