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.
Mother Garden skink!!
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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.
Viridae
Well-Known Member
Viridae: Many of the small skinks are brilliantRobust 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.
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?
crush the turtle
Very Well-Known Member
sdaji, how long would it take for the eggs to hatch?
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
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.
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.
Snow1369
Very Well-Known Member
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.Viridae
Well-Known Member
sdaji do you have any photos of setups?
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
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.
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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Craig2
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mayy be the poor fella was actually a poor lady
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