Another rescue.

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kingofnobbys

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Haven't seen Cheakie for a couple of days (may be outside (been quite cold the last few days struggling to get over 24degC and very windy (gale force winds), or she's simply sleeping off her last meal of insects (inside somewhere).
Just been Speedie and the little juvenile (calling this one Juvie for want of better name) visiting inside.

Had a very big breakthrough with Juvie, the little skink showed up while I was feeding Fluffy , spotted "him (??)" on the floor near my left foot and basking under floor lamp (a 26W UVB200 hung under a Komodo lamp stand - really seemed to be enjoying the UV (A & B) and this time didn't make a dash for cover when I said "hello" , just looked at me ( Fluffy) and then leapt onto the front of the lounge and in a flash was on the chair and only about 3 -4 inches from me and studying me while I quietly spoke to him.

Juvie is pretty good on the tooth, ate 4 large crickets and 4 mealworms as i dropped them to him.

Fluffy is getting really into BSF lavae (so long as I give only her the squeezed out meat and goo) , she's polishing of 12 - 14 per day, which is excellent as BSF lavae are very rich in calcium and highly nutritious .
She's getting really into snuggles now. She likes snuggling into my chest and arm near my arm pit. :)
 

kingofnobbys

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20 BSFL + 1 superworm ( just the meat that I am squeezing out for her )....yeh I know .... she's a VERY PAMPERED AND SPOILT little lady. LOL

I am finding she's more interested in eating if I hold off feeding her will after I've fed everyone else and wait til about 7pm ( the UV lights and basking lights are on til 10pm but she usually curls up and is out for the count by 9pm).
She likes to visit Peppa ( who I leave on the lounge next to me ) who's great and very tolerant with her, she just watches and doesn't even bat an eyelid when Fluffy comes acalling and crawls onto her back .... I suspect Fluffy is dominating Peppa LOL !!! (yep my 720g beardie is being dominated by a 25g water skink .... all in her attitude I think).

Had all three house skinks visit today about 4pm, all sharing the 26W UVB200 , Cheakie & Speedie & and Juvie , with Speedie and Cheakie taking turns being top skink and the little juvenile pancaking by himself a few inches away.
 

kingofnobbys

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Fluffy chilling on my upper arm after her big meal of 16 BSF lavae + 1 superworm and her desert of 4 mealworms.
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Get a load of her tail now .... I swear I can almost see it growing if I watch her long enough.
And look how good her right eye is now , her left eye is just as good .... she's literally bright eyed and super happy and thriving , and I have to look VERY HARD to see where the back and side lacerations were too , her skin has healed so well .

... I'm very proud of how she has come on over the last 2 months.

She's not so keen on being handled by or on my wife , but tolerates being petted by her and really studies her when she's in the kitchen or just sitting there watching TV or reading or doing stuff on her laptop.

Fluffy really enjoying her bath after a big feed tonight .... she goes really nuts in her water dish/splashing pool ....
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coming up for air after about 2 minutes of underwater fun
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kingofnobbys

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CooperDragon":1df9uqbl said:
Wow her tail is looking fantastic! Good work (to both of you) :D

I'm very happy with how she's coming on, I'm sure her tail has regenerated a lot faster than Luckie's tail did. His tail took several months to go as much. Must be the great diet she's getting and all that UVB.

I've been tacking a closer look at photos of my "visitors" tonight , I've discovered Cheakie comes about midday for some UV , a drink and to get some bugs off me, and Speedie shows up in the late afternoon , and the little juvenile shows up about brekky and again later , sometimes with Speedie.
The tails show who is who ( Speedie has an original issue tail, Cheakie's tail has regenerated ).

Gonna be some changes here soon - new kitchen window , new lounge room (south wall) window ( replacing old mill finish sliding aluminum windows which are getting very pitted and drafty ( that came with the house when we bought it , will be nice to have all our aluminium windows the same colour and sealing properly . (We've been here since 1980.)

And the one that's got me worried is the plan to order a new modular lounge to replace our old saggy old 5 seater modular (was new 1983 and it's needed repairing / replacing for over 10 years ). My worry is the house skinks might stowaway accidentially inside the old modular lounge seats - I'd hate for them to come to grief at the tip .
I will definitely have to inspect the insides of the old seats very carefully or catch the 3 skinks beforehand to be sure they are all safe and stay here . If I order tomorrow it'll be after ANZAC Day when the new lounge arrives and the old one is taken away .
 

CooperDragon

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Certainly due for an update. High quality stuff to last that long... Definitely a good idea to do a roll call before moving any furniture. I'm sure they don't want to leave the relative paradise by accident.
 

kingofnobbys

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CooperDragon":3ie4dq24 said:
Certainly due for an update. High quality stuff to last that long... Definitely a good idea to do a roll call before moving any furniture. I'm sure they don't want to leave the relative paradise by accident.


