when is too young to separate siblings M & F ?

[CooperDragon]

Merry Christmas to you and your crew! Did you have a nice cookout and a swim?

 

[kingofnobbys]

Merry Christmas to you and your crew! Did you have a nice cookout and a swim?

Nope .... was too hot and I'm not yet up to going down my front steps or climbing into the 4x4 , knee still too stiff and sore , so just vegged out at home with the lizards (the son and grandson went home Xmas eve after a 3 day stay).

Is nice and comfy cool with the aircon. And we've still got turkey, ham and pudding left overs so no BBQing for us.

No BBQing for us until I shift more kg and the dietition takes me off the Optifast meal replacements (already at phase 2 = 2 replacement meals per day , cut that back ourselves over Xmas NewYr to one replacement meal so I can enjoy Xmas and NewYr, but will be back to 2 replacement meals per day in the new year.

 

[CooperDragon]

Nothing wrong with a quiet Christmas with the lizards. Mid 80s there! Nuts! We just drove back from Minnesota through an ice storm that was tossing the car all over the place. I hope you feel better soon. Which kind of pudding did you have? We think of Bill Cosby and his chocolate Jello Pudding over here rather than the traditional Christmas Pudding. My wife wanted to bring back some Christmas Pudding from London a few weeks ago but we couldn't due to customs restriction on fruits & veg. My Christmas tradition is to cook up a top notch Chicago deep dish pizza. New video out this year for earthquake support describing Christmas in the Southern Hemisphere. I know it's Kiwi so not exactly NSW but similar idea? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXbjiaKJQjY

 

[kingofnobbys]

Nothing wrong with a quiet Christmas with the lizards. Mid 80s there! Nuts! We just drove back from Minnesota through an ice storm that was tossing the car all over the place. I hope you feel better soon. Which kind of pudding did you have? We think of Bill Cosby and his chocolate Jello Pudding over here rather than the traditional Christmas Pudding. My wife wanted to bring back some Christmas Pudding from London a few weeks ago but we couldn't due to customs restriction on fruits & veg. My Christmas tradition is to cook up a top notch Chicago deep dish pizza. New video out this year for earthquake support describing Christmas in the Southern Hemisphere. I know it's Kiwi so not exactly NSW but similar idea? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXbjiaKJQjY

My wife does a fruit pudding with brandy in it that is her greatgrandmpther's recipy.

Makes it a few weeks before Xmas and the longer it sits the better it gets.

I usually do a stack of berry pies for gifts and to eat cold or reheated in December , but didn't do any this year. I also usually make a stack of fruit mince pies too, not this year, my wife bought some instead just for the Xmas baked lunch (that we have been having on Xmas Eve since our grandson was born rather than on Xmas day) , so our Xmas Day is more like Boxing Day .

 

[kingofnobbys]

Bit late weighing Toothless and Peppa this week, we've had our very boisterous 5.5yr old grandson staying with us since Boxing Day and it was too noisy and too much going on to safely weigh them.

Peppa has gained 17g this "week" and she's now 528g.

Toothless has gained 23g this "week" and he's now also 406g.

 

[CooperDragon]

17g is a nice burst! Peppa is as big as Darwin now!

 

[kingofnobbys]

Peppa has been very active this afternoon, lots of slowmotion headnods and armwaves at Rex and Toothless. Even while she was sitting on my shoulder and then when she was on lounge next to me.

Meanwhile Toothless who is shedding on his head atm has been very horny , and he's been running about very excitedly and vigorously headbanging at Peppa and Rex , he even went very BB , blackest beard I've ever seen him with.... I think his hormones have kicked in with a vengeance.

video http://sendvid.com/og4qemry

All my lizards have been very happy and excited today when out for their floor explore times, I think they are a pleased my son and my very noisy and boisterous grandson have gone and we are back our normal quite house again.

 

[SHBailey]

Sounds like the beardies are out to make up for the absence of the human grandchild by making you some little dragon "grandchildren" of their own. So much for peace and quiet...

 

[CooperDragon]

The video makes it look like he has perfect camouflage for that rug.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Sounds like the beardies are out to make up for the absence of the human grandchild by making you some little dragon "grandchildren" of their own. So much for peace and quiet...

Ha ha !!!
I just spotted the source of some the excitement for the beardies and bluetongues, we have a resident wild house lizard inside the house (AGAIN), another water skink (only a juvenile by the looks of him (about 10" long TTN length), maybe 12 months old), I spotted it just now on top of the far lounge seat sitting there bold as brass watching me. Here is quick photo I managed to get of the cheaky little skink , he may even be the same little skink who visited off and on last summer.

