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.
