# Mother Garden skink!!



## jan (Nov 21, 2007)

Unreal
l keep a variety of reptiles, snakes and lizards...l also keep 4 garden skinks cause l think
they are pretty cute with their delicate features and all....anyhow one of them looked pretty
fat...really fat actually!! Today she laid 11 little pearls...cool or what!!
l couldnt believe my eyes....perfect mini eggs...l'm stoked!!
So here are some pics of the little beauty's......enjoy!!


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## Frozenmouse (Nov 21, 2007)

cool they are tiny you might need a magnifying glass to check them.


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## 0_missy_0 (Nov 21, 2007)

Nice I love garden skinks


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## Stainer (Nov 21, 2007)

cool hope they all hatch. They are going to be so tiny and cool


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## crush the turtle (Nov 21, 2007)

wow thats awesome 

just wondering how much do they usally go for as hatchies?

thankya


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## Rocket (Nov 21, 2007)

I caught some having a romp at a mate's place one time right in the middle of a footpath.


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## Sdaji (Nov 21, 2007)

That's a Weasel Skink, not a Garden Skink. You need a license to keep them... if you are keeping them legally, get in touch, I'd be interested in buying some!


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## Frozenmouse (Nov 21, 2007)

yep just expanded the photo deff a weasel skink


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## Snake Catcher Victoria (Nov 21, 2007)

well done jan, congrats.
Good luck with them.


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## jan (Nov 21, 2007)

Really??....a Weasel Skink...lve been searching the internet trying to identify her...with no luck!!
Are they common in Victoria? l found her in the garden a while back....under licence you say...mmm
better look into that one!!
Thanx Sdaji and all


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## crush the turtle (Nov 21, 2007)

can u keep them in click clacks with a heat cord for ever?
an how big they get?


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## Viridae (Nov 21, 2007)

Funnily enough I was just searching for skink posts. Lots of people have said kinks are great fun so I was looking at maybe getting some.


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## Sdaji (Nov 21, 2007)

Yes, it's a Weasel Skink, _Saproscincus mustelinus_. They're one of the most common small skinks in urban Melbourne.

And yes, you're keeping them illegally! Oops! It's illegal to keep any reptile you catch (it's actually illegal to even touch or photograph them). They'd probably be worth a fair bit if they came with paperwork. A lot of people are after them, but of course, without paper they have no commercial value. Great little lizards, lots of fun  I keep other small skinks and have always wanted to keep the Weasels


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## Viridae (Nov 21, 2007)

Sdaji said:


> Yes, it's a Weasel Skink, _Saproscincus mustelinus_. They're one of the most common small skinks in urban Melbourne.
> 
> And yes, you're keeping them illegally! Oops! It's illegal to keep any reptile you catch (it's actually illegal to even touch or photograph them). They'd probably be worth a fair bit if they came with paperwork. A lot of people are after them, but of course, without paper they have no commercial value. Great little lizards, lots of fun  I keep other small skinks and have always wanted to keep the Weasels



You seem to be the resident expert. What would you suggest as far as active engaging and entertaining small skinks go? And what are the requirements for enclosure?


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## jan (Nov 21, 2007)

Just looked up the skink l have, yes it is a Weasel skink...they are rarely seen from what l gather..they live
around the Gippsland area where l reside. Usually they only lay around 4 eggs so l guess 11 eggs is a good sign of a nice healthy specimen.

Turtle yes l keep her in a click clack with moist peat moss and leaf litter with a hide and water dish.
l dont use heat cord, they sit at "room temp" and they are pretty happy.
Make me laugh because they seem to look up when they are hungry, l think they know that food falls from
the sky!!
lm really looking forward to seeing the eggs hatch...lm sure they will be really petite litter critters!!


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## Snake Catcher Victoria (Nov 21, 2007)

> What would you suggest as far as active engaging and entertaining small skinks go? And what are the requirements for enclosure?


Alpine water skinks make a great display and are available if you do a bit of a search for them.
lol @ litter critter


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## 0_missy_0 (Nov 21, 2007)

What do you feed something that small?


