Another rescue.

[kingofnobbys]

She is being disturbed to move her from the 10L afternoon tub to the big night and day tub, and I am treating her eyes .
She seems much easier to feed then as she's sleepy and obviously hungry, some of the dilute honey got onto the fingers and she was licking my fingers and then started trying to eat them again tonight, so I offered her some insects and she made very fast work of them.

When we had the noisy hypa active grandson here for 4 days , Fluffy was too excited by him and too interested in what he was doing during the days and we were waiting for the house to become quiet after he has bath play time and went to bed to feed Fluffy. Seems Fluffy likes this arrangement.

I've also noticed over the years when I had my other water skinks , they are not 100% ONLY day active skinks and are often out of their hides for a drink and a nibble on any insects I leave for them overnight.
I've seem wild water skinks out very late at night under flood lights catching moths and other bugs drawn to the light as they hit the ground too so this night feeding and activity of this species of very adaptive and opportunistic skink.

She's back tucked up cozy and warm in her skink burrito again , was there within a few minutes of going into the 100L tub (crawled out of her hide)..... this seems to be her thing.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Fluffy has been really good on the food today, no grandson here, nice and quiet most the day, so she's been pretty relaxed and keen to eat her insects. I think the UVA from Toothless' old 26W UVB200 is working it's magic on her appetite .

Didn't have to grab her to lift her from the 100L rearing tub today, all I needed to do was place my open cupped hand infront of her and she crawling onto it.

She likes being hand fed some of her insects, licks the fingers to get the leftover insect guts off.

 

[SHBailey]

Glad to hear that she didn't drop her new tail and have to start all over again. She's looking really good, and that's progress that she's graduated to solid food and catches her own bugs now. And it sounds like she's getting her new human slave nicely trained to do everything just the way she likes it. :wink:

 

[kingofnobbys]

Glad to hear that she didn't drop her new tail and have to start all over again. She's looking really good, and that's progress that she's graduated to solid food and catches her own bugs now. And it sounds like she's getting her new human slave nicely trained to do everything just the way she likes it. :wink:

They don't drop their tails unless they are very scared because it's a huge energy investment regenerating their tails.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Fluffy was much more settled tonight, son and grandson left this afternoon and we're back to the normal nice peaceful predictable routine , all the pet lizards were pleased to see the back of the two visitors who were here for 4 days ,especially the very noisy 7 yr old.

She's been off her food the last few days, still eating provided she get's some honey as treat, but not as much as before the visitors showed up again - I think the very loud behavior and all the running about stressed Fluffy and she was a bit scared of him.

She did OK on her food tonight, discovered she hungry and proceeded to lick my fingers and then to try to eat them so I relented she made fast work of 2 medium crickets, 4 pupae and 3 mealworms.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Four medium crickets today and I waited til about 4pm to get her out and feed her.

Really loves her pond ....

 

[kingofnobbys]

Fluffy gave a scare this afternoon while I was feeding her some insects while she was out on my tummy and hands.
Super active as usual once she comes out of the 100L tub after her long dose of UV , I was busy getting another mealworm ready to give to her and she crawled down the side of my tummy and last I saw of her was her tail disappearing into the gap under the armrest , got boxes full of lizard stuff there and I was not impressed with the prospect of pulling the boxes away so I could pull the lounge away from the wall to find her (was expecting she'd gone exploring and would be either between the wall and the back of the chair or on the floor in the little tight crawl space created by the boxes and the side of the chair.
My wife was helping get the coffee table and boxes away before I dragged the chair away from the wall when she spotted Fluffy on the embroidered curtain where she was climbing up and was about 1 ft above the top of the chair already !!!
I think Fluffy was actually looking for a way to get back to me , and was feeling a bit lost and scared , although she was not real happy about being grabbed by my wife, her stuggles / wriggling was not frantic like it would be for a wild skink who was terrified, she was just uncomfortable, she hates to being grabbed , but settles very quickly when deposited and no longer being physically restrained held , and she settled almost immediately when she was deposited on my tummy and a placed my cupped hand over her .... enjoyed her little adventure but was very pleased to be back with / on me.

