Prehensile-Tailed Skinks anyone?

[Johelian]

Johelian is the reason I want my very own Monkey Tailed Skink or two or three or maybe four. :wink:

Brat!

Haha, they are so addictive! Personally I love the colouring - I have never seen two that look the same, so every one is like a totally new and unique part of the collection. I have seen one recently that was blue! Very gorgeous animal.

KDK I have 7 monkey tails at the moment, in three groups. Im hoping that one of my females is gravid - she mated in May, and so is due any time now. She is acting as though she might give birth at any moment (they tend to dramatically drop off eating just prior to parturition, spend more time soaking and shed), so Im keeping all of my fingers and toes crossed! I dont really plan on buying any more, unless they are extraordinarily pretty or well priced. I am however on the lookout for a female Northern Solomon Islands skink to pair with a male I have - but chances of finding one are pretty slim.

Be really careful when introducing two skinks to one another; these can be EXTREMELY intolerant of other unfamiliar skinks. I tried to move a female from one group to another not that long ago, and the existing female in that group would not leave her alone. In my (limited!) experience, it seems to be the females that cause the most trouble when making new pairs/groups; males generally seem willing to accept new females so long as they are not aggressive, but females seem to take a dislike to someone, whether male or female, and thats it!

I found a couple of pictures of Altjira, my largest male, and my boyfriend on my camera today - I knew I had one somewhere.

Bear in mind my boyfriend is 6'4 and a giant Al is the largest skink I have ever seen - but he is also very gentle and easy-going.

 

[Swtbrat]

Jo,there was a guy selling his groups here in the states and it was pretty close to Christmas and they were so much money or I may have gotten a group.I want to start with two unrelated babies that I will be getting in March.Just hope that I have a male and female but won't matter really.
If I get two babies and they happen to be two males or two females or one of each,I can always keep them together?

Brat!

 

[Johelian]

I think I saw the ad for those - yeah, they were quite a bit of money! Based on my experience I would say that pre-established groups are SOOO much easier work, purely because they can be so fussy about who they will/wont like. However, Ive got an inkling that pre-established groups may be a bit harder to kick-off breeding if they havent bred before...its just a hunch, but I wonder if a separation of males from females just prior to the breeding season gets hormones into gear better than leaving them together. Just a musing of mine I have a trio that have never bred to the previous owners knowledge, but its definitely a "true" trio of 1.2 and they seem to be reasonably young and in good shape, so I may experiement with a brief removal and then reintroduction of the male in spring if no mating behaviour is observed.

But anyway, enough of that speculation, lol! Yes, you should be able to keep the two together regardless, providing their caging is large enough and has enough hides etc; while males are extremely territorial towards other males when there are females to protect, housing them with one another only appears possible (I have had 2 groups that consisted solely of males in the past, with no aggression). Having said that, I wouldnt risk putting two males that have previously been housed with females together! Housing together from infants should make things even more easy-going, as infants appear to get on more amicably than adults according to the information I have read. Monkey tailed skinks dont reach sexual maturity until around 3-4 years of age as well, so there should be plenty of time until any hormonal behaviour occurs.

I look forward to you getting your skinks The more the merrier! I would recommend joining the Corucia Yahoo group if you havent done already - its the largest group of monkey tail owners I have met online, and they are really helpful.

 

[Johelian]

Just thought I would share some news - we had a baby skink born here yesterday morning at about 2.30am I have posted more info on my site at <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.freewebs.com/joslittleworld">www.freewebs.com/joslittleworld</a><!-- w --> - no pics yet alas!

 

[VARNYARD]

Awesome Jo, congrats!! Too cool!!

 

[techhousejunkie]

i absolutely love these skinks, I wish I could break the bank and purchase one. (ahh one day). They are endangered right?

 

[Johelian]

Thanks Bobby I got some pics this evening of the little one - he was wandering around, so I took the opportunity to give him a quick check over:

Techhousejunkie, they arent endangered, but they are considered to be "At Risk" due to deforestation; so basically if their habitat continues to be destroyed their status will become endangered. Theyre also CITESII, so you need paperwork to export them. Strangely enough prices are going haywire here...I got my last 4 monkey tails for Ã?Æ?Ã?â??Ã?¢ââ??¬Ã?¡Ã?Æ?ââ?¬Å¡Ã?â??Ã?£200 each in the middle of last year, and I know someone else who got a trio for Ã?Æ?Ã?â??Ã?¢ââ??¬Ã?¡Ã?Æ?ââ?¬Å¡Ã?â??Ã?£300. Although they are hard to come by, demand is currently not very high here so you can get them for stupid prices if you try hard enough.

 

[latshki]

I got mine a few weeks ago as a rescue, I paid 150 for him along with the ferret cage the previous owner kept him in
the guy had no uvb or heat source and fed him lettuce
the poor thing has MBD and some very nasty problems with his toes and the improvement with him is unbelievable
he has gone through two sheds in 3 weeks and has gone from a very dirty grey color to a olive and almost aqua blue color
well here he is Oscar the PTS

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://s598.photobucket.com/albums/tt70/latshki/?action=view&current=IMG_0571.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://s598.photobucket.com/albums/tt70 ... G_0571.jpg</a><!-- m -->

 

[Mvskokee]

holy crap! please no more addictions please!

 

[dragonqueen4]

I had one last year, and made a big mistake in selling him. I dont think the girl I sold him to took good care of him and he died Anyway, ever since I have been trying to find another one and cant find any available in canada at all.

 

[latshki]

I had one last year, and made a big mistake in selling him. I dont think the girl I sold him to took good care of him and he died Anyway, ever since I have been trying to find another one and cant find any available in canada at all.

hey Im in PEI and I got mine a few weeks ago as a rescue and theres a guy selling one for 400 at the missisauga show this sunday for 400 but he will not ship