Another rescue.

[CooperDragon]

What's Cheakie's favorite show? =)

 

[kingofnobbys]

What's Cheakie's favorite show? =)

I was watching something on SBS about the MesoAmericans from 2000 years ago at the time , when I noticed she was transfixed by the TV, last few days it's been Hogan's Heroes & ST-Voyager in the time slot in late afternoon when she visits and I'm interacting with Fluffy and Peppa. The BTs get daddy time just after lunch.

I think it's the familiar voices and people on these shows.... she seems to really like Sgt Shaltz .... who doesn't ?

She visits about the same time every day and is definitely either getting fat or is heavily pregnant.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Cheakie is like a bottomless pit when it comes to crickets, she just polished off 5 large crickets + a dead medium silkworm .... and she'll be back again in a few hours for more.

Fluffy sure loves those superworms , she doesn't get the exoskeletons , I cut the heads and last seqment off and then cut the worms in half for her ,and she licks the gooy stuff inside off my fingers and from the exoskeleton tube, not much left when she's done, had the superworm treated the same way yesterday afternoon & 2 supers lastnight too, plus some manuka honey before moved her back into the 100L tub.

& Fluffy had 2 supers for lunch today .

Nothing wrong with Cheakie's and Fluffy's appetites.

 

[SHBailey]

I've often wondered what our beardie makes of the TV -- if it's just light and color and sound or if he recognizes anything as resembling things he sees and hears in the "real world". Lately he doesn't show much interest -- sometimes I cuddle him while I'm watching TV and he usually just snuggles up and goes to sleep, but "prime time" for TV is pretty close to beardie bedtime anyway, so I suppose that's understandable.

You and Fluffy have developed quite a skillfull little routine with the superworms -- that's a pretty good trick for her to be eating the goop inside without the exoskeletons, and she's getting the most nutritious part that way too.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Now know for sure we have two resident wild water skinks living in the house.

I was feeding Fluffy her new favourate food at lunchtime, superworm meat (she licks it off my fingers and LOVES the stuff !! and no risk of impaction as she doesn't get to eat the tough exoskeletons) and Cheakie showed up on the lounge seat next me, Cheakie loves crickets and silkworms , when I looked down to see another skink on the carpet next to foot staring up at me (this is the one who does the rounds of the house at warp speed and is a little skittish , my wife suggested naming this one who I think is also a female (and is about the same size as fluffy - so a bit smaller and lighter than Cheakie) , Speedie (as in Speedie Gonzales).

Speedie lives in the laundry and does the rounds of every room in the house and likes to keep her personal space (about 2-3 ft) and loves mealworms, refused to eat any crickets until she'd had her mealworms (5 satisfied her) and then she only wanted live but disabled crickets (2 large ones today). Speedie has an original issue tail.

Cheakie lives in the lounge room (hangs out behind the 6 piece modular lounge and likes to nap behind the fax machine (is warm there) and is very tame , taking insects from my fingers now and visiting every day.

Photos taken of Speedie and of Fluffy today.

Doing one of her fav activities and sporting her newly regenerating tail .... it's coming on nicely ....

Fluffy licking the superworm goop off my finger tip .... nom nom nom ....

look closely and you can see her tongue in action ... .... yes it tickles too...

Fluffy showing her little blue tongue, licking lips ...

Speedie begging for more mealworms ....gimme gimme gimme !

Speedie enjoying a yummy freshly killed cricket on the kitchen floor ....

 

[kingofnobbys]

I've often wondered what our beardie makes of the TV -- if it's just light and color and sound or if he recognizes anything as resembling things he sees and hears in the "real world". Lately he doesn't show much interest -- sometimes I cuddle him while I'm watching TV and he usually just snuggles up and goes to sleep, but "prime time" for TV is pretty close to beardie bedtime anyway, so I suppose that's understandable.
<<<< my gang definitely recognize voices and faces on the regular shows we watch , and seem to respond to different TV people differently....

You and Fluffy have developed quite a skillfull little routine with the superworms -- that's a pretty good trick for her to be eating the goop inside without the exoskeletons, and she's getting the most nutritious part that way too.

I developed a similar trick for feeding Lucky (my first rescue) , in his case it was mealworms and pupae and crickets I was removing the "goop" from to feed to him , he had a broken lower jaw cf the cat attack (was bitten / clawed in the back right corner of his lower jaw and his right eye).
Is messy but works and I know the lizard is getting the best of the nutrition from the insects this way.

Got some photos of Fluffy enjoying her superworm goop today , licking it off my fingers .... her little blue tongue gets very busy and she does a good job at cleaning the finger.


And ..... Fluffy is in shed again.

 

[SHBailey]

Fluffy's tail is amazing. It looks like it's almost back to its full size and maybe closer to its normal color too. I had no idea they could grow their tails back so fast.

It sounds like Cheakie and Speedie have learned a lot from watching Fluffy -- "You can train a human to peel you a superworm if you're cute enough," for example. :lol:

 

[kingofnobbys]

Fluffy's tail is amazing. It looks like it's almost back to its full size and maybe closer to its normal color too. I had no idea they could grow their tails back so fast.

It sounds like Cheakie and Speedie have learned a lot from watching Fluffy -- "You can train a human to peel you a superworm if you're cute enough," for example. :lol:

.... more likely "that old fat human is a soft touch" .

Fluffy is feeling so secure and safe now that she doesn't bother hiding when she goes to sleep, she sleeps in the open in the corner of the 100L tub.