Looks like we can't simply resurface our laminated kitchen benchtops, the spots are wearing off the laminate ... , so we might as well spend few more $ and go from laminated timber (which might need replacing again in 20 yrs) to stone benchtops which will last for ever ( at least will outlast us ) and will add value to the house.

So that adds to my list of remnovations and improvements planned for 2018 and to see us out, was looking at
>> new a modular lounge ,
>> new kitchen and lounge room windows ,
>> redoing the driveway and extending it to back fence ,
>> widening and leveling the paths,
>> new back entrance door and new laundry interior door and swap side it's hinges are on) ,
>> a small timber deck at front
>> and very big timber deck / verandah at the back and repainting the exterior of the house,
>> and recarpeting (the carpet is buggered too) ,
>> painting or recladding the double garage
>> and a big mancave / shed in the backyard (under the back deck maybe ?)
>> and a 5KW solar panel set up & LiIon battery storage .
I am thinking there wont be much change from $40,000 (good thing I have it as I wouldn't want to borrow it and remortgage the house to pay for all this , expecially since I have been debt free since 2000).

Add build Peppa a new 4x2x2 viv , maybe make a double or triple decker so I can rehouse Peppa and my two old bluetongues.
Add finishing off my ultra light carbon fibre 10inch f/4 Newtonian Astrograph (been working that project for 5 years.
Start design work for the 18in f/2.8 carbon fibre astrograph I want eventually.
Add converting my old & heavy 10inch f/4.7 Newtonian to a dobsonian.
Add my lifelong dream observatory (part of my mancave will have a roll-on roll-off gable roof.
Add maybe some new raised beds in the backyard (for veggie, herb and berry plant patches).

Boat ??? maybe in 2019.
Camper trailer for grey-nomad mode when my mobility is up to it .... maybe in 2019/20.

I don't think Fluffy , Cheakie , Speedie and the Juvie will be impressed with noisy tradesmen banging away. The bluetongues and Peppa are so laid back they will likely take it in their stride.
 

kingofnobbys

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Juvie has discovered the bathroom is nice and warm with the door shut, discovered her curled up in front of toilet bowl this afternoon , was sitting there bold as brass and refused to move until I was almost standing on her .... retired behind the toilet ..... there is just no privacy when you have skinks living in and having the run of the house.



LOL
 

kingofnobbys

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Black soldier flies are hit with Cheakie , Speedie and Juvie , I crush the fly's head and simply drop them onto the carpet for the skink to disappear.
Fluffy isn't so keen on them , left a few in her 100L tub overnight and she ignored them, but she did eat the dead silkworm moth I also left for her to eat.

24 BSF lavae & 4 mealworms today - loves the meat ... not so keen on the hard bits.
 

kingofnobbys

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Fluffy this evening after her dinner ( 24xBSFL + 10xBSF + 1xSUPER ) , got a full tummy, nice and warm and ready for bed and very sleepy , sprawling out on my chest while I stoker her back .... if skinks purred , she'd be purring.
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I think she likes me.
 

SHBailey

Gray-bearded Member
I always like to say that it's impossible to "spoil" anything with too much love, but I think I may have to make an exception in Fluffy's case. As soft and small as they are, she still needs BSFL to be cut up for her before she'll eat them? Seriously? :roll: :lol:

It looks like she definitely likes her new human slave. :mrgreen: :love5:

Your home improvement to-do list looks totally overwhelming to me :shock: Our old house needs some professional help too, but between limited funds and limited energy, we're just barely managing to keep it habitable. My husband is really good at fixing things, but he gets a little too ambitious sometimes when it comes to what he thinks he can do vs what we actually have the time and energy to do, and it doesn't help that his wife isn't so good at letting him disrupt my nice comfortable routine with a big project, so we keep putting things off. It will probably catch up with us someday, and then maybe we won't have a choice...

Hopefully you'll be able to keep track of all the lizards while the works is going on, and hopefully it won't scare them away. My guess is that Fluffy at least probably won't be too upset as long as she knows she has her favorite human slave around to protect her. :wink:
 

kingofnobbys

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SHBailey":1kfbpkt5 said:
I always like to say that it's impossible to "spoil" anything with too much love, but I think I may have to make an exception in Fluffy's case. As soft and small as they are, she still needs BSFL to be cut up for her before she'll eat them? Seriously? :roll: :lol:

<<< all my PET lizards are very pampered and horribly spoilt.

