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 #1642194


GottaLuvHerps
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 New BTS, a few questions

hello all! i am just joining up on the skink forum, but am known over on the dragon and leo forums already with the 23 herps i have. i just aquired a great BTS from a store about a week ago, and just wanted to make sure i have all my ducks in a row to give her the best care. i researched for quite awhile before getting one, but the paranoid part of me is taking over, so i wanted to check with you guys lol.
she (we are told) is about a year old, weighs about 700 grams, and is very healthy looking. i was worried at first because around her mouth seemed overly scaly compared to pics i have seen, but i realized why tonight when she shed. so now that makes sense, especially since that is gone lol. she still has some shed on her ears and toes, but she let me basically rub the rest off of her tonight everywhere else. i figure if the ear/toes thing isnt taken care of in the next few days, i will help her with that more. she is VERY friendly, and loves to hang out on the back of my neck, usually going straight up as soon as you get her out, and wrapping herself around. the kids love her to death, and she gets a kick out of them. i think the dog is the most intrigued out of all of us, as she stands at her cage and watches all day long.
so i have her in a 30B tank for now until her custom cage is built, using aspen, temps are 90 basking/75 cool side (measured with a digital therm). she has a large slate tile for basking, a big dog water bowl for bathing, and a large log hide for, well, hiding. she likes to dig and bury herself, so i was thinking of taking something to make her a sort of tube system under the aspen to hide in also. yes, she has a 10.0 uvb light also. she seems fairly happy, as the store i got her from had her in a smaller tank, im thinking a 20L. shes a big girl, so it was MUCH too small for her! any suggestions for making her home more suitable would be great. i know she could use a bigger cage, but that will come soon.
her diet is my main concern. at the store, she was primarily on a wet cat food diet, with a few mixed greens and calcium powder. i am trying to switch her off of the cat food, as i read that is not the healthiest thing to feed, but right now im still having issues with that. i am mixing the greens (can range from turnip greens, mustards, collards, dandelion greens - basically the same stuff my dragons eat) and the fruit (papaya, mango, some grapes occasionally, bananas, and other non-citrus fruits as treats) with a bit of the cat food and plain calcium powder. i also tried no cat food at all with the mix above with some boiled turkey breast, but she only ate the turkey that time. she is starting to eat the greens and fruit more, but will only touch it if the cat food is in there. hopefully i can break her of that. if i cant, is that such a big deal as long as she is getting the good stuff too? today, she decided to pick through and get only the cat food if she could help it, but did end up with a good bit of greens. then she did the weirdest thing - she started pushing the food around the bowl in circles with her face, rubbing all over, just moving it around. i THINK it had something to do with the upcoming shed on her face, but im not sure. after she did this, she just turned around and walked away, climbing into the water then burying in and taking a nap. has anyone else ever seen this behavior? should i worry at all? again, any tips or suggestions on her diet are appreciated.
now, i know i will need to get some pics to share and get better opinions, but i am wondering exactly what species she may be. i have looked at pic after pic, but have not seen one quite like her before. she is mostly striped with a darker brown color, but her sides and "fill in" areas are this gorgous pinkish lavendar color. that really pops when she is warmed up. the closest i have seen to compare to are indos, but shes not orange at all, and much more pink than brownish. any ideas? like i said, ill get pics, but i figured maybe someone has some ideas?
thanks for taking the time to read my long post. i look forward to getting to know you guys, as i know i will have many questions in the time to come!
kelly



02/28/08  11:30pm

 #1642585


HerpsinIN
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  Message To: GottaLuvHerps   In reference to Message Id: 1642194


 New BTS, a few questions

Hi, Kelly! It sounds like you are on the right track! The only thing I would do is up the basking temp to about 95-100 degrees. Other than that sounds great!

As for feeding, I give a good mix. I do feed cat food as that is the only way to get them to eat their greens. I only feed high quality such as Wellness, Spots stew (I really love this one but is too expensive when feeding 7 BTS), Eagle Pack, etc. All my guys are healthy, even with feeding the cat food. BTS also LOVE snails! I am sure yours will go crazy over them.

