Still thinking male?

[Teacup]

Hey folks! I took some new pics of Peaches and I am wondering if y'all are still leaning towards him being a male. He is approximately 7 months old now, is about 18 inches in length, and weighs 420g. I should note that I have not seen any sperm plugs thus far, and he has never flashed his hemipenes while defecating either.

Sorry the pics are a bit fuzzy; he NEVER sits still when out of his tank!

Overhead shots:





Tail area:







Showing off his handsome face:

[Susann]

That is a very tough one!
No bulges can be seen, but I generally prefer pictures when the skink is laying flat on a hard, flat, somewhat solid color surface. If the skink is sexually mature and has well developed hemipenes, they can sometimes be seen then the tail is suspended in the air. But I don't like to guess female just because bulges can't be seen on a suspended tail on a young skink.

Personally I am not leaning definitively in either direction from these pictures. He might just still be a bit young though.

[Teacup]

That is a very tough one!
No bulges can be seen, but I generally prefer pictures when the skink is laying flat on a hard, flat, somewhat solid color surface. If the skink is sexually mature and has well developed hemipenes, they can sometimes be seen then the tail is suspended in the air. But I don't like to guess female just because bulges can't be seen on a suspended tail on a young skink.

Personally I am not leaning definitively in either direction from these pictures. He might just still be a bit young though.

He's biding his time.

Thanks for your thoughts! I will try to get better pics of him on a hard, flat surface. I'll also keep posting as he gets bigger!

[Teacup]

Okay, got some more pics. Would love to hear more opinions on my guy! You can just tell me how handsome he is, if you want.

[xxmonitorlizardxx]

Looks more like a female.

[Susann]

My guess is female as well. But I'll still tell you how handsome she is if you want!

[Hammock]

I am leaning toward female too. Time will tell. A very pretty Merauke.

Mike

[Teacup]

My guess is female as well. But I'll still tell you how handsome she is if you want!

Peaches accepts any and all praise!

I wanted Peaches to be a girl when I first brought him/her home. Folks here were thinking male a few months ago so I switched pronouns. I will be highly amused if I have to switch back!

[Susann]

I just named all the babies after characters from Mario Kart, so one of my babies is named Peach!

[Teacup]

I just named all the babies after characters from Mario Kart, so one of my babies is named Peach!

I just saw the new pics! Oh my goodness, they are all so cute, and I love the names.

[mark_w]

Lovely skink. Is he a bit on the skinny side or is it just the photos/me? I would go against the flow and say male!

Mark.

[Teacup]

Lovely skink. Is he a bit on the skinny side or is it just the photos/me? I would go against the flow and say male!

Mark.

I feel like he's lean, not skinny, but am interested in what others think on this point. He gets fed every other day, currently, and eats it all. I try to give him a varied diet of greens, veg, beef dog food, snails, and the occasional mealworm. He is VERY active and still has a lot of growing to do. He's double his size in such a short period of time!

I'm probably going to stick with male pronouns for now since it's habit. I would be very pleased if he turned out to be female, though, since I feel like it's SO hard to find a suspected/proven female for breeding purposes when it comes to Meraukes. I'll probably never know for sure unless he drops a sperm plug, my husband finally gets access to an ultrasound machine at work, or we are able to bring another skink home to see how they behave together (after quarantine).