He came back after my wife retired to the study and when Rex was chilling on the kitchen floor .
He's (?) been in his water dish already too, loved it and was splashing about and being a nutty water skink (as they seem to do) in it. Water skinks LOVE swlmming and fully immersing themselves in water and have a real sense of fun.

Ordering in some mealworms to give to it to encourage it to stay inside with us , looked very healthy and even a chubby, I think it's been finding, catching and eating the excaped crickets.
Will put a water dish down in the corner near the front door for it drink from too.

He was back again about 5pm, likes the sunny corner of the head of the lounge .... really made quick work of the 2 large crickets I tossed to him while he was on the floor in Rex's fav spot (she wont be amused to smell water skink there again).
Hopefully he/she'll stick around and will become accustomed to us, perhaps tame enough to accept food offerings by hand ,and maybe even become a pet (I really miss Wriggles and haven't seen any captive bred baby or juvenile water skinks for sale - very rarely kept and even rarer for people to breed them , too much focus on larger skinks and smaller insectonivorous monitors which attract more money when sold).

 

[kingofnobbys]

Well that little wild skink who's started living in our lounge room sure has some pluck !!, Toothless was on the floor investigating the strange scent on the carpet when he suddenly came dashing straight to me and literally climbed up the front of the seat I was sitting (between leg and the chair) because the little came out to investigate him and he got a fright, wouldn't go back onto the floor and was very clingy for maybe 30mins.

Toothless is scared of the little skink I think. It's pretty clear the little skink thinks the floor in the lounge room is it's territory and it's not afraid of the dragons.

The dragons aren't scared of the big bluetongue skinks, but this very energetic little water skink seems very scary to Rex and Toothless , Peppa on the other hand is more curious than anything about it.

 

[CooperDragon]

It's all about attitude I suppose!

 

[kingofnobbys]

It's all about attitude I suppose!

I think it's a general personality trait in water skinks, they can be fearless , I've seen the local resident alpha male water skink send a small dog (next door's Chihuahua) packing with it's tail between it's legs when came a sniffing closer to the big nasty water skink than it liked... LOL was hilarious to see.
And Wriggles had Puff and Rex sussed , they both knew she was boss lizard ! all it took was quick head nod from her.

The little skink has me trained already and it's very good on the tooth, made quick work of 4 small dusted and 2 medium dusted crickets this afternoon, and was watching me with expectation as I got each bug out of the dusting tub and tossed it in it's general direction.
If this little skink is going to become a permanent guest in our house I'm gonna need to provide it with some UVA and UVB (unless it goes outside sometime each day and basks in the natural sunlight). Good thing I've still got Rex and Puff's old dome reflector lamps and Wriggle's 13W UVB150 and a Komoda lamp stand , so I wont need to buy these.
I hope it becomes tame enough to accept handfeeding and petting (like Lizzy another water skink who became a house lizard and a virtual pet for several years did).

 

[CooperDragon]

I'm envious of the lizard critters that stop by your neighborhood. If he can come and go easily he probably just goes out for some natural sun but i'm sure he wouldn't mind having a portable basking spot set up for his convenience. Spoiled little guy found the right house =)

 

[kingofnobbys]

I'm envious of the lizard critters that stop by your neighborhood. If he can come and go easily he probably just goes out for some natural sun but i'm sure he wouldn't mind having a portable basking spot set up for his convenience. Spoiled little guy found the right house =)

I'm pretty sure they know my yard and garden , shed and house are good places . No lizard starves or gets harmed (if I can help it) while it's on my property.

Talking of visiting lizard critters that stop by our place, my wife just called me to come and have look (out the window) , she saw a huge lizard in our backyard who was eating the dandelion flowers . Seems our regular visiting adult male eastern water dragon is back again this summer.
He's a very impressive specimen, all of nearly 4ft long (TtS) (3ft of that is tail !!) and was showing his colours very brightly.
We have a creek not very far away and an avenue of remnant eucalypt woodland behind the houses across the street, he comes from there and is regularly seen raiding dog food bowls, in peoples' pools , in gardens eating worms, snails, and bugs and munching on herbs and stuff like tomatoes and berries.

By the time I got the camera he was gone , but this is what he looked like http://www.ozanimals.com/Reptile/Eastern-Water-Dragon/Physignathus/lesueurii%20lesueurii.html

I would keep a pair of EWD if I had the room , they tame up very nicely like bts and cbd and rankins do , but require very large tanks when kept indoors.
I might get a captive bred pair some time in the future and keep them in converted combined raised garden bed + aviary type arrangement in my backyard as the species is indigenous native lizard species (like the water skinks and eastern bluetongue skinks are) in my area.