Hi.

[BlueBird]

First off. I don't own any blueys but my daughter does. (Phaemas) and I wanted to see for myself this site. I have a few questions for you guys though.

So I know my daughter hasn't said anything but I know she's thinking it. How would you breed two blue tongues? I've read over the care sheet and so has she and I don't get a thing it's trying to say. How do you brumate them? The acctual breeding? What do proper breeders do? I'm going to supprise her by allowing her to breed her skinks if she wants to (but I doubt she can actually do it) but I want to know what happens first.

[Bird_Brain]

Breeding is something to be taken seriously. If you dont know what your doing or not paying attention, your skinks could very easily loose a limb, tail, or even their life. It is a very stressful event for not only the skinks, but the owners themselves. The female can be beaten up pretty badly by the male and will have many bite wounds. While most of the time they heal just fine, occassionally you will run into issues with infection and healing.

Then you have the risk of the gravid/pregnant skink. Just like a pregnancy in any animal, it is very stressful on the mom. You can have all sorts of issues from calcium deficiencies to labor issues.

You also have to realize that you can have anywhere from zero babies up into the teens. that is a lot of mouths to feed and again, if anything goes wrong, more vet bills.

Respectable breeders put a lot of time and effort into the selection of their animals. Typically they do not just buy from petstores or off online classified sites such as Kijiji with out knowing the history of the animal. Most will pair skinks up with similar looks. They do not just throw any two skinks together.

To be honest, allowing phaemas to breed her skinks is no better than backyard breeders in dogs. They are only out there for the money or "cute babies". They are doing nothing for the species themselves, just for their own selfish wants.

Lastly, I am goign to choose not to share specifics on how to breed as I feel she is not ready for such a responsibility. Also, the proper term is called Brumation, not brumbation. I do find it interesting that both you and your daughter have the same spelling errors. Are we sure its not the same person?

[BlueBird]

I can assure you it's not for the money. And no, We are not the same person.

[Kurt]

the care sheet seems clear and very detailed to me...

[Bird_Brain]

Not sure why you edited your original post and correct the way you spelled "brumate" but it does show at the bottom that it was edited. Also, looking at her older posts, she misspells "acctual" as well. Very ironic that you both have the same spelling errors. Must "run in the family"?

[Karen]

Call me cynical, but it seems convenient timing this shows up around the time that phaemas started asking about breeding, and she has created another account before.

Whether phaemas or indeed her mother, please take to heart the advice Brad has given you. So much damage can be done by irresponsible breeding, and she already has two lovely skinks to enjoy. The main focus should be on giving them the best life possible, not adding babies into the equation that might fall victim to inexperience.

[A.VinczeBTs]

Both "you and your daughter (phaemas)" seem pretty intent on learning about breeding even though she said "it's not the plan". Sounds like it really is the plan, and she sounds like regardless of what anyone thinks she's going to do it anyway... Which really is not a good sign of responsibility to begin with...
I personally don't think she should be breeding her Blues at all, due to the fact they look nothing alike. I'm not into muts, we should be trying to preserve the diversity.

I know nothing about breeding, and I won't for years and years to come, but really it sounds dangerous, are you ready and willing to pay vet bills should multiple (always prepare for the worst) things go wrong?

[BlueBird]

You seem to not like me very much.If me being on here is causing a problem I can leave and get my information somewhere else.

[Bird_Brain]

Sounds like it really is the plan, and she sounds like regardless of what anyone thinks she's going to do it anyway... Which really is not a good sign of responsibility to begin with...

This has been a constant problem with phaemas. Always asking for advice and then completely ignores everything that is said by the experienced members.

[Karen]

This is a site for learning how to responsibly care for Blue Tongue Skinks. Brad gave you the opinion of someone experienced with BTS that it would not be responsible for phaemas to breed her skinks, there is no bias against you personally. You are of course free to choose to listen or not, but you should be aware of the risks associated with ignoring those who know what they are doing.

[Bird_Brain]

BlueBird- While I hardly use it, skype me and prove to me that you are indeed her mother. My skype is bradselig.

[BlueBird]

I took into mind what he said and did not chose to ignore it. I know of the risks of missing tails,Legs, bad wounds, infections. And that They should not be left unattended.