It looks like she definitely likes her new human slave. :mrgreen: :love5:

Your home improvement to-do list looks totally overwhelming to me :shock: Our old house needs some professional help too, but between limited funds and limited energy, we're just barely managing to keep it habitable. My husband is really good at fixing things, but he gets a little too ambitious sometimes when it comes to what he thinks he can do vs what we actually have the time and energy to do, and it doesn't help that his wife isn't so good at letting him disrupt my nice comfortable routine with a big project, so we keep putting things off. It will probably catch up with us someday, and then maybe we won't have a choice...

<<< yep I know that feeling .... I actually did major renovations and improvements in 1992 , I hired a builder and worked with him to replace the exterior cladding (got rid of asbestos , insulated the exterior wall cavities ,and reclad with HardyPlank (timber boarding), reorganized the bathroom (huge fiberglass shower/bath module to replace the old bathtub , new kitchen , replaced all the old timber windows with aluminium , replaced all the doors , insulated the ceiling, build a double garage at the back fence . Work took 3 months and I took leave (I had 3 months accumulated leave) to manage the project.
Done nothing much since and been putting stuff off as I thought we'd wind up having to move and then the steelworks were closed and I returned to uni , and subsequently after some consulting and academic work I retired so I was reluctant to spend money on the house to do anything more maintain it (basic stuff like plumbing) .
Only doing now because we are not going anywhere and I have the money and I see the money spent to renovate and improve it as an investment and well the lounge is buggered ( I could repair it by replacing the rubber webbing and seat cushions and restabling/regluing/retacking the cloth to the frames and by repairing the frames but I'm not currently mobile enough to do that and it would only be a stop gap and we'd still have the same eyesore in the lounge room.
My wife was no help in the 1992 renovations , and she's not going to much help this time either , and my son has zero interest in DIYS stuff and handyman stuff ( my bad , I should have done the renovations when he old enough to help ).
I'm raiding my savings to do all this and everything is necessary and been put off for at least 10 - 15 yrs.

Hopefully you'll be able to keep track of all the lizards while the works is going on, and hopefully it won't scare them away. My guess is that Fluffy at least probably won't be too upset as long as she knows she has her favorite human slave around to protect her. :wink:

I might have to catch them (Cheakie, Speedie and Juvie) and house them in 100L rearing tubs , one per skink.
 

kingofnobbys

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Setting up little DIYS hides for the wild water skinks who live inside. The plan is they will discover these and will start hiding in them , and if I know there's a skink in one I can easily trap it by dropping another tub over kit (blocking the entry).

Simply just like the one I made for Fluffy. One in the bathroom where we've seen the a very small juvenile / baby the last few days and one in the lounge room right were I know Cheakie and Speedie often go (when calling on Peppa).

Ordered the new windows today .... told I am likely see them installed by late February . also the custom made convertabunk for spare bedroom (will arrive her in March). The kitchen benchtops are being measured up tomorrow and I'll be ordering the new modular lounge next week (12 weeks before it arrives).
Gives me a few months to capture the skinks (to keep them safe but keep them wild (only changing their water and feeding them and spot cleaning)).

Fluffy polished off 32 BSFL + 6 mealworm pupae (she loves them) + 1 superworm and 12 BSFs. this afternoon, she's really getting into the food. And she's starting to shed again too.

Cheakie has been showing twice per day (about noon and again about 4pm) and Speedie shows up about 6pm and does the rounds (patrols everywhere - a real livewire !!!).
Juvie is quite shy and skittish , and the baby is even more so.
Yes that's 4 wild water skinks sharing our house and having free run of the house. I think the baby is one of Speedie's , and if there is one , there is likely 2 or 3 other babies keeping a very low profile as I suspect Speedie gave berth inside.
 

SHBailey

Gray-bearded Member
Why do I get the feeling that all of the "wild" water skinks in your house are probably going to be just as "tame" as Fluffy is by the time all the home improvements are done? -- up to and including however many babies get born by then... :? :blob5: :blob8:

It sounds like you've got a pretty good plan for keeping them safe -- I just don't see how you're going to be able to avoid "bonding" (them to you and/or you to them). Enjoy... :mrgreen: :love5: :love5:
 

kingofnobbys

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Huge breakthrough with Cheakie .

Hand fed Cheakie his afternoon, 3 med crickets , 1 medium silkworm and 6 mealworms , even let me tickle under the chin while eating :) ....
This is in addition to the other 3 medium crickets and 6 other mealworms Cheakie ate from the floor and from the off the chair.

Speedie paid us a visit this afternoon , she loves the UVB200 on the floor lamp stand.

Fluffy has had a full shed overnight , she's a new skink now and her skin looks wonderful and has a glow about it now .... 32 BSF lavae & a medium cricket tonight.
 
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