Crazy Beardies!

My bearded dragon has gone crazy.
I walked in my room (also where my beardie was housed), to see her running frantically around her terrarium. There were no stress marks. As soon as she saw me, she jumped up on her log and closed her eyes. I walked out of the room, but came back in five minutes later. My bearded dragon was still running around, and jumping from object to object. I even saw her bite an artificial flower and drag it across the cage. She was making a huge mess, to I said "HEY". She stopped, and jumped on her log to play dead. My face throughout this: :shock:

 

[kingofnobbys]

I don't think they are crazy at all, just different.



I'm betting if they could , our beardies would have a thread titled "Crazy Humans!".

Or "Gullible Humans" i swear they have meetings when we're not looking

I KNOW the local resident wild water skinks have meetings, I've seen their meetings sometimes .... I'm sure they were working on a plan to raid my mealworm and cricket stocks.

Hehe i know i dont have to worry about escaped crickets for long... the semi wild geckos in my house will make short work of them! I can hear them having meetings...whats even funnier is now the crickets are having meetings on how to escape!

Yeh.... when our "house" lizard is in residence (a wild water skink), she disappears the rogue crickets pretty promptly , she also does a great job at controlling the roaches that come inside from outside and any spiders who blunder close to her (even big huntsmen spiders , she'll chase them , corner them and dismember them one leg at a time and finally demolish their bodies).

Not seen any evidence of mice in our house since we started getting regular visits from at least one wild water skink (sometimes we've had 3 resident wild house skinks) and since we started keeping pet lizards.

 

[Beardymama33]

I don't think they are crazy at all, just different.



I'm betting if they could , our beardies would have a thread titled "Crazy Humans!".

Or "Gullible Humans" i swear they have meetings when we're not looking

I KNOW the local resident wild water skinks have meetings, I've seen their meetings sometimes .... I'm sure they were working on a plan to raid my mealworm and cricket stocks.

Hehe i know i dont have to worry about escaped crickets for long... the semi wild geckos in my house will make short work of them! I can hear them having meetings...whats even funnier is now the crickets are having meetings on how to escape!

Yeh.... when our "house" lizard is in residence (a wild water skink), she disappears the rogue crickets pretty promptly , she also does a great job at controlling the roaches that come inside from outside and any spiders who blunder close to her (even big huntsmen spiders , she'll chase them , corner them and dismember them one leg at a time and finally demolish their bodies).

Not seen any evidence of mice in our house since we started getting regular visits from at least one wild water skink (sometimes we've had 3 resident wild house skinks) and since we started keeping pet lizards.

At night i can hear the geckos talking to each other in my house, they dont go for the little house spiders, those are well trained to skedaddle if my mom is coming over, even the wolf spiders hide. as for roaches, we havent seen but a few german roaches since i convinced my husband to let them take over what the bug people werent doing. the biggest skinks we get are just the 6-8 inchers....there are bigger ones down south (i live in north fl so most o four reptiles are on the smaller side) we have a cat friend that keeps the water moccasins and rodents (except crazy squirrel) out of our yard.

 

[Beardymama33]

btw what type of water skink do you get? this is what we get:

same skink species different looks for different areas...

 

[kingofnobbys]

Locally the most common lizards in my area are bluetongue skinks, water skinks, delicate brown skinks, rainbow skinks, eastern water dragons, 3 lined grass skinks.

Water skinks are named so because they love foraging under water for water bugs, spiders, tadpoles, yabbies, minnows, and are often found very near creeks and streams, empoundments, lakes and fresh water rivers, as well as being very much at home in suburban gardens and under houses, really cheaky ones are known to raid cat and dog food bowls and some even come inside houses and take up residence.

Here are photos
Wriggles : viewtopic.php?f=26&t=217016

Our little wild "house" skink loves to chill on the lounge and watch TV

her other fav spot (is toasty)

When she's in residence we have to warn visitors NOT to leave open handbags, backpacks or shopping bags on the floor, as she is very inquisitive and WILL investigate them intimately and we don't her to accidently to taken away as a stow away.

the alpha male has lots of battle scars from sparing with other males, on my front steps right next to my foot waiting for me to give him more mealworms


Some info on Eastern Water Skinks : http://www.reptilepark.com.au/animalprofile.asp?id=77
Their natural range is all the river valleys in eastern coastal QLD, all the rivers valleys in NSW and Victoria. Very common skink to encounter.

They have a reputation for being very flighty and skittish and since they are so commonly seen in people's gardens that most regard them as a display lizard only, I know otherwise by my own experience and observation of them and think they are highly underrated in the hobby here as potential pets (even as companion pets). I personally think they are wonderful as pets.

There are very few people here with eastern water skinks in a captive breeding program, I know of one person in Sydney, and one in Bundaberg, and have heard that Amazing Amazon in Melbourne gets them in stock occasionally.

 

[Beardymama33]

Very pretty, i know why they are called water skinks, most people dont know that skinks need more water and humidity than other reptiles. Skinks (both in the wild and captivity) are actually very fun to be around. I had one in the old house that would just sit there and let me touch it and would even pop up in various locations (it had help and nope not from me or our daughter) just to see the reaction my poor husband would have!! Animals are people (in a way) too and like us they all have personalities! I did have a gecko try to attack my hand a few nights ago when i removed him (geckos are easier to sex than most other lizards) from my counter so he didn't get vinegar cleaner in his face.....I put him in my sons' room. All the others will wiggle to get away but when they figure out im not going to hurt them they calm down and even give me kisses. I love house lizards and outdoor lizards o fall kinds both tame and wild!

