New Eastern Water Skink Rescued

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kingofnobbys

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VERY HOT here today, was 43 degC at 11am and never fell under 40 degC until the sun set.
9pm was still very warm ( 36 degC , even hotter in parts away from the coast ).

9pm Sydney Harbour Kids Fireworks were delayed by 15 minutes as the southerly arrived there a few minutes before the scheduled display . This year is the first time we've had our grandson here for NYE so we let the grandson stay up to watch them on TV .

Yes there are local fireworks on the foreshore near Nobbys' Beach Park but none of us were keen on heading out in the heat and trying to get parking anywhere that the fireworks could be seen.

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Skinks outside will have appreciated their tub full of water and I expect will have stayed out of the sun ( in the shade and under the house today ).
Us humans however never put even a toe outside today ( so glad I replaced the aircon in November as the old aircon would have been struggling and would likely have faulted out several times today in this heat ).

Fluffy and Cheakie both in shed today …. tandem shedding , don't get that happening very often.
 

kingofnobbys

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Cheakie today

PC311039.jpg

what you doing ? do I smell people food again ?


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Is that a yummy I see over there ?

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Mealworms are very yummy .

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I'm so itchy .... but very sleepy now I have full belly.
 

CooperDragon

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Cheakie looks quite content =)

I don't blame you for not wanting to go out in that heat. Is the smoke getting any lighter there? The fires are starting to make the news over here more often. Latest was the folks stranded on a beach in Victoria and the dark red sky. Pretty scary stuff.
 

kingofnobbys

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CooperDragon":1ulp54ca said:
Cheakie looks quite content =)
I think he's very content now and feels very safe and secure in his tub.

He was probably bullied by the local resident alpha male and might have some frights while back outside.

My observation is skinks know when they are on a good thing.

CooperDragon":1ulp54ca said:
I don't blame you for not wanting to go out in that heat. Is the smoke getting any lighter there? The fires are starting to make the news over here more often. Latest was the folks stranded on a beach in Victoria and the dark red sky. Pretty scary stuff.

People who live more than 3 to 4 km inland would have be really doing it tough if they had no access to air-conditioning , you can add 4 to 5 degC to the temperatures we saw yesterday. I'm betting the big shopping malls , the RSLs , Workers' Clubs and sports clubs would have been packed with people ( especially oldies who don't have aircon in their homes or if they do are too scared to run them for fear of increasing their electricity bill << stupidity IMO >> ) , the public (council run) public pools, and the beaches and lakes would have been packed too , the surfers wouldn't have been happy because this wind kills the surf.

No longer much of an issue here ( on the NE side of Lake Macquarie ) however the big fires are still going (and uncontrolled in the national parks & forested crown lands in inaccessible areas ). There was very hot dry wind blowing in the opposite direction to normal yesterday ( hot dry air from interior) yesterday.
The N winds will have blown the smoke from local fires towards Gosford and Sydney.

Locally the Croudace Bay Park Camp Ground NYE & The Maitland NYE fireworks were cancelled ( too high a fire risk ).


Nearest fires that are out of control are all on the other side of the lake :
Bolton Point = Out of control watch & act
Wangi Wangi = Out of control evacuation order issued for locals.

Big difference today = 26 degC outside and 70% RH and a light northerly breeze , sea breeze hasn't kicked in yet this afternoon, so the aircon is off .

More heatwave conditions forecast for the coming weekend and next week. So the fires will likely build back up again. Today there are 120 fires, 68 are not contained. Eight Emergency Warnings are in place in NSW.
There is a similar situation in all mainland states ( very dangerous in SE NSW, most of Victoria, most of SA, the SW of WA and NW of WA, much of Queensland and of NT ( monsoon hasn't arrived ).
 

kingofnobbys

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Cheakie was fascinated by tonight's episode of Doctor Who. Sat on top one of his hide tubes for the entire episode looking directly at the TV. A minute or so after then end of the episode he was at his water dish having a drink and then retired for the night.

Fluffy was up too and disappeared inside her fav little round house almost right away the end of the episode.

The BTs and dragons & Gutzy slept through it.

So both Fluffy and Cheakie are whovians.
So the Master is back :) …. one my favourate Dr.Who bad guys....oops.... spoiler alert.
 

kingofnobbys

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Starting to cool down now (5:30pm) , only 44 degC outside and 10% RH. No smoke here ( NW breeze is blowing it all towards Sydney ).

All the resident wild skinks (and water dragons, have been keeping a low profile today , likely under the house and staying in the shadiest coolest places.
We were visited by a very impressive and large male yesterday afternoon , grandson came running inside telling us there was monster lizard in our tree , likely up there chowing down on grubs and cicardas and maybe looking for bird nests ( for chicks and eggs ) .
Even the magpies , rosellas and other native birds haven't been around today ( too hot for them ).

