Meet our new resident wild "house" skink.

kingofnobbys

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RachaelAnn":zlz8ytpj said:
I assume you're in Australia? NSW - New South Wales?

I don't know a lot about Australia, but are you concerned that some of the more venomous snakes may come in for a meal? Like the taipan? As I said I don't know much of anything about your country, so please forgive my ignorance.

From what I've read about it, the taipan is pretty much found in the area of Australia that you're in. Or would it be more north in Queensland?

I had to use a google map to even know the political layout of the states (provinces?) of Australia. And from what I read online the inland taipan is predominantly in the eastern central region of Australia.

Like I said, I know almost nothing of the nation. I would love to visit sometime. Definitely to see Uluru, but it will most likely never happen.
:(

No …. back door is 6ft off ground , and front door is 3 steps up .

My lawn is kept tidy .

We have venomous snakes and spiders around , we take precautions against them.
The more likely venomous snakes in my region are large black snakes and large brown snakes . Both pretty shy ( I've often encountered them fishing, bushwalking and my personal observation is they are more scared of me than I'm of them ).



The lizards only need a small gap to get inside.

Uluru is overrated .
The Kimberley regions canyons and mountains are much more impressive.
 

RachaelAnn

Member
People always say that landmarks of their home country are overrated, LOL. But foreigners are always fascinated to see them.

For example MT Rushmore is overrated. So is the statue of liberty. Bear Tower is neat to see, but not the most fascinating thing on earth. When I lived in Denver, I could see the snowy peaks of the mountains from my apartment window. It was cool, but nothing awe inspiring. I would say the best things to visit in the US are the San Diego zoo, and the Smithsonian. DC has a lot of monuments that are interesting, but the Smithsonian is the best attraction. In my opinion at least.
 

kingofnobbys

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Original Poster
Have 2 juvenile water skinks in residence inside the house.

One has taken up residence in the bathroom , hides under front of the big fibreglass Marbletrend onepiece bath-shower ensemble .

Yep it's a tiny bathroom , this was part of my big 1994 renovation = remodeling the original 1950s bathroom - was so big we had to remove the exterior wall of the bathroom to get the new one piece ( very large and awkward to move ensemble into as the hallway was too narrow to get it into bathroom through the door - I didn't want to remove the closet & bathroom door frame & door jamb get it into the bathroom , nor was this practical as the builder still had to work in the bathroom to assemble to ensemble's hidden support frame , so only practical approach was to remove the exterior wall and lift the new bath 7ft from the ground to level of bathroom floor to place on a bed of wet cement ), there's a gap under the front lip of the bath that is a perfect hiding place for little geckos and skinks , can't get unto the cavity inside as I made sure to fill that with high R rated left over roof insulation after the timber structure frame was installed.

I also replaced the bathroom widow old timber window replaced with aluminium dble sash , and the vanity unit and toilet ensamble , I redid all the bathroom plumbing while the exterior wall cavity was exposed & my own floor and wall tiling to finish off.

This little skink is about 12 months old and very shy , scurries back to bathroom if it hears something unexpected or one of us moves unexpectedly..
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Comes out and patrols the hall and bedrooms and study when the house is quiet.

No privacy when we need to use the loo , the little skink pokes it's head out and studies us while we're sitting . Will take a mealworm if we deposit it close to it's "spot" .

The other house skink is also about 12 months old , but is much friendlier and outgoing and pretty assertive , and has taken up residence in the lounge-room + dining and kitchen areas , and is more like a pet, is quite comfortable being near us and knows how to ask / beg for live food treats.
Likes to hang out in the lounge ( I could pat it if I thought it would let me - not quite that tame / trusting yet , but getting there ).
Yes they are two different skinks - as I've seen both at the same time.

No they don't seem to be interested in predating on the little wild hatchling G.Dudia (house geckos) who are showing up in the kitchen lately, I'm guessing too well fed on the rogue crickets ( I often have escaped crickets that just vanish never to be seen or heard again - the geckos and skinks in residence are making quick work of them , and controlling the spiders and roach's and mice ( there's mouse plague in our suburb I'm told as all the neighbours are complains of mice getting into their pantries and cupboards and sheds , we don't have mice in the house as they wont hang around if there are resident skinks and geckos in the house).

Here's the cheeky skink making itself at home yesterday , kept me company and entertained us for most the afternoon
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Is not at all camera shy , the flash charging or firing doesn't scare it, a very photogenic skink , and obviously very well fed ( healthy looking ).
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No I wont be trying to catch them , while I'm sure Fluffy would like a tankmate if I did , I'm happy enough to have these charming little skinks sharing our house with us of their own choice.

Meanwhile outside - we have
> delicate garden skinks ( hatchlings and juveniles and adults ) making good use of the sleepers used in our garden beds and retaining wall, and living under the house and amongst the nasturtium jungle in the top half of the big 6m x 3m bed
> maybe are dozen adult , juvenile and baby water skinks who like the retaining wall, driveway , shed, and also live under the house and visit the front patio
> we've seen the resident wild eastern bluetongue regularly nibbling on the nasturtium leaves and flowers ( seem to really them ) and making a meal of the snugs and snails who hide under the thick nasturtium bed (where it stays moist). Will likely be some frogs and geckos amongst the nasturtium jungle too.

