Weasel Skink Question

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Vikingtimbo

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I rarely see Weasel Skinks but I found one a couple of months ago on a fairly cool, cloudy day. I needed to move it off a footpath but when I touched it it didn't react very much. Just a few seconds later it started to go into what looked like a seizure. Its body went rigid; its arms folded back; its tail started vibrating; and it looked like it had wet itself.

Is that normal behaviour; or did it have something wrong with it?
 
Agreed - anything but normal behaviour. It sounds like major spinal injury - the sort of thing that might occur if had been trodden on.

I remember as a lad I mentioned to a couple of other herpers that I had never come across a weasel skink. Yet they reckoned they were as common as. When I got the opportunity to go out herping with them, I discovered why. They went hunting for them in quite damp conditions that were far too heavily shaded for me to have wasted my time on. Sure enough, they found multiple weasel skinks. They are crepuscular and prefer damp areas which might account for why the skink was on the path – low light conditions and dampness from being overcast. Alternatively, it may have been active in the early evening or morning and got stomped on by a roo or the likes. The prevailing weather might explain why it was more out in the open than they normally venture.

Blue
 
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