Its hard to tell what species you have with out seeing pics. So post the pics and I will be more than happy to help identify it. It sounds like you may have a Merauke though.

here are the Blueys in my clan-

Tuck an Irian Jaya/Northern Mix



Tybo an Irian Jaya



Sassy a Silver Tanimbar



Paige a Silver Tanimbar



Beans a Yellow Indonesian



Cole a Silver Indonesian



Cooper a Kei Island



Cole and Beans together in a Breeding attempt



02/29/08  12:05pm

 #1646076


GottaLuvHerps
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  Message To: HerpsinIN   In reference to Message Id: 1642585


 New BTS, a few questions

thanks for the reply! i finally got some pics of her, but she looks much more brown in them than in real life. the tannish areas are really more pinkish purple. when reading the description of the meruke, i think you may be right, as her legs are not solid colored, but spotted. here’s a bunch of pics from today hanging out on the recliner. my dog is SOOO fascinated by her, and is the only herp she will go near. shes scared to death of all the others lol.
btw, what kind of snails do you feed? aquarium type or regular ground snails?
thanks again!










03/03/08  02:05pm

 #1646932


HerpsinIN
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  Message To: GottaLuvHerps   In reference to Message Id: 1646076


 New BTS, a few questions

WOW!!! Beautiful! If you get a picture of her true color, please post it. But if her coloring is close to what the pictures show, then you really have a unique bluey! It appears that you have a Northern (possible mix). The pattern on it is screams Northern. The only reason I say possible mix is due to the speckled legs. Although rare, I have seen Northerns with speckled legs, but they are usually all white.

The snails I feed are usually the aquarium kind (mystery snails, baby apple snails). I put them through a "detox" period of a couple days or just make sure the pet store doesnt put any chemicals in the water. Their really isnt too many land snails where I am otherwise I would just feed them. Lately the petstores have been out of the mystery snails, so I have been feeding the canned snails. The only problem I have with the canned is they are usually de-shelled. I usually feed them with the shell because it is a great source of calcium.

I am not trying to "steal" people away from this site, but I would love for you to join www.bluetongueskinks.net and post your pics there. You really have a unique bluey!



03/03/08  10:37pm

 #1647340


GottaLuvHerps
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  Message To: HerpsinIN   In reference to Message Id: 1646932


 New BTS, a few questions

thanks for the advice. i did go ahead and join up on the forum with the same user name. youll have to say hi so i know who you are. lol.
i redid the tank yesterday with more digging/hiding spots for her, and shes seems much happier. but now its off to feed some hungry dragons before they claw their way out of the cages.
kelly



03/04/08  11:03am

 #1647673


Slimer97
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  Message To: GottaLuvHerps   In reference to Message Id: 1647340


 New BTS, a few questions

Nice skink!! My Zilly looks almost identical to your BTS, only she is very green and greyish with green eyes. I almost thought a cross between a Northern and IJ. Here she is...



03/04/08  03:57pm

 #1722577


Hunter Breed
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  Message To: Slimer97   In reference to Message Id: 1647673


 New BTS, a few questions

wow for the post right above mine, how much do you have to feed him/her to get that big, i been think about getting a fire skink



05/01/08  07:14pm

 #1722715


Repti_Man3
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  Message To: Hunter Breed   In reference to Message Id: 1722577


 New BTS, a few questions

Wow awesome pics. I would love to show a pic of my skink now but camera broke but i have some of the pictures when i first got him.



and when i he was trying to be cute checking for food left in the mealworm dish.


and for some strange reason he was a climber.



05/01/08  09:49pm

 #1726216


RA2OR17
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  Message To: Repti_Man3   In reference to Message Id: 1722715


 New BTS, a few questions

Repti_man3i totally love your BTS scale pattern... its like a orange an black under coat with slash marks going across.. gnarly



05/05/08  06:52pm


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