My son just texted me to tell me it 48 degC at his place inner SW Sydney . He returned home last night.
Penrith hit 49 degC at 3pm.
Very bad smoke in Canberra , Melbourne and even as far off as NZ .
And on SE coast and Gippsland area (Vic) day has turned to night ( people are saying it's apocalyptic conditions with fires jumping major rivers even and extreme heat . It's so intense it's creating it's own weather , there are severe thunderstorms forming ).

https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/sky-turns-as-dark-as-night-in-bushfire/ar-BBYBh33?ocid=spartandhp
Apocalyptic scenes in Mallacoota.
https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/sky-turns-as-dark-as-night-in-bushfire/ar-BBYBh33?ocid=spartandhp&fullscreen=true#image=1
Mallocoota

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>>> UPDATE on Cheakie's progress
Cheakie let me stroke his head this afternoon when I was replacing is water ( he has a habit drinking then bathing then pooing in his water , so I have to replace his water at least 2x per day).

He is very calm when I do this now , just sits there and watches me . so I figured I'd see how he responded to my trying to touch him .
 

kingofnobbys

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Cheakie took his first bug from my fingers today.... a cricket was more than he could resist and he took it very daintily from me.

Not managed this with Gutzy yet , she prefers still to keep her distance , I'm fine if my hand is more than 6 inches away , or if there's a "force field" ( plastic wall ) between her and me.
She's older than Cheakie and been living wild and is still wary of people but slowly learning she has nothing to fear from me.
 

kingofnobbys

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Grim stats , 2020 homes known to have been totally destroyed by fire ( hundreds more homes too dangerous to reach to assess) , 25 dead. One in 10 under uninsured. One in 3 under insured.

Smoke from the fires has reached Chile. Seems these fires are having a global climatic impact ( atmospheric / weather for now , and we can expect massive algal blooms in the Pacific Ocean as far afield as coastal Sth.America.

Naval evacuation is ongoing in the Far SE.
A full compliment of the ADF Reserves has been compulsorily called up and mobilized , last time this happened was in 1939
<<< sorry but they should have been mobilized weeks ago , but the PM was in holiday mode and didn't take on board the advise given by the RBFB and emergency services or the climate experts
rant over
>>>>

Heatwave & catastropic fire weather forecast to return on Thursday (SA) , Friday (Vic & NSW).

If anything it's been smokier because the RBFB have been backburning in the hope of creating firebreaks while the cooler still conditions are here and while the humidity is high.

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Been a bit cooler and even damp here ( NE coastal NSW ) the last couple of days , even had some rain here overnight , influence of the monsoon finally arriving in the NT and far NW of WA , two tropical cyclones developing . The deep lows up north drawing in damp air from the Tasman Sea .
Was even very foggy this morning at 4am , when I hoped to do some "stargazing" / imaging.
Been very steamy outside today , 26degC felt like 34 degC.

My how a few days can change the cloud map and synopic chart.
Situation is driven at the moment by
> TC Blake aiming for 80 Mile Beach (Pilbara coast) , a very remote and sparcely populated area .
> A very deep tropical low (expected to become a category 2 or 3 TC Claudia is expected to hit Maningrida in the far N of the NT , an area that’s very sparcely populated and only accessable by 4x4 ( with a permit ) or air or by barge or sea going trawler .This one is a very compact system (and will behave much the same as TC Tracey did ( aka the destruction of Darwin ).
7jan2020-false-colour.png


Threat tracks :
7jan2020-threat-tracks.png


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Handfed a few more mealworms to Cheakie. He is no longer scared of my hand when I'm replacing his water and relining his tub with paper towels ( he splashes water all over the place when he's bathing …. loves a good splashabout !!! , he now watches me and even takes worms and crickets who have been hiding , I think he's more curious about what I'm doing than scared now.

Fluffy has been feeding herself this week mostly, so has Gutzy.
All three love the smaller live crickets I've been dropping into their tubs , been hunting them down and seem to really enjoy this.
 

CooperDragon

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Good that some water is finally entering the picture. It looks like one of the cyclones is headed toward Kakadu/Jabiru. That was bone dry when I was there when flooding was already to be expected.
 

kingofnobbys

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CooperDragon":1ir56qsf said:
Good that some water is finally entering the picture. It looks like one of the cyclones is headed toward Kakadu/Jabiru. That was bone dry when I was there when flooding was already to be expected.

Only time I've been to Kakadu the place was flooded ( we were parking boats and fishing and dodging crocs in the camp grounds and car parking areas ( only the tops of the parking posts were above water ).
My wife insisted on staying the Crocodile Lodge , so I gave in and we stayed there for 3 nights then moved to a caravan park and took a self contained cabin for the rest of the 3 weeks we stayed there to explore and fish and take in the sites. Very damp and froggy place !! and loads of geckos and moths at night. No shortage of crocs and international tourists and grey nomads .