Nasturtiums are great ground cover ( and entirely edible - flowers, leaves , stems and seeds , hence why I sowed them as seeds 12 months ago )
get load of the nasturtium jungle we now have
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hard to believe this started as just 8 seeds in a 600ml plastic food tub 12 months ago. It has nearly covered a full 3m x 3m bed ….
Will be taking cuttings to propagate soon and plant along the top of my retaining wall to make that "pretty" for next summer.
, we've also seen a couple of juvenile marbled geckos on the tree trunk , and the frogs are back ( we've heard them croaking away somewhere in the backyard at night :) .
I'm very pleased the frogs have returned ( think they are in the "weedy" area ( where the ground slopes quickly down by between 20cm and 50cm in an ribbon about 50cm wide between the fill level and the nth bdry fence = never dries out in the longish grass there as in shade from fence , and behind the garage (where it's been allowed to go wild ) and behind the 6m x 1.5m bed w/ privacy screen ) = another habitat area where it's never mowed or attacked with the whippersnapper machine and stays moist as only exposed to sun for a few hours around noon ==> perfect frog , skink and gecko habitat..

Didn't take the frogs long to move in once the monsoonal season arrived (Been a few years since we heard frogs croaking at night - been too dry for them to move away from the local creeks = Johnsons Creek (700m SE)
Scrubby Creek (800m SW)
and the Newcastle ByPass' stormwater empoundment (300m from the Sth end of my street).
…. these are well know eastern water dragon and eastern water skink and frog habitats and have thriving colonies of wet land birds, frogs , skinks, dragons and even see mullet and bream and perch.
 

CooperDragon

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Cute little ones. They look nice and healthy too based on your photos, that's good. How much longer is your rainy season? Snow is just starting to melt here.
 

kingofnobbys

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Original Poster
CooperDragon":e7c65acu said:
Cute little ones. They look nice and healthy too based on your photos, that's good. How much longer is your rainy season? Snow is just starting to melt here.

Usually ends not long after the northern wet (monsoon / tropical cyclone) season in the Kimberley and Pilbura regions and NT and Gulf of Carpentaria , Cape York and NE QLD ends , so we will get very moist tropical air drawn down ( from NW and NNW regions and the Coral Sea ) til about end of April. That's when the northern Dry Season start , and when the grey nomads head north and north-west , and when the intls usually start arriving .

There's powerful Tropical Cyclone Niram in the Coral Sea off The Sunshine Coast SEQLD now has become a monster, is a now high into Category 5 , we're getting big seas and cloud cover here from it.
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PS , my local Port Hunter , Swansea channel , Swansea , Pelican and Redhead , and local beaches and other low lying close to high tide areas were evacuated and roads closed yesterday - Tsusami alert was in place , the port and channel and beaches were already closed due to mountainous seas being created by TC4 Niram ( 9m seas at Nobbys and Stockton Walls !! and as far south as Sydney heads and Port Kembla ).
 

CooperDragon

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At least it appears to be heading away from QLD and staying North of New Zealand. Sounds like they had an interesting morning yesterday with a Tsunami warning along parts of the North Island.
 

kingofnobbys

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CooperDragon":cc0et8g2 said:
At least it appears to be heading away from QLD and staying North of New Zealand. Sounds like they had an interesting morning yesterday with a Tsunami warning along parts of the North Island.

New Caledonian is gonna get hammered by it ( as Cat5 super Tropical Cyclone today ),
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already did a lot of damage in QLD , extensive damage to banana & tropical fruit plantations and market gardens in FNEQLD ( again )
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==> fruit and veg prices are going back up.

Saw on ABC 24hr NEWS that the ADF has already sent heavy naval assets to New Caledonia and RNZN is doing the same , and preps are in hand to do heavy airlifts by RAAF and RNZAF to get relief in to New Caledonia ASAP.
 

kingofnobbys

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Original Poster
My wife coaxed the bathroom's skink out with a couple mealworms ( these never fail to get water skinks interested ) and took a nice photo
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… looks about 6" TTN so a little younger than the more outgoing skink who is living area who's closer to 10" TTN .
<< based on the tile sizes and tile pattern on my lino, this means the little shy one is about the same size Lucky was when I rescued him from nextdoor's cat who was in hot pursuit as he ran across my front lawn >>


while I was being entertained by my little skinky friend who was patrolling the kitchen floor for insects and being armwaved at by Cleo ( I think Cleo wants to be friends with the new house skink LOL , she never misses anything - always very interested in everything and everyone ).
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head nodding back at Cleo
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Meanwhile Fluffy my pet waterskink who had a nice fed of 12 bsfl + 8 mealworm pupae & 2 mealworms the othernight has been sleeping in all day . Got worried so I checked her last night - sound asleep under her little HubbaHut.
 

kingofnobbys

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Original Poster
And a very good sign that my little resident water skinks haven't been eating the resident G.Dubia geckos in the kitchen, study and bedrooms , the geckos have been churping today and this evening .
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
Original Poster
CooperDragon":1h3d978e said:
Those little guys are so cool! I'm envious =)

Eastern water skinks are really nice …. one of my all time fav skinks , they are really clever too , great little problem solvers .


---

Just now I visited the bedroom and discovered the littler skink sitting bold as brass in the middle of our unmade untidy bed , is warm in the bedroom and I guess it climbed up the quilt that was draping over the end the bed and touching the carpet .
Didn't stay there long when it saw me coming .

Could have been there from just after I got up while the mattress was still warm. No poos on the sheet ( good little skink :) ).
 

kingofnobbys

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Original Poster
Fluffy's favourate spot to sleep overnight .
FLUFFY-15-MAR21-SLEEPING.jpg


Only time she hides to sleep are when we have the 10yo grandson sleeping over.
She's my pet eastern water skink.
FLUFFY-15-MAR21-SLEEPING.jpg

Only a skink would think this is a comfy way to sleep.
 

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