New Eastern Water Skink Rescued

[kingofnobbys]

My handyman was trimming some overhanging branches and some very low branches off my big mature Bluegum , and removing 1 cu-m of accumulated leaf litter off the front of the roof of my house , and removing a pile of broken concrete from around the trunk of my tree when he found a very sleepy and cold adult water skink between the bits of concrete and shed bark sheets and twigs and leaf litter.
This is my handyman and the little spoil heap from my old front path ( replaced in June ) where the skink was hiding :

Brought it inside , and I'm keeping it for now ( too dangerous with work being done in my yards and heavy stuff be delivered , moved , and getting dropped , more yard improvement to happen over the next month or so .

Will see how it settles in and gets on with the resident pet water skink Fluffy. I'm hoping this new one is a male and they don't fight , any sign of fighting and the new rescue goes back outside.

Will get a better photo of "? him ?" when the skink has settled in more.
Is not as fat as Fluffy , but has a glorious very long original issue tail. I think it's a subadult , might be 18 months old , might even be one of the juveniles who was coming inside last summer.
They are sharing a 120L rearing tub, with 5 "hides" and basking spots ( plenty of opportunity get out of each others' way and avoid each other if this is what they need ).

So far it's been a bit skittish , but discovered the food dish and had a feast of mealworms and fresh killed crickets , and discovered the warm water in the water disk ( had a drink ) and been doing fair bit of headnodding at me and at Fluffy.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Fluffy at the front, new girl at the back

Fluffy doing one of her fav things - raiding the food dish taking her pick mealworm pupa and lavae , crickets , and BSFL .

She's dead easily to care for, prefers to feed herself from he bowl. But now she has to share ,and has been guarding the food dish this afternoon …. lots of tail wriggling / twitching which I think mean "mine til I say so".
Meanwhile new skink has been doing lots of headnoddies at Fluffy.

New girl on top of Fluffy's grotto , lovely long tail .

And I do think she's pregnant judging that tummy shape .

If I'm right, she'll be giving birth in late October. So once again , no boyfriend for Fluffy.

Fluffy's paper bedding is due for changing , but it can wait , don't want to unnecessarily stress the new girl by dismantling the tub and replacing all the paper.

 

[MrSpectrum]

"I don't know nuthin' 'bout birthin' no baby [skinks]!"

Would a second food dish at an opposite end (and/or out of sight of the first one) help?

 

[kingofnobbys]

"I don't know nuthin' 'bout birthin' no baby [skinks]!"

Would a second food dish at an opposite end (and/or out of sight of the first one) help?

I'll just offer more insects than they want between the two of them. Might not be any issues as both are females and the wild ones in my yard often hang out together and feed together ( water skinks form colonies / harems , several often related females & their offspring with an alpha male who drives off other mature males ).
Highly likely Fluffy and the new girl are related since both came from my yard as rescues ( on about 3 years apart ) .

 

[MrSpectrum]

Highly likely Fluffy and the new girl are related since both came from my yard as rescues ( on about 3 years apart ) .

Fluffy: "Meet my little sister, Aunt Mom!" :laughhard:

 

[kingofnobbys]

Highly likely Fluffy and the new girl are related since both came from my yard as rescues ( on about 3 years apart ) .

Fluffy: "Meet my little sister, Aunt Mom!" :laughhard:

In all seriousness , the new girl is quite likely one of Fluffy's babies , or one of her nieces , or one of her cousins, perhaps even a granddaughter.

So far so good , no obvious evidence of fighting .

 

[kingofnobbys]

I have compared photos looking spot patterns, I believe the new rescue is actually Gutzy.

My has Gutzy grown in the last 12 months !!

 

[CooperDragon]

Looks similar. Good work on the ID! You should start chipping or tagging your herd for easier tracking :lol:

 

[kingofnobbys]

Looks similar. Good work on the ID! You should start chipping or tagging your herd for easier tracking :lol:

That's the idea of trying to get a good sharp photo of them in profile from each side of the head that goes back to the shoulders, every water skink has unique "spots" , it's like their finger print and

I think along with their individual scents , helps the skinks recognize each other, and they seem to have long memories and are able to recognize each other even after being separated for 3 or 4 years. This might be why Fluffy and Gutzy are getting on.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Meet the newest rescue , who (at least temporarily joined Fluffy and Gutzy) in the big 120L rearing tub :

This one is a juvenile about the same size that Lucky was (estimate maybe 8 months old) and is about half the girth of Fluffy and Gutzy.

It's story is my handyman was here today to finish off my big super heavy duty 2m x 1m work bench made from 100x100mm posts and 1m lengths of 75x200mm sleepers ,and to tidy up in preparation for moving the fill off my north half of my backyard into my beds in preparation for returfing (maybe in the next few months if the water restrictions are relaxed) and in preparation for top dressing the beds with about 20cm premium garden bed, and to finish off renovations to my shed.

Discovered loads of skinks ( delicates , 3 lines, and water skinks ) when he was shifting the pile of bricks and broken up old path and emptying out my collection of (30) old 20L selfwatering pots and troughs ( not just full of weeds ) into my 6m x 1.5m bed (about 1m deep at the deep end , also a retaining wall ) .
Most the skinks dashed off in all directions as he disturbed the pile of debrey and moved the pots to empty their contents into his wheel barrow.
This one was so scared it froze , so he thought it best to bring it to me.

So it's joined Fluffy and Gutzy, Fluffy doesn't seem to mind, but Gutzy has objected and has been head nodding like nuts , and chasing it about , no biting , but I've been ready to remove the newcomer and install it in the 10L hospital tub and maybe release it tomorrow after giving it a feed and drink and chance to calm down.

