Found the Mother Cunningham's!

[andy1990]

if your guys read my other post my room mates cat caught a baby Cunningham's and keeps catching it dam thing even if i do put it back in the garden. so yer today i went looking for the mother or father and after 4-5 hours of looking and leaving bits of meat around the place it makes an appearance. and if anyone can help with my other post, please tell me how long to leave the heat light on for because i dont want to go to work at 7am and come home at 4pm and the poor guy is cooked to death. thanks

here are the photos.....



and here is a video of her/him eating BACON!

Cunningham's Skink.AVI - YouTube

 

[kobson08]

oh nice work, ive been hoping to find more cunningham videos on youtube.

Cheers

 

[andy1990]

thanks, took me couple of hours of waiting but it was worth it do you know much about Cunningham's?

 

[Eddie2257]

hi mate its great that you have these guys around your house, but you dont have to feed them, they have plenty of food around the garden they can eat, and why do you have a heat light?/ have you got one in an enclosure?
Eddie...

 

[ashisnothereman]

leave it on to mimic the photoperiod. thats what i tend to do. 8hrs a day or so. allow a hide, or large enough cage so that he can escape the heat. it seems its a wild animal, you should try releasing it in some bushland near by.

on this general note. im so sick of cats. dead frogs and skinks all over the place.

 

[andy1990]

yer i found heaps man there's like a whole family in my back yard 3 big ones and about 5 little ones and yer room mates cat keeps of eating them and bring them inside the house this one was tuff and lived so i am looking after it its only like 9 cms long. and yes i didnt release it back into the garden but like i said in my other post the cat brought it back inside so im scared if i let him go again the cat will kill him and i dont want that to happen, it is bin day on monday so maybe i could find the cat i new home hehe. if you guys could look at my other post and tell me if my enclosure is good enough of no and where the light is places ....ect t, see the cat will be gone at Christmas so my plan was to release him back into the garden then.

 

[Eddie2257]

keep the cat inside?

 

[andy1990]

keep the cat inside?

dude, not my cat, i hate cats, and plus you cant make a cat stay inside if its a outdoor cat, cats are the worst animals they do whatever they want and the cat goes out through the windows cos there no fly screens and we have a cat flap as well and plus, and i dont no.... but that feels like a smart comment to me, if your going to say something make it meaningful and helpfully to this little guys survival, but if that was just a suggestion my apology's. I felt that if i looked after it i would be doing the right thing, and plus i want to be able to enjoy seeing the lizards in my garden so i thought either once the cats gone (once everyone moves out at christmas or he gets some size about him he can drag the cat into the garden instead of the cat dragging him inside.

 

[Herpaderpa]

there isnt much you can do... that cat is going to continue to catch and torture or kill small animals. Maybe you need to sit down with your housemate and give him a good old ear bashing. In that situation... I would take the cat to the pound and not mention a thing to the housemate. If he cant be responsible with his cat then he shouldnt have one!

 

[andy1990]

yer i know.... your right but i just cant, it was bad enough the first time letting him go just to find the next day hes getting swatted around on the floor of my kitchen by the cat, could i get a carers license? cos on his tail he has a scratch/injury and you can see in the video the mother seems to have a injury on her face and i dare say that was from the cat.

 

[Australis]

Neat video.. i would love a colony to be living in my yard.

Maybe if you increase the cover for them some how, they will dart into a crevice when cat/s comes a long. I think the younger animals are just not as switched on as adults.

 

[andy1990]

yer you are right there, when i walk out the adults move away as soon as they see you and get under cover but the little guys just look at you till your about 2 feet away then they run for cover.

 

[Eddie2257]

dude, not my cat, i hate cats, and plus you cant make a cat stay inside if its a outdoor cat, cats are the worst animals they do whatever they want and the cat goes out through the windows cos there no fly screens and we have a cat flap as well and plus, and i dont no.... but that feels like a smart comment to me, if your going to say something make it meaningful and helpfully to this little guys survival, but if that was just a suggestion my apology's. I felt that if i looked after it i would be doing the right thing, and plus i want to be able to enjoy seeing the lizards in my garden so i thought either once the cats gone (once everyone moves out at christmas or he gets some size about him he can drag the cat into the garden instead of the cat dragging him inside.

i wasent trying to be a smartass i just thaught you might not have thaught of it, not saying your dumb or anything but we get some strange ones on here lol, also if you going to keep him try and feed him live food items so that he dosent get to dependent on you for food, and also if you have rocks or bricks laying around your yard pile them up and the skinks will use them for shelter,
Eddie...

 

[Tsubakai]

The cat will eventually kill the entire colony. The comment about keeping the cat inside is about the only useful one posted. Otherwise its just a matter of time.

 

[andy1990]

o ok, my apology's, well i have live worms? would that be ok? and as for the the cat killing the entire colony i hope your wrong but the ones out in the garden are bigger then the cat haha so i have a feeling they will be ok.

i wasent trying to be a smartass i just thaught you might not have thaught of it, not saying your dumb or anything but we get some strange ones on here lol, also if you going to keep him try and feed him live food items so that he dosent get to dependent on you for food, and also if you have rocks or bricks laying around your yard pile them up and the skinks will use them for shelter,
Eddie...

 

[MrSpike]

Ofcourse you can keep a cat inside if it's an outdoor cat. Man up and lock the windows and doors. It's people that "can't lock up the outside cat indoors" or the people who just "lolz stop it tinkerbell" when their 4kg fluffy white mutt is barking and showing aggression at other animals that are the irresponsible pet owners. Not having a dig champ, but smack your house mate in the back of the head for me.

On a brighter note, congrats on having a cunninghams family in your own backyard.. they make awesome display animals, especially when in large family groups. Maybe try give them some more natural safe hide holes/ basking spots so that other cats don't get at them. If you can get around to it try to release the baby sooner rather than later. You don't want the others to not recognise it and remove it from the group.

 

[Bluetongue1]

Under your circumstances, the only effective way that I can think of to keep the cat away from the Cunninghams is by training it to associate a negative experience with trying to pick one up. Go buy or hire an electric collar (with manual remote control) and put it on the cat. Then let the cat have access to the small Cunningham where it cannot see you observing it. The instant it goes to pick up the lizard, zap it. The extremely short-lasing, low wattage but very high voltage shock will have no lasting effect and won’t harm the cat at all. However, the effect is dramatic and very disorienting and disconcerting for the animal. They absolutely dislike feeling that way and will probably avoid Cunninghams after one shot. I would recommend setting it up so that it comes in close contact with the lizard a second time and cops another shock, in order to reinforce the negative association. After that you can rest assured that if the cat sees a Cunningham, it will hotfoot it in the opposite direction.

Cunninghams are omnivorous but the young eat mainly insects/arthropods and the adults mainly flowers, fruits, new shoots and fresh green leaves. So crickets, woodies, mealworms, catepillars, moths, beetles and whatever small arthropods you can find would be good. Add to that some paw paw or ripe banana, and some chopped up green leaves of Vietnamese salad plants or bok choy or mustard, kale or spinach leaves. You can actually mix in things like mealworms with the vegies.

Blue

 

[andy1990]

i just duck taped bells and paper bags to the cat now it makes lots of noise when it moves and hates me even more then it did before, i am happy about this.

 

[Exotic_Doc]

i just duck taped bells and paper bags to the cat now it makes lots of noise when it moves and hates me even more then it did before, i am happy about this.

You left the cat with duct tape and paper bags to it? Are you being serious

 

[andy1990]

its doesn't matter now the cats gone. only the kitten remains