 

[SHBailey]

I like to tell people that they can take it as a complement when their beardies (or skinks in this case) stop using their hides. It means they've learned that they're safe with you. Our beardie used his hide when we first got him, but nowadays he almost never goes in his hide -- if he does, I know that he's either upset about something or not feeling well.

When you think about it, it's pretty amazing that they can learn not to be afraid of us, since we're so much larger than them -- several hundred times their size, especially those of us who carry around a few more extra pounds(kilos :wink: ) than the average human. It would be kind of like a human learning to trust a T Rex. :shock:

 

[kingofnobbys]

Pretty sure none of skinks or dragons use their hides because they want to hide. Only use the hides to warm up, my gang all have warmed hides and they all enjoy their toasty warm hides.

She got away from again this afternoon, was much more interested in crawling all over me , pretty sure she wanted to explore and all the strange objects she can see were irresistible to her ....and she was showing no interest in eating .
Then she crawled off my lap onto the lounge, and quick as flash she was behind me and disappearing down the gap under the armrest and plonk , she was on the floor behind all my lizard stuff in boxes. Again , I was has worried she'd get lost or get hurt while I was moving furnature to recover her and my wife spotted her again climbing up the curtain, wasn't happy about her grabbing her , but soon settled on my tummy under my hand.

She's a little devil sometimes, and definitely keeps me on my toes.

I had to give her stern talking too , but I think she'll want to go exploring again so I'll have to on my guard , especially since she has seen and knows there are two wild water skinks living in the house.

 

[SHBailey]

Never a dull moment, huh? :lol:

 

[kingofnobbys]

Never a dull moment, huh? :lol:

This is true , Fluffy is more work than the two old bluetongue skinks (George and Mildred) and Peppa combined.

More fun too .... she is so full of beans and certainly has her own agenda .... she's a force of nature and lets me know in no uncertain terms when she is not interested in the food I'm offering , but when she is hungry she really good to feed and pretty easy to feed too --- provided I prepare it properly .... yes .... she has me well trained . She has come a very long way since we took her into our care .

Very pleased -- I managed to get her to eat 6 large BSL , yep I had to slip then head off and squeeze out some of the meat inside for her to accept them, but she ate the whole maggot once she got the taste. So 6 BSL + 1 superworm today .... a good effort for her.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Fluffy has finally accepted BSF lavae , .... I'd rather buy these for her and be sure she's getting the calcium she needs and less fat , was worried she wasn't getting enough calcium on the mealworm and superworm diet where I feed her superworm meat (goop) or mealworm lavae or pupae meat (goop) or cricket meat (goop) , she's very lazy , has me worked out and knows I'll decapitate the bugs and squeeze the meat eat to let her lick it off my finger or her nose or off the end of the bug , just be sure she's getting the nutrition she needs to recover and regenerate her tail and replace the calcium she invested in the babies.

I still had to snip off the nose of the maggot and then squeeze out some the goop / meat inside to get her to eat them , but she then took the rest of the maggot and ate it too which was very pleasing to see , so she had 6 BSF lavae and the meat from 1 superworm yesterday .... a very hearty meal for the little lady.
And another 8 BSF lavae today. Think I'm on a winner with these BSF lavae for my water skinks , the wild water skinks who have been visiting . I didn't sweeten the meal with honey today ,so it took a it of perseverance from me to get her to finally eat the BSFL meat.

Fluffy is really into digging.... she's burrowing through her kitchen paper sheet bedding and substrate , even getting inbetween the layers of paper in individual sheets .... Lucky and Wriggles did this all the time , and George and Mildred the bluetongues did it too when they little babies and juveniles....it's a skink thing I think , they just love digging and burrowing through stuff.



Now know there are THREE resident wild water skinks inside the house .
>> Cheakie - who hangs out in the lounge room behind/ under the lounge ,
>> and Speedie (aka Gustzy ??) - who hangs out in the laundry (under the freezer and washing machine) ,
>> and a juvenile (who looks about 8 months old) who has been seen in bathroom and laundry. BSF lavae are a hit with Cheakie and the juvenile, Speedie wants mealworms and crickets and doesn't seem to like the smell of BSF lavae.

My wife spotted a very large eastern water dragon in our front yard today , saw her coming and dashed straight up the tree. Being close to a creek and some remnant eucalyptic woodland (just behind the houses across the street) we sometimes get visits from wild water dragons and jacky dragons.

 

[AHBD]

The water dragons are beautiful, must be fun to see them out in your yard. It sounds like you have as much wildlife IN the house than outside though.

You'll have to wean Fluffy off of the human smooshed bug guts, she needs to hunt for herself now.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Meet our newest resident wild house skink , a juvenile eastern water skink who is about the same age and size that Lucky was when I rescued him way back about 8 years ago \who I rescued from next door's cat as he dashed across my front lawn with that mongrel murdering cat in hot persuit , who was my first pet lizard as an adult and who I nursed back to health (or so the vet and I thought at the time.

This little skink has was watching my wife eat breakfast this morning and the watching me as I sat quietly on the lounge at about 11am - "he's" a cheakie wee thing and very skittish , while being very curious about things and already knows I am the giver of yummy bugs.

Came out onto the lounge to investigate the strange objecs there - gives a good impression of "his" overall size (which is ytiny cf Cheakie, Speedie & Fluffy)

And onto my wife fav cushion before I tossed a cricket to "him" ... is very good on the tooth , ate 2 BSF lavae & 4 medium crickets , then retired back behind the corner end of the lounge , likely hanging out with Cheakie - I think may be Cheakies son or daughter. (similar spot pattern on side of neck).