I'm hoping things settle down for it and it's not going to be continually bullied by Gutzy who seems to think she's boss skink at the moment .

 

[kingofnobbys]

Moved the little skink into the old 10L hospital tub , much happier , even came out and had a couple of small (1/3 size) crickets & a drink.

I did this to ensure it didn't get monstered by Gutzy , every bang I'd hear would have me worrying so best to separate it and give it a chance to unwind and relax , have some stressfree food.

I'll monitor for a few days and decide if whever to release it back into my yard or adopt it.

 

[CooperDragon]

Sounds like you had a skink city right in your yard! Hopefully they will find new shelter once the work is completed. I'm glad the little guy is doing OK in captivity for now.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Sounds like you had a skink city right in your yard! Hopefully they will find new shelter once the work is completed. I'm glad the little guy is doing OK in captivity for now.

Reports from my wife and the handyguy are they are already colonizing the retaining wall, the raised bed walls, and the wild patch behind my shed (is now off bounds to the lawnmowing guy so perfect as a refuge/sanctuary).
Still plenty of good spots for them under my house and in my shed too.
I will also be eventually constructing a gabion retaining wall along my north boundary fence too ( perfect habitat for insects , frogs and lizards ) my 3 biggest raised beds will eventually be populated with native herbs and flowing plants so they will have good habitat there too.

This one didn't stay captive for long....
Leapt out of the 10L tub when I had the lid off to replace the water and the soiled paper toweling.

Went exploring into the kitchen and dining area , wasn't panicked as you'd expect, but more in exploring mode, so we opted not to chase it to try to recapture it, I didn't want to scare it .
Ended up disappearing behind the big display cabinet in the dining area, last I saw if it was it's tail disappearing into the small gap between the cabinet and the wall, so I guess I now have new house skink unless it finds a way to get out of the house ( there are 3 water skink sized holes I know off in my floors ( 2 landline holes , a tv antenna cable hole) , and maybe a small gap behind my kitchen cabinets .
If it finds it's way outside , we'll soon see it back when it came from ( under the back steps ).


It'll be just fine living in the house, we've often had skinks living inside with us for months , even entire summers , most years , and they all end up as spoilt guests.

Everything back to normal in Fluffy & Gutzy's tub, both were out looking for food when I was feeding the crickets ( they know the sound of the bugblaster vacuum and associate with food ). Fluffy and Gutzy seem to like being together, both were curled up in the little tub-house/hide .

Was fun having the little skink as a captive guest while it lasted …. the looks it gave me when I was petting and hand feeding Fluffy , Cleo , Caesar , George and Mildred were priceless . Had the 10L tub on the coffee table at the time.

It's had a really good feed of mealworms and crickets so I don't expect to see it hunting about for a few days .

If it's still inside, and we see it cruising about on the floor or at one of the usual skink hangouts (ie on top the lounge's head rest say ) I''ll set up a lampstand with spare 26W UVB200 for it so it can get some UVA & UVB.
I've already set up a water dish for it and have no doubt it'll find this tomorrow.

I was planning on moving it to a 27L tub with taller sides
https://www.bunnings.com.au/all-set-27l-storage-container-with-lid_p2583379 : W:335 H:250 L:465
and a nano-hood and 26W UVB150 fixed under the lid to ensure it got enough UV as the 10L tub is not tall enough for this (is perfect size for a juvenile water skink or gang of baby skinks ( remember I think Gutzy is pregnant ).
A 27L tub is twice the height of my 10L hospital tub ( a converted https://www.decor.com.au/product/tellfresh-oblong-10-0-l/ 373L x 270W x 135H ) , so harder to leap out of.

Will do the conversion to the 27L tub tomorrow anyway : as the 10L tub is too shallow for "lively" able bodied skinks and geckos , this is the 3rd escape in 12 months , and it wont hurt to have a smaller rearing tub set up for future "visitors".



Not heard the gecko tonight , so I guess the gecko saw the skink and is hiding .

 

[kingofnobbys]

Little skink up was sitting in the water dish and greeted us at brekky .

Found a nice warm spot under/behind my 39L Engal Car Fridge/Freezer ( err mini-bar fridge ).

Got it's little converted tub/house and it's cardboard paper roll tube nearby the water, hoping it'll crawl into either of these sometime today when it comes out for another drink or to forage , this will make recapturing it less stressful (I'll simply pick up the "hide" and deposit it with the skink in the 27L tub).
Shortly after I put it's little round house on the floor , it was sitting on top it and then decided to explore the lino floor.
Cheakie little skink.

Update :
Spent the morning exploring the floor of the kitchen and dining area, then discovered the little gap in the corner door of the corner underbench cupboard (amongst the plates, bowels, mugs, glasses and cooking pyrex-ware and climbed in , after exploring ( it went to sleep in the dark warmth there and has not come back out yet - been there 3 hours ).
My wife is not impressed with this development and has set up a wee skink drop trap ( tub under the corner door gap ) , eventually it'll simply come out of it's own accord and will drop into the tub where we can easy trap it with a lid and I can deposit in the 27L converted skink rearing tub and fairly stressless manner.

 

[kingofnobbys]

1am : waited for him to be sound asleep or very sleepy and literally emptied all the crockery from the bottom shelf , he just sat there and watched me , dropped a 600ml tub over him (one of my spare silkworm moth tubs) and slid it and him along to the edge to get the lid on the tub.

So he's back in the 10L tub for tonight , will transfer him to the 27L mini-rearing tub tomorrow.

This is my little boy :

mug shot from left

mug shot from the right

the 10L hospital tub in the background.

back in , safe and secure , watching TV.

None the worse for his adventure and I think he's feeling a little safer too as he quickly settled once back in the tub.

And I can hear the gecko moving about now and it's been churping again already.