She definitely has her own agenda and a mind of her own , I want to feed her, she just wants to have fun and explore and wont sit still for a more than a few seconds .... she's been determined to explore the places over my shoulder and beyond my lap for a while and I have to keep my eye on her all the time when she's out as she's aways on the go .... maybe she got more than she bargained for , hopefully now she's been there, her curiousity has been satisfied and she'll settle down .

Into her 10L tub and she made for the water dish and my was she thirsty .... very big drink.... never thought she's stop drinking....

 

[CooperDragon]

"Kingofnobbys' house of reptile rescue and counterfeit currency!" :lol:

I'm glad Fluffy is OK and was just going for a climb. I know what a pain it can be to have to move furniture to go searching for them. :roll:

 

[kingofnobbys]

I think I might have to invest in a mini - lizard chest harness and leash for Fluffy.

 

[CooperDragon]

Probably worth a try and see how she takes to it...

 

[SHBailey]

Never a dull moment now that she's feeling better, huh?

And I suppose someone already reported the spam to the moderators...

 

[kingofnobbys]

Fluffy had a visitor this afternoon, Cheakie showed up ( been laying low for a week or so with visits from our grandson - but was back today and on the hunt (very hungry skink !!) .

I think Cheakie may be a pregnant , as I got my best and closest look at Cheakie's head and body shape today .
"SHe" was very curious about Fluffy and was watching me feed and endulge her (fun crawl all over me time) and he came over very very close to take a really good look ---- needless to say Fluffy spotted Cheakie and there was a bit of headnodding going on and staring going on.
At least I know Fluffy is a girl , and her response to Cheakie ==> Cheakie is either a related girl or the local boy. Cheakie's belly looks like Fluffy's before she gave birth.

Cheakie is maybe 30% bigger than Fluffy and seems more solid, definitely has a more powerful bite.
I found this out when Cheakie came close enough on the head of the 3 chair section of the lounge for me to reach him and I presented by fingers near enough for him to smell them , smelt wormy - I gave Fluffy a chopped up superworm today I'm running low on mealworms and pupae, and Cheakie smelt the worminess on my fingers , came up and proceeded to try to eat my index finger after licking it , has a very good bite

.... she probably now thinks I smell and taste like superworms LOL ...

So I count this as a big step in trust building with Cheakie .

Cheakie's change in behavior this afternoon , and her willingness to interact with me much more , shows that skinks learn behaviours by observation, essentially Cheakie really studied my interaction with Fluffy and learnt to trust me by observing Fluffy's interations with me.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Fluffy got away from me again this evening, this time she headed over my left shoulder , so I leant forward so she wouldn't leap onto the back rest of the chair , she stopped there for a while and I could feel her on my back between the shoulder blades , then she then mozzied back up towards my neck and ended up sitting under my right ear where I could reach her and coax her back to my chest ....

 

[SHBailey]

So they both have healthy appetites and have learned that humans are a good reliable source of free food. :mrgreen:

 

[kingofnobbys]

Huge trust breakthrough with Cheakie today - Hand fed Cheakie a cricket at lunch time when she showed up and again this afternoon , and took 2 medium crickets from my fingers this afternoon. I think Cheakie has decide she likes me.

Cheakie seems to like the TV too .... showed up within a minute or two of my turning it on and been sitting on the top of the lounge near the window watching it for over an hour now, never seen her sit so still for so long.

Yet another lizard in the house who is a TV addict.

Fluffy has a new favourite food - she loves licking the guts out of superworms I've decapitated and cut into 1/3rds . She polished off 3 superworms (just the soft stuff not the hard exoskeletons) today.

More BSF lavae ordered , hoping they'll arrive tomorrow as I want to retry Fluffy with them - potentially as Fluffy's new staple protein source.