[Kbell31]

If you cannot understand a thing the caresheet is saying then that would be your first indication your family should not be breeding skinks. Responsible breeders devote an enormous amount of time, energy, effort and money breeding their very specifically chosen animals. They know the ins and outs, pros and cons from everything from the best case scenario to the worst. I doubt they learned everything they know from reading something onine. They have had skinks for years in most cases. I would not consider letting your daughter breed skinks a "surprise". A surprise is a g/c to the movies or going out for ice cream lol

[Linnea]

the reasons not to breed are as following:

- the skinks are too young
- the skinks are too different
- the skinks have no confirmed gender, but are both assumed males. no skink babies, even if the skinks may fancy eachother.
- the breeder (phaemas) has too little experience

assuming you dont have twenty skink tanks at home, you wont be able to sell the babies at random, it can take quite some while, and if you keep them together for too long, even for a week or a month depending on the skinks, several of the babies may end up fighting and have grave injuries that wont heal. further making it harder to sell them. what would you do about this?

now about breeding. do you know what blueys look like when they fight and when they breed? can you tell the difference in good time?
if not, and if they fight to death/injury, what will you do?

you seem unaware of that failing to breed skink can result in death and not just a little bite in the side. you never know with skinks, that is why the breeders are so very careful.

what if you get twenty babies born with serious defects so you cant sell them? do you have the money prepared to let them sleep peacefully, or the money to care for them all for the rest of the life?

[xxmonitorlizardxx]

I honestly think they are both male.

[El Lobo]

This is a wild blotchy who lives in our backyard and was gravid at the time of the picture. If you look you can see the scale damage caused by mating. Keep in mind this is a mature wild skink who knows how to take care of herself and has the freedom to choose (within reason) a male to mate with. A forced captive mating is likely to incur a great deal more damage than this example. As with humans, some animals of the same species simply do not like each other and will fight. There is no worse combination than an over-amorous male and a non-receptive female.

DSCF1198CR.jpg

[Kbell31]

This is a wild blotchy who lives in our backyard and was gravid at the time of the picture. If you look you can see the scale damage caused by mating. Keep in mind this is a mature wild skink who knows how to take care of herself and has the freedom to choose (within reason) a male to mate with. A forced captive mating is likely to incur a great deal more damage than this example. As with humans, some animals of the same species simply do not like each other and will fight. There is no worse combination than an over-amorous male and a non-receptive female.

DSCF1198CR.jpg

What are we looking at here exactly? To the untrained eye, like mine, are the damaged scales where previous wounds were the dull gray ones?

[RosiePosie06]

I just assume that BlueBird/Phaemas, whoever I'm talking to is sick of advice from people who actually do have more experience. So how about someone with less than you? I've had my darling baby bluey for only eight days, and even I agree that you should not breed your skinks.

I've always been involved in animals, and I know how disastrous breeding without education or purpose can be. I don't know much about how it effects the lizards themselves, but it's a horrible thing to bring into an industry. Grade horses, over-breeding of dogs, these things lead to unwanted animals. Not to mention prices in each industry can be very much effected by a surplus of "grade" animals. Those that make a living off of their animals shudder to see irritants like mixed-breeding or uneducated breeding that goes wrong.

Experience, EXTENSIVE research, and a knowledge of what makes a good match are just the basics. There's so much more that goes into breeding ANY animal.

[Bird_Brain]

I just assume that BlueBird/Phaemas, whoever I'm talking to is sick of advice from people who actually do have more experience. So how about someone with less than you? I've had my darling baby bluey for only eight days, and even I agree that you should not breed your skinks.

I've always been involved in animals, and I know how disastrous breeding without education or purpose can be. I don't know much about how it effects the lizards themselves, but it's a horrible thing to bring into an industry. Grade horses, over-breeding of dogs, these things lead to unwanted animals. Not to mention prices in each industry can be very much effected by a surplus of "grade" animals. Those that make a living off of their animals shudder to see irritants like mixed-breeding or uneducated breeding that goes wrong.

Experience, EXTENSIVE research, and a knowledge of what makes a good match are just the basics. There's so much more that goes into breeding ANY animal.

Where is that darn "Like" button?

[RosiePosie06]

Where is that darn "Like" button?

You just made my day! I was reading a post here just a minute ago and started looking for the like button... then I realised this isn't Facebook.