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## $NaKe PiMp (Nov 21, 2007)

i dont think national parks is gonna come bustin down your door and seize
illegaly aquired and exotic weasel skinks LOL


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## Sdaji (Nov 21, 2007)

Viridae: Many of the small skinks are brilliant  Robust Skinks are awesome, unfortunately they're not available in Victoria, although most of the people who keep "Regal-striped Skinks" there are actually keeping Robust Skinks under the wrong name. Regal-striped Skinks are also pretty cool 

They're not so much my thing, but Ctenotus pantherinus can legally be kept in Victoria and they might be available from time to time. I'm sure I recall seeing some in Victorian collections. I love the Lampropholis skinks and Carlias. I'd love to get some Carlias, they make great captives, but unfortunately the only ones I've been able to buy have been poached, so I decided against it. I've bred consecutive generations of Lampropholis delicata and Lampropholis guichenoti, they're quite small, but full of character, amazingly so for such a tiny animal.

The Water Skinks are also brilliant, I've bred Eulamprus tympanum, they're full of character and can display extremely well if you set their enclosure up well. Being a water skink gives you the excuse to use a lot of water, plants, branches... you can make it look awesome, and with a carefully positioned basking lamp you can make them sit front and center, it looks great with them on a piece of wood over the water. If you want to go a bit further (I never have, but I've seen it done), you can have multiple spotlights aimed at different places and each skink will sit in a different spot, its own little territory.

All of the species I've mentioned are great feeders if they're captive bred, they'll run up to you for food and become very bold. They're very active which makes them great for display enclosures.

People often think I'm very strange or eccentric when I say I like the small skinks, or sometimes they probably just think I'm joking, but when people actually keep them, especially Garden Skinks, they quickly realise that they actually are very cool! They're brilliant little predators, somewhat reminiscent of an extremely fierce goanna, but on a tiny scale.


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## jan (Nov 21, 2007)

Time to pack my bags....of we go... just me and the Weasel...!!


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## Sdaji (Nov 21, 2007)

PiMp said:


> i dont think national parks is gonna come bustin down your door and seize
> illegaly aquired and exotic weasel skinks LOL



Don't laugh, things like that have happened. If you're not keeping legally held reptiles and you're quiet, no one is likely to know. If you keep reptiles, you're quite possibly going to be caught. Some of them will go very lightly on you, but if you get someone a little less nice or someone having a bad day, you can get in a fair bit of trouble over poaching, even if it's "just a little skink". People have even been fined for photographing wild reptiles.


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## jan (Nov 21, 2007)

Thats what l like about skinks...just like big predators on a much smaller scale...l love watching them
hunt and eat their tucker!!


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## Viridae (Nov 21, 2007)

Sdaji said:


> Viridae: Many of the small skinks are brilliant  Robust Skinks are awesome, unfortunately they're not available in Victoria, although most of the people who keep "Regal-striped Skinks" there are actually keeping Robust Skinks under the wrong name. Regal-striped Skinks are also pretty cool
> 
> They're not so much my thing, but Ctenotus pantherinus can legally be kept in Victoria and they might be available from time to time. I'm sure I recall seeing some in Victorian collections. I love the Lampropholis skinks and Carlias. I'd love to get some Carlias, they make great captives, but unfortunately the only ones I've been able to buy have been poached, so I decided against it. I've bred consecutive generations of Lampropholis delicata and Lampropholis guichenoti, they're quite small, but full of character, amazingly so for such a tiny animal.
> 
> ...



Sounds awesome! They are definitely on my to get list - waters sounds fantastic, I like an enclosure with a mix of land and water. What size do you recommend for a colony of three?


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## jan (Nov 21, 2007)

l dont laugh...
Its a medical thing.....
h


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## crush the turtle (Nov 21, 2007)

sdaji, how long would it take for the eggs to hatch?


