New Eastern Water Skink Rescued

Status
Not open for further replies.

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
Original Poster
Cheakie's done it to me again, got out of his tub while I was replacing his water and the absorbant paper lining I put under in the 1.5L tub the water dish sits in.

He's usually very good and just watches me while I'm doing this.

This time the little bugger leapt straight up onto the rim of the tub and then leapt onto the armrest of the lounge next to and from there leapt onto the floor next the lounge and was under the lounge before I could reach down and grab him.
A few minutes later he was in explorer mode on the kitchen floor but I've opted again not to chase him ( he'll only get scared and go to ground and I'll loose his trust if I do that ).

He's pretty well fed so he'll likely get thirsty before he feels hungry, and there are some rogue crickets hiding in the living area for my latest "great bug escape" last night when mr fumble fingers tipped over a cricket storage tub with about 40 crickets in it and 12 - 16 of them got away , recovered 14 last night as the started roaming about , but some elude my wife and me, so Cheakie will likely find last of the excapees in the next day or two .
(I was telling my wife " where's a house skink or house gecko when you need one ? to catch and eat the excaped crickets).

So I'm not holding out much hope of recatching him for a few days unless it's while he's drinking or he crawls into one of tubes I've put on the floor for him or he comes close enough from me pick him up.
Just hope he doesn't find the way back out again like last time.

Really have get cracking on the new DUAL CONVERTABLE 2 x 0.6m L x 0.596m W x 0.4m H water skink tank as a 27L tub (height 255mm) is too easy for Cheakie to leap out off now he's adult size.
Never had a hatchling bearded dragon , baby or juvenile bluetongue , or water skink escape from my 120L rearing tubs ( height 440mm ).

>>>

He just visited the dragon tub and was sitting there for a new minutes doing the tail wriggling & quick head nods thing while Cleo was slow head nodding and arm waving back at him.
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
Original Poster
No sign of Cheakie this afternoon after about 4pm when I heard him (?) moving about behind the corner module of the lounge.

So set up a couple of tube ( he likes to hang out in tubes ) near the modem and one near the fridge for overnight , he might discover them and crawl in and settle there ( they all have his scent on them ).

I've also set up his tub on a box so the lid is level with the top of the lounge seat , will leave the lid ajar and turn on the UV when I go to bed , his water dish and food dish and other tubes are in it , little bit of luck I'll wake up in am and find Cheakie in it .

If that fails and seen cruising about in the kitchen , family area tomorrow , I'll set up a petridish or small transparent tube with some very wrigglely mealworms in it under a 4L tub set up as a trap.
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
Original Poster
Not seen or heard him inside so far today, though I have heard the "house gecko" who's in the kitchen a few times today ( which is unusual as we usually don't hear it until about dust or overnight ).
Was hoping he'd be out and about looking for food or a drink by now , or on top the modem . But still only 4pm and he usually didn't "get up" til about 6pm while in captivity as that's the time I usually replaced his water and checked his supply of worms, pupae and black soldier flies, and gave him a few crickets.

Then again , Gutzy and Fluffy , my two adult females haven't been active today and my wife reports no wild skinks out basking when she was out the front to look in the popular skink spots , and none seen when she hung the washing and later when she rescued the washing from the storm that's brewing to our west (looks and sounds angry - constant rumble of thunder).
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
Original Poster
Not seen Cheakie inside or heard him since about 2 days after he went exploring.
He's remembered how to get outside and is likely under the house of somewhere near the house, beds , retaining wall.

Hoping the current run of heatwave days will convince him to come back inside, or hunger for more crickets or BSFs or mealworms. As is usually the case with the resident wild house skinks.
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
Original Poster
My wife spotted Cheakie under the aircon's compressor unit at the front of the house this afternoon and a few of his harem hanging out under the back the steps , I expect Cheakie will be hungry now he's back up ( after hunkering down during the storm and cold wet weather, and hope he decides to come back inside the house ( remembers I am the cricket and mealworm supplier, but probably been pigging out on earthworms, rollypollys and small 6 and 8 legged critters forced out by the wet and trying to dry off ).