 

[kingofnobbys]

Wriggles loved bath time, she's swim underwater and on the surface the of water like a micro-crocodile and would splash about and dip and dive constantly, I had a large peanut butter butter jar lid in her tub for he to drink from and she particularly loved curling up in this and splashing about in it.

Offered a water dish (same deal for the "house" skink) and she did exactly the same thing, so I had to put the water dish for her in the corner of the room out of our way so she wouldn't drown the fax-phone-answering machine and the lounge during her water playtimes.

The "house" skink (Liz) is very happy to take dead roaches or crickets and live mealworms from between my finger tips and from my upturned open hand, she'll even try to prise my fingers apart with her front claws and nose looking to hidden insects (thinks I'm holding out in her), and one day I dozed off mid afternoon while watching something on TV and woke to find her on my knee... cheaky... hey

For a long time (first couple of seasons when she started visiting inside, my wife who wasn't at all a lizard person, would get a fright each time she saw her tail disappearing under the cabinets , under a door or behind the chair, then one day she was sitting on the lounge watching TV and I spotted "Liz" behind her head looking over her shoulder, gave her a cricket (disabled -squashed head) and business card (she was scared Liz would bite her) and she offered Liz the cricket on the card ,and Liz took it, the big grin on my wife's dial was unforgettable, from then on she loved seeing Liz and even started following my example by talking to Liz and even offering food to her.
Liz never let my wife pat her, but lets me do so. The ultimate compliment from a wild animal is to accept food and let you make physical contact with it (pet it).

In my neighbourhood I'm known as the lizard whisperer, everyone knows the wild lizards come to me and trust me and that I protect them and even sometimes take in injured lizards to nurse them back to health.

 

[Beardymama33]

Wriggles loved bath time, she's swim underwater and on the surface the of water like a micro-crocodile and would splash about and dip and dive constantly, I had a large peanut butter butter jar lid in her tub for he to drink from and she particularly loved curling up in this and splashing about in it.

Offered a water dish (same deal for the "house" skink) and she did exactly the same thing, so I had to put the water dish for her in the corner of the room out of our way so she wouldn't drown the fax-phone-answering machine and the lounge during her water playtimes.

The "house" skink (Liz) is very happy to take dead roaches or crickets and live mealworms from between my finger tips and from my upturned open hand, she'll even try to prise my fingers apart with her front claws and nose looking to hidden insects (thinks I'm holding out in her), and one day I dozed off mid afternoon while watching something on TV and woke to find her on my knee... cheaky... hey

For a long time (first couple of seasons when she started visiting inside, my wife who wasn't at all a lizard person, would get a fright each time she saw her tail disappearing under the cabinets , under a door or behind the chair, then one day she was sitting on the lounge watching TV and I spotted "Liz" behind her head looking over her shoulder, gave her a cricket (disabled -squashed head) and business card (she was scared Liz would bite her) and she offered Liz the cricket on the card ,and Liz took it, the big grin on my wife's dial was unforgettable, from then on she loved seeing Liz and even started following my example by talking to Liz and even offering food to her.
Liz never let my wife pat her, but lets me do so. The ultimate compliment from a wild animal is to accept food and let you make physical contact with it (pet it).

In my neighbourhood I'm known as the lizard whisperer, everyone knows the wild lizards come to me and trust me and that I protect them and even sometimes take in injured lizards to nurse them back to health.

I have had people weirded out or amazed when so called "dangerous", "skittish", or wild animals just walk right up to me.... i was referred to as many things and some people treated my ability to attract hurt or shy animals as a parlor trick of sorts.....nope i dont do it for the fame or glory, some of them will act all mean like they are gonna bite me, (most of the time its for show then they dont want me to put them down or walk away). My husband was stunned one day when we were out back and a baby lizard ran onto my foot "kissed" it a few times and rubbed its head on it and only moved when i gently poked it and told it to go into the garden. He was afraid it was going to bite me (less than 2 inches full length) and i would get hurt! He used to freak out when i even so much as caught a frog to take it out and now we have Draconis.....Ehem the man drug me out of bed at 3 am not even a day or two after we got him to ask if i could catch the gecko so he could pet it......I had him tell me how big it was and its color and then proceeded to tell him thats "big man" and he doesnt do the whole petting thing. Hell watch me do the dishes, sing to me, occasionally lick me or let me move him but hes not that into random weirdos trying to pet him in the middle of his feeding time! i had to rescue his son from my sink (third time i had to rescue his little pea brained self from getting stuck or nearly drowning) and i put him in my husbands bathroom. He just calmly sat there in my hand, let me pet him and hold his head down to make sure all the water was out, and had to be poked a few times to get him to run and hide.....his name is Dingus nick named peas for brains.....His sister is smart she stays on the floor level and i know they are his children because hes the only breeding male in that area AND they have his pattern. Sadly i believe the albino in my garage died this past winter.....Big Man doesnt have much longer either but his children will take over.....well not Dingus...maybe his sister Zippy (shes there then ZIP shes gone) will take over.....