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## jan (Nov 21, 2007)

Thanks for the DOWNER Sdaji....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Sdaji (Nov 21, 2007)

Viridae said:


> Sounds awesome! They are definitely on my to get list - waters sounds fantastic, I like an enclosure with a mix of land and water. What size do you recommend for a colony of three?



People may argue with me here, you could certainly get away with smaller, but a standard 3' aquarium (90x45x35cm) would be great. Most of the water skinks (genus Eulamprus) are equally good. Most commonly available are the Southern Water Skink (E. tympanum) and the Eastern Water Skink (E. quoyii). Common names may vary, scientific names won't.

You can do similar things with other skinks, but yeah, there certainly is a distinct appeal to the semi-aquatic enclosure


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## Sdaji (Nov 21, 2007)

jan said:


> Thanks for the DOWNER Sdaji....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



As a licensed reptile holder, you need to be aware that they can inspect your home at any time. If they do, you are leaving yourself open to prosecution and losing your legally held animals. It would be irresponsible to say "Hooray! You've illegally poached wild reptiles! Good on you!" and ignore the possible legal issues. If I proudly posted pictures of a Green Python I'd illegally caught and said "Look at this snake I caught, it's laying eggs, they're in the incubator" I'd be ripped to shreds on this forum and the authorities would likely be banging on the door before I could blink. Apparently some animals have a lower value than others, that's fine, I'm not here to preach, but whether or not you care about poaching, the law does and you're at risk.


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## jan (Nov 21, 2007)

Just when l was feeling good....(but not laughing)


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## jan (Nov 21, 2007)

Its ok l'll ring the DSE tomorrow....it will all be cool.

@#%$ l shouldnt have "shared that one" for everybodies interest!!


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## Sdaji (Nov 21, 2007)

jan said:


> Just when l was feeling good....(but not laughing)



Do what you like, I'm not going to dob you in or preach, I just thought I'd make you aware that you're advertising an illegal activity you're carrying out. In the eyes of the law it's basically the same as having poached any other species. Yes, a magistrate is unlikely to take skink poaching as seriously as snake poaching, but if staff from the deparment wanted to, they could confiscate all of your animals and give you a fine. Don't shoot the messenger, I'm just letting you know the situation.


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## Snow1369 (Nov 22, 2007)

Sdaji said:


> As a licensed reptile holder, you need to be aware that they can inspect your home at any time. If they do, you are leaving yourself open to prosecution and losing your legally held animals. It would be irresponsible to say "Hooray! You've illegally poached wild reptiles! Good on you!" and ignore the possible legal issues. If I proudly posted pictures of a Green Python I'd illegally caught and said "Look at this snake I caught, it's laying eggs, they're in the incubator" I'd be ripped to shreds on this forum and the authorities would likely be banging on the door before I could blink. Apparently some animals have a lower value than others, that's fine, I'm not here to preach, but whether or not you care about poaching, the law does and you're at risk.



Well said, and i couldn't agree more. Poaching is poaching.

Also, I'm quite certain your wrong about the rarely seen part, i've seen them around my hosue often (there WAS a breeding colony across the road,shame somone destroyed their homes and bushes they lived under ) I seen one a few months back cat was pining somthing down so i went to check... weasle skink, let it go, away from the cat.


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## Viridae (Nov 22, 2007)

sdaji do you have any photos of setups?


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## hornet (Nov 22, 2007)

i'd love to get my hands on some small skink species, awsome little things, have kept garden skinks in the past but its not real easy finding them on the paperwork.


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## Chris1 (Nov 22, 2007)

i like skinks, i feed baby roaches to the ones that hang out on my balcony,...