Loved Darwin ( stayed there ( shouted my wife a stay in a 5 star motel while there ) . If we ever move , Darwin in it at the top of our list , along with Broome or Kununarra.


I liked Linchfield NP better (not as crowded) , it's a much richer environment. Keep River NP leaves Kakadu for dead ( it's an incredible place and not normally on the tourist circuit , but you have to be self sufficient there too .)

So smokey here today it's made it look like a winters' day already overcast add smoke near the ground , very dull and gray .
 

kingofnobbys

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Darwin on Cyclone Alert.

Expected to have eye over Darwin 10am Saturday if it's track is maintained.

Expect this one to reintensify and come back for another go next week.
 

CooperDragon

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I'll have to keep an eye on that system now.

Kakadu was quite empty while we were there since it's off-season. Went for hours at a time without seeing another person or car. Litchfield felt a bit more crowded but only because it is more condensed. Were able to enjoy the waterfall pools and picnic grounds without an issue. I drove by the crocodile motel and it looked a bit worn. Wound up staying overnight at Cooinda Lodge at Yellow Water billabong which was excellent. Will have to put Keep River on the list for next trip over.
 

kingofnobbys

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CooperDragon":39j6a0s4 said:
I'll have to keep an eye on that system now.

Kakadu was quite empty while we were there since it's off-season. Went for hours at a time without seeing another person or car. Litchfield felt a bit more crowded but only because it is more condensed. Were able to enjoy the waterfall pools and picnic grounds without an issue. I drove by the crocodile motel and it looked a bit worn. Wound up staying overnight at Cooinda Lodge at Yellow Water billabong which was excellent. Will have to put Keep River on the list for next trip over.

We stayed in The Croc in April 2000, only 12 years after it was opened.

Guess 20 years down the track it's getting old and rundown and is no longer the top motel in the park.

We never do our long driving holidays in season. Silly to pay through the nose to have the dubious benefit of staying anywhere in season. The dining room was not very crowded when we had our evening meals , all other meals we took care of ourselves ( car fridge, portable 3 burner camp stove and we filled up the car fridge freeze with snags, steaks , etc in Darwin before heading to Jabiru ( we'd booked to stay in the Croc ) and we forwarded about supermarket pricing in the NP.

The croc cruise ( Kakadu ) was about 10 people including my group of 3 and we had lots of elbow space in the big boat.

When we were at Broome (same trip) I was hoping to we might get the Kimberley cruise but they were not taking bookings ( end March 2000 ) and there'd been a cyclone through the area a couple of weeks before so everything was still in flood , meant some places were inaccessible ( tracks and roads closed to everyone even those like me with capable 4x4s ) ,so areas in the Kimberley I want to visit and fish had to be bypassed.
 

kingofnobbys

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Now Cheakie is more settled , I took a chance and got him out for a weigh-in.

My procedure for this with him now is I wait until he's sound asleep or very sleepy and relaxed inside one of his fav cardboard tubes ( he likes them as hides as beds and stations to observe the goings on around him and his tub ).

I simply lift out the tube he's resting in and place it with his nose downhill towards the corner of the 1L squate tub I use to weigh small lizards (and put a wad of paper in the open end , weigh him tube & paper wad. Then I coax him out ( let him slip out into his tub and quickly replace his lid ) and then weigh the tube and paper wad . This approach is very much less stressful than gabbing him and forcing him into a tub , and he is so relaxed he simply looks at me for a minute or so and then goes looking for a snack ( which I give him ( he loves black soldier flies so that's the snack he gets . He then had a drink and within 10 minutes was back inside a tube and off in the land of z.
The difference is Cheakie's bodyweight.

Today , it's been a bit over a calender month since his last weigh-in and he now weighs 28.2g , this means he's gained 4.9g since 7 December a 21% increase. And 154% bigger than when he first came into my care.

Chap in my area has a subadult eastern bluetongue who needs rehoming …. I'm tempted, if the skink still needs rehoming when my new dragon and water skink tanks are finished I'll let him know I'm interested in adding his BT to my 4 legged scaley tribe.

Remember that TC , it's indeed redeveloped off the Kimberley coast as a likely category 3 or 4. Is looking like it's going to stay out at sea , currently about 600km from Pt Hedland , so they'll definitely be feeling it's effects .
 

kingofnobbys

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Latest 20 mpixcel portrait of Fluffy - new Canon PowerShot ELPH 180 arrived today , just mucking about with camera set to full auto mode and max resolution.


Here's how good the camera is :
13-JAN2020-FLUFFY-USING-ELPH-180.png

Fluffy the Eastern Water Skink having some daddy quality time this evening after some wormy treats.
 
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