kingofnobbys
BD.org Sicko
Daughter of very venerable and friendly garage resident Alpha Female Bea who lived in my shed all through the 2000s who passed away winter of 2012 who mothered Lucky ,Wriggles, and of Lizzy ( who became a the resident very friendly house skink from about 2005 til about 2015) , or was their aunti , but was definitely Gutzy's mother (as she was heavily pregnant for a while , then suddenly not and there were 4 or 5 baby skinks hanging about near her , she was a very good mother and protected her babies and a juveniles , and Gutzy took over the shed as her territory after Bea disappeared ) .
I watched and interacted with Gutzy and her siblings as they grew until Bea passed away and they mostly dispersed to other places on my property, but Gutzy stayed on in the shed and took over Bea's territory, and I frequently interacted with her ( fed her and spent time with her hanging out and watching me (begging me for food treats).
Saw her last the other night 1August) about 1am when she was up and drinking, not unusual for her.
Never came out to feed or bask yesterday , unusual for her .
Woke to a funky smell in the house and checked the bugs and the lizards.
Discovered Gutzy wasn't in one of her usual hides (more often than not Fluffy & Gutzy share the same "house" or she'll be under a mini-sized Hubbahut , but found her underneath the paper toweling bedding ( discovered a skink sizes lump , felt her but she didn't react when I touched her , thought she might have decided to brumate , so I decided to strip the tub ( to replace bedding and to check her) and discovered she was dead ).
Seems she's died in her sleep . Would have liked to have tamed her enough to handle her like I do Fluffy. At least she spent her last year living a very protected and pampered life . Will miss her antics .
Fluffy has been very clingy this afternoon and has been downsized to the smaller 27L tub that I kept Cheakie in while I F10 her shared big 120L tub and all the furniture ( as is my practice when one of my pets pass away - it's more JIC .
Fluffy seems perfectly fine so I don't think Gutzy died of some desease , I suspect it was natural causes ( likely killed her with kindness ? or she just died of old age , looks like 8 - 12 years for water skinks is their life ration ).
I watched and interacted with Gutzy and her siblings as they grew until Bea passed away and they mostly dispersed to other places on my property, but Gutzy stayed on in the shed and took over Bea's territory, and I frequently interacted with her ( fed her and spent time with her hanging out and watching me (begging me for food treats).
Saw her last the other night 1August) about 1am when she was up and drinking, not unusual for her.
Never came out to feed or bask yesterday , unusual for her .
Woke to a funky smell in the house and checked the bugs and the lizards.
Discovered Gutzy wasn't in one of her usual hides (more often than not Fluffy & Gutzy share the same "house" or she'll be under a mini-sized Hubbahut , but found her underneath the paper toweling bedding ( discovered a skink sizes lump , felt her but she didn't react when I touched her , thought she might have decided to brumate , so I decided to strip the tub ( to replace bedding and to check her) and discovered she was dead ).
Seems she's died in her sleep . Would have liked to have tamed her enough to handle her like I do Fluffy. At least she spent her last year living a very protected and pampered life . Will miss her antics .
Fluffy has been very clingy this afternoon and has been downsized to the smaller 27L tub that I kept Cheakie in while I F10 her shared big 120L tub and all the furniture ( as is my practice when one of my pets pass away - it's more JIC .
Fluffy seems perfectly fine so I don't think Gutzy died of some desease , I suspect it was natural causes ( likely killed her with kindness ? or she just died of old age , looks like 8 - 12 years for water skinks is their life ration ).