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## hornet (Nov 22, 2007)

i have the odd garden skink living in the shed with the herps and its fun to throw em a roach and watch them chase them down


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## Oldbeard (Nov 22, 2007)

I was watching garden skinks on my front porch the other day while on the phone to my Mum( never really taken any notice of them before ) One caught my eye as its tail was missing. It was walking along and another skink ran up behind him and around him stopped him and faced him nose to nose. He then grabbed him by the head with his mouth and flipped him over and left him on his back and then took off in the same direction he was heading The skink with no tail couldn't flip himself back over so I helped him. I kept watching and in the next hour I saw it happen five more times with five different pairs of skinks. They just run up have a bit of a scuffle and then one is flipped over and the other one takes off. They all flipped themselves back over and then took off in the opposite direction ,except the tailess one. I assume this is a territorial thing. It was amazing to see this as I said I have never taken notice of them before. Quite the character


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## atrax (Nov 22, 2007)

*Garden Skink wrestling*

In Sydney I think a garden skink is a lampropholis guichenoti. Check out this shot I took a few weeks ago - these creatures have really strange habits.

There are at least 8 lizards laying into 1 poor fella. Amazingly it did escape at least for a time.


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## jan (Nov 22, 2007)

Wow...thats unreal..!!


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## Craig2 (Nov 22, 2007)

atrax said:


> In Sydney I think a garden skink is a lampropholis guichenoti. Check out this shot I took a few weeks ago - these creatures have really strange habits.
> 
> There are at least 8 lizards laying into 1 poor fella. Amazingly it did escape at least for a time.



mayy be the poor fella was actually a poor lady


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## Sdaji (Nov 22, 2007)

atrax: Yes, those are Lampropholis guichenoti. Strange aggregations like that have been reported for decades. I've seen them up to around that size (but never managed to get a picture - well done!). There are reports of them with up to around 50 animals! I've heard it speculated that they're 'mating balls', although I've never had the opportunity to sit and watch them for long enough to see what's going on. In your picture it looks like they're all biting the same place. Was that picture taken in Sydney? I've kept them for years, but I've never seen captive animals do the 'balling' thing (not that I've seen). Perhaps it's just because they're all so used to each other, always living so close together. Then again, perhaps it has happened a lot of times without me seeing it. If you put a new group together they can squabble a bit, but they very quickly sort things out and get along very well.


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## WombleHerp (Nov 22, 2007)

atrax said:


> In Sydney I think a garden skink is a lampropholis guichenoti. Check out this shot I took a few weeks ago - these creatures have really strange habits.
> 
> There are at least 8 lizards laying into 1 poor fella. Amazingly it did escape at least for a time.


 
man thats different! :shock:

poor skink lol


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## gail_mac (Nov 23, 2007)

What other Reps you got Jan.......


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## gail_mac (Nov 23, 2007)

*Should have looked first opps*



gail_mac said:


> What other Reps you got Jan.......



*Species Kept*:varied snakes and lizards..love my frilly's and the knob tail geckoes cute!!
birds including Chooka the cheeky Quaker parrot!
Fish...wallaby's and a boxer dog named Eira!!


Cool what type of wallabies youve got I have Darma Wallabies..


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## $NaKe PiMp (Nov 23, 2007)

LOL chooka funny name


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## $NaKe PiMp (Nov 23, 2007)

atrax said:


> In Sydney I think a garden skink is a lampropholis guichenoti. Check out this shot I took a few weeks ago - these creatures have really strange habits.
> 
> There are at least 8 lizards laying into 1 poor fella. Amazingly it did escape at least for a time.


 these are the most common little lizard around where i grew up the L. delicata


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## atrax (Nov 23, 2007)

Sdaji

"In your picture it looks like they're all biting the same place. Was that picture taken in Sydney?"

Taken in Seven Hills, Sydney.

The one being bitten is not the one belly up. The lizard being bitten was being bitten all the way along its body. Personally, I think its a bit more complex than on orgy


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## Sdaji (Nov 23, 2007)

atrax said:


> Sdaji
> 
> "In your picture it looks like they're all biting the same place. Was that picture taken in Sydney?"
> 
> ...



Yeah, I can see that the upside down one isn't being bitten, and it's biting the same thing everyone else is. It doesn't look like something sexual. Are you sure the one in the middle is the same species? Could it be a mob of Garden Skinks attacking another lizard?


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