Also had a pair of Red-tailed black cockatoos my tree this morning. Gone by the time I got to the front door to take a photo. We get these visiting sometimes.
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
Original Poster
CooperDragon":2jzcfdhs said:
I would have loved to see one of the cockatoos.

I'll try to a photo of them if they come back again.
Very spectacular parrots.

Only ones I've seen that were more spectacular were the Red-tailed black cockatoos in the far north in places like the Kimberley near the 5 Rivers (where the Ord, Forest, King, Durack and Pentecost Rivers combine and enter the Cambridge Gulf), in the NT and in FN Qld.
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
Original Poster
Cheakie is still hanging around outside, mostly stays near the aircon outdoor unit and under the house ( likes to hang out near the back steps in the morning to get warmed up in the morning sun ).

Gutzy , my younger adult female water skink who is sharing a 120L tub with Fluffy , has decided she likes me , crawl out of her little house yesterday evening and onto my hand , I was very pleased , but didn't press my luck by taking her out of the tub .

Those spectacular and very beautiful black cockatoos are still hanging about , but seem very camera shy, every time I try to get a photo of them they fly off.
 

CooperDragon

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
kingofnobbys":3jm6cg58 said:
Those spectacular and very beautiful black cockatoos are still hanging about , but seem very camera shy, every time I try to get a photo of them they fly off.

Darn. Keep trying. Probably worth it even more since they are being elusive =) I've been grabbing some photos of the bald eagles that are congregating around the river in town lately. Some days they have been swarming in groups of 30+ (!).
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
Original Poster
A few BSFs must have emerged from pupae in the water skink tub , as they were flying about and crawling about inside on the walls.
Didn't last long when Gutzy woke up , she literally leapt straight up to catch two of them as they flew past / over her. She's a crack shot , one leap per fly.

She loves her crickets and black soldier flies .

Fluffy is way to spoilt and lazy to bother leaping for her food , she'd rather check out the food dish or take a disabled cricket if I happen to drop it right in front of her , or even better , be hand fed by me.
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
Original Poster
Cheakie is now the resident alpha male eastern water skink , and has quite a large harem of females around my house , and next door . He's very happy outside .

Here he is on guard duty this afternoon at the back of my house on my pile pavers and blocks
4apr2020-cheakie-the-alpha-male-on-guard.png
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
Original Poster
Gutzy's routine is she wakes up about after a midday nap at about 2pm and starts demanding I talk to her and pay her some attention ( even better if I top up the water dish , drop a couple of live medium to large crickets in to her ) .

Here are her typical antics :
IMG-0438-gutzy-trying-to-get-attention.jpg
ta
Stand up on her hind legs and tail as tall as she can and looks straight at me while scratching away with her fingers on the walls of the tub until I here her and pay attention by talking to her, at which point she stops scratching and looks straight at me.
IMG-0439.jpg

IMG-0439gutzy-attentionseeker.jpg

IMG-0441gutzyattentionseeker2.jpg

IMG-0443gutzyattentioseeker3.jpg

After about 30mins of this attention seeking , and my giving in to talk to her, pet and give her a treat she finally settled back to basking on her favourate bit of bark.
She finally lets me pet her on her head and back , so long as bribe her with a yummy cricket first.
Slowly making progress.

Fluffy is a few years older , and is much more laid back and spends more time napping . But even she still lets me know when she wants some attention and some spoiling , usually when I've feeding and having quality dragon time.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Members online

Latest resources

Latest posts

Latest profile posts

I miss you so much, Amaris 💔
What is a quick way to warm up a cold beardie? His heating element went out overnight and now he's very cold.
Pearl Girl wrote on moorelori1966's profile.
i feel so sad reading your about me 😢
Clapton is acclimating okay I think. He's quick as lightning so I'm not sure how much I should bring him out of his house yet. He's not at all interested in his salad though. I wonder if I should change what I'm giving him. Least he's eating his crickets.

Things to do:
Buy calcium powder
Material to raise surface for basking spot
Scenery decals for back of tank

Forum statistics

Threads
155,899
Messages
1,255,688
Members
75,966
Latest member
georgiarichmond
Top Bottom