BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

He started shedding last night, and has gotten part of his head done(not the very top, he's gonna be a bit lighter it looks like), and has a nice collar of old skin around the neck so far. Managed to get these 3 shots all in a row!

just a little bit!


I like this one!


front shot, a little more blurry, guess i was too close again


Thats what I got so far, and I'll take and add more throughout the day as he makes some progress!

The top of his body looks a little more reddish above, looking forward to seeing how he turns out!

** New Pics *** Not too much shedding progress, but here's some more.

Oh, no! I'm growing antlers!


You can see it in his eyes... he smells food!


haha, his eyes are huge and excited! He must like strawberries:


**new pics**couple more, he's made a little progress, and a lot of his belly done.




I also added some snail tank pics down the page a bit!

**** New shedding / tongue pics!! *****

I'm sure you guys are tired of Marley, but here ya go! hehe. His shedding is almost done, just a bit of skin of his legs and end of the tail now.


His back is looking good and smooth!



And some tongue pics I got earlier just for good measure!


Another


the best of the group!


Enjoy!

Wow. Marley's gonna look amazing one the shedding is done. Nice pictures!

oooh he's going to be a pretty shiny boy! Great pics!

Poor Marley looks so dismayed at the prospect of having "antlers"

I can't wait to see him all shiny and new!

Cool!

his dinner looks better than what I had!

what a cute little fella

I don't think they're antlers mate ,I reckon he's playing sharades, 1 word, ..its a food ,yeessss a snail

Leigh wrote:I don't think they're antlers mate ,I reckon he's playing sharades, 1 word, ..its a food ,yeessss a snail

haha.

Speaking of which, check out what I found in my cichlid tank yesterday!


^ are eggs from one of these guys: a golden mystery snail


The eggs were doomed in my cichlid tank, so i moved both clutches to my 10g and "installed" some duct tape and plastic shelves for them to sit on.


I also added a fish, the store didn't have a tag, so they gave me him for $2.49. It looks like some sort of loach, so I'm hoping if it does eat any snails, that it won't wipe out the population and only control it. Anyone recognize the fish?


I admit it, I'm a photobucket addict now... hope I'm not bogging you guys down with stuff to look at ;P

What you have right there is a Polypterus senegalus. Gets to about 8-12" long. Awesome fish, I have 3 myself. Ganoid scales, can breather atmospheric oxygen. Feed him bloodworms, brine shrimp, earthworms, shrimp pellets, etc. Mine even come up and eat cichlid pellets.

NomadOfTheHills wrote:What you have right there is a Polypterus senegalus. Gets to about 8-12" long. Awesome fish, I have 3 myself. Ganoid scales, can breather atmospheric oxygen. Feed him bloodworms, brine shrimp, earthworms, shrimp pellets, etc. Mine even come up and eat cichlid pellets.

I've got sinking spectrum cichlid food, thats what i put in there yesterday for him, and I saw him eating some I think. I will pick up some blood worms. Will he eliminate the snail colony i'm trying to have in the tank?

Most loaches will eliminate a snail clutch in minutes... especially freshly hatched snails cuz they are tiny little things (about the size of a baby sized cichlid pellet). I have one YoYo loach in my 30g tank and YO'landa wiped out 2 freshly hatched clutches in one day!

You can find out more specific info at www.loachesonline.com There's a forum, as well.. and they are pretty nice folks, too.

They will eat anything that can fit in their mouth.

NomadOfTheHills wrote:They will eat anything that can fit in their mouth.

Hmmm... hopefully the pond snails can outnumber him before the mysteries are born, and sheer numbers will keep enough of all alive.

You could put a plant pot upside down in there or an old marge tub with holes in it , the snails crawl in and the fish's kept out ensuring some survive if said fish gets over peckish, another way is put a holed perspex devider a couple of inches away from one end, creating a snail haven

Marley looks gorgeous. You got some great tongue shots too!

I'm so jealous that you have snail eggs. Just a couple days ago I went out and bought a bunch of mystery snails and set them up in a little tank hoping they will do the same. Now I'm wondering how many years it's going to take, lol. Ok, so I'm impatient. What kind of snails eggs are those?

Shellyjean wrote:Marley looks gorgeous. You got some great tongue shots too!

I'm so jealous that you have snail eggs. Just a couple days ago I went out and bought a bunch of mystery snails and set them up in a little tank hoping they will do the same. Now I'm wondering how many years it's going to take, lol. Ok, so I'm impatient. What kind of snails eggs are those?

They are Goldens, I've had 8 snails in my cichlid tank for a month or 2 now, so it shouldn't take you too long to get some eggs. Just make sure you have a lid and leave 4-5 inches of air at the top if possible.

And thanks for the awesome Av Shelly! =)

Leigh wrote:You could put a plant pot upside down in there or an old marge tub with holes in it , the snails crawl in and the fish's kept out ensuring some survive if said fish gets over peckish, another way is put a holed perspex devider a couple of inches away from one end, creating a snail haven

The divider sounds like a good idea, but I think the baby mystery snails will be able to get through it, and then the snails couldn't keep the rest of the tank clean. I think I'm going to add some more hiding spots like the pots you mentioned and a lot of fake plants. The more places snails have to hide the better i suppose.

Just got back from petsmart, I went to pick up a better uvb and basking bulb for Marley. I got my temp gun in the mail yesterday, and his basking side was only low 90's, so this should help. While there, I also picked up a tank divider as Leigh suggested. The holes are smaller than i thought they might be, so hopefully I can keep baby snails in. Once the population gets going, I'll move bigger snails into the left side with the fish, but hopefully *crosses fingers* the divider will keep the mystery snail babies in the snail section until they are big enough to not be eaten. I need to add a plant to the snail side or something soon, but I guess they will be ok for a day or two in the mean time. Here are some pics:



hope the fish isn't too mad!


random shot of some of my cichlids, the water is a little green from feeding the mystery snails collards, but i picked up some liquid calcium, so i won't have to worry about that anymore.

Update: Awesome, the new light bulbs(a repti glo 10.0uvb and a 75watt basking bulb) were just what I needed. His basking rock ranges from 99-102 degrees, and the cool side is 70s. I love this temp gun!