Blue Tongue Skink: Trust Exercise #1 Hand Feeding

[DoNkEyDuK]

i've had to resque one from my dog :S... hes waiting the night in my tank

[FrankyTripTitz]

Hey man i was looking at getting a blue tongue skink, and I must say that yours is amazing. What other trust exercises can you do with them? I want him to be really comfortable when i handle him etc cause id love to hand feed and just when i clean his terranium out and stuff. Any tips would be great.

[NathanCoalbine]

Don't bite the hand that feeds you

[AzlieAndHasyrulHQ]

Hello! :D

i have one BTS..

but not sure what morph is it..

btw, i jst wnt to ask.. how many times should i feed him?

my BTS not intrest in eating veges..

but they like crickets and mealworms.. =,= any tips? :O plss.

[OneCloudDay]

@AzlieAndHasyrulHQ

If he woun't eat veggies blend or mix them together or chop the veggies so small and mix them together so he can't pick them out. It works wounders!

[LarissaLurid]

@AzlieAndHasyrulHQ feel free to message me, I have a Merauke Blue Tongue Skink and am planning on getting another. I can help you with anything you need to know!

[ReptilesAndSuch]

@AzlieAndHasyrulHQ Oh man sorry I was so slow to reply. Theut lags on my compumore than frustrating getting on here.

Usually about 3 times a week for an adult, 5 for a baby. For veggies try blendin them with cooked ground turkey, it worked for ozzy.

[xxmonitorlizardxx]

Would you be willing to sell him? I am looking for a meruake like that to breed.

[ReptilesAndSuch]

@xxmonitorlizardxx Hey, late reply I know sorry. No I don't want to sell him, he's too special for me. I'd never sell a rescue'd animal to a breeding project (though I do respect you wanting to breed a underbred species like this) just because of the potential health risks for an animal with an already possibly weakend immune system. PLUS you're in the USA and I'm in Canada, the CITES import papers are a hassel.

[WeedieWeedenhofer]

I just got a baby blue tounge 2 days ago :)

[thetikilover22]

@WeedieWeedenhofer cute!!! hold him, give him baths and hand feed him and he'll love you for life!

[HSVforme2010]

Australian blue tongue lizards are boss.

[ReptilesAndSuch]

@HSVforme2010 Yeah! So are their Meruake [As well as Indonesian, and Irian Jaya] counterparts such as picture in this video! Very smart complex of Reptiles for sure!

[tylernx]

Thank you!

[ReptilesAndSuch]

@tylernx No Problem, Have a great night.

-Dustin

[lorrainewands]

sorry, not eastern...northern bts.

[lorrainewands]

Nice video, but I don't think your skink is an Indo BTS. He looks like either an Irian Jaya or an Eastern. Indonesians have black flanks, with all four legs completely black.

[ReptilesAndSuch]

@lorrainewands He actually turned out to be a Meruake, I never got around to changing this video. His leg and body patterns are identical to every meruake I've ever seen.

[tylernx]

I only have my phone.

[ReptilesAndSuch]

@tylernx Ah Okay! It was a blend of Lean Ground Chicken, Collard Greens, Squash, Mango, and maybe Nopale Pads (Prickly Pear Cactus Pads), with Calcium powder. I through it all in the food processor.

[tylernx]

And what was it that u were feeding him?

[ReptilesAndSuch]

@tylernx Hit "show more" under the description, I have it there.

[tylernx]

My skink is a little skittish and try to run away ever chance he gets idk how to fix it. He's very loved. But just wants to run.

[LittleBigPlanet1and2]

How do you cook the chicken? like in a pan? with oli?

[ReptilesAndSuch]

@LittleBigPlanet1and2 In a pan, no oil though. It's not good for them. Just dry, the little bit of fat from the turkey keeps it from sticking.

[CrestedGecko1000]

are blue tongues easy to take care of and are they expensive?

[TheMass33]

He is Beautiful. I just got my Indonesian. Good advice. I thumbs upped you.

[ReptilesAndSuch]

@TheMass33 Thanks a lot! Feel free to send a messege if you have any questions.

Have a Great Day

Dustin

[MXZCharlie]

Hey,

do you need to cook the chicken before blending it?

also, any advice on taming my 7" captive bread indonesian?

had him for 2 days, so far ive just been holding him and puting him back to understand im not a threat. he lets me pet him inside his enclosure now without hissing or turning towards me. anything else u recommend besides feeding by hand?

[ReptilesAndSuch]

@MXZCharlie Yes I always cook the chicken before hand to kill bacteria. Once in captivity they don't have the flora in their guts to handle in of the nasties in raw meats.

I can reccomend a few things for taming. 1) Don't give up if he starts to stuggle. This makes them think that they can get out of handling by stuggling. That being said DONT BE ROUGH. 2) Allow him to walk on you, and get to know your scent. 3) Sleep in a shirt for a week, and then put it in his cage so he associat(CONTINUED)

[ReptilesAndSuch]

@MXZCharlie Your smell with saftey. And hand feeding. If he's CBB, hell be fairly easy to tame most likely

[MXZCharlie]

@ReptilesAndSuch hey thanks alot. i found that puting abit of cat food on my finger turns him into a puppy lol.

[evildead0]

Cool. I have a WC Indo as well, who I adopted from a reptile rescue.

I've had her for about a year, and she absolutely hates me haha I doubt I could ever hand feed her.

[ReptilesAndSuch]

@evildead0 If you work with her enough she will trust you eventually, trust me. They are incredibly smart reptiles and they will get to know what you are going to do and how you are going to do it. On the second day I got ozzy I was treating a wound on his head (I think it's from broken glass at the place where I got him as he shattered his enlosures glass once there, he's a problem child LOL) he bit me three times. Im about 2.5 months on with him now and he still hisses but doesnt mind handling

[guitar446]

i just got a blue togune yesterday and he eats fine and poops but he wont eat his Collard Greens but he eat the squash and ground trukey ,great vid

[ReptilesAndSuch]

@guitar446 You could try blending all the food in a food processor, because my BTS wont eat them on their own either, it has to be blended with th meat. :)

Thanks

Dustin

[guitar446]

@ReptilesAndSuch thanks for the help sir

[guitar446]

@ReptilesAndSuch thanks for the help i try that and let you know what happens thanks again.

[ReptilesAndSuch]

@guitar446 No problem. Let me know how it goes, if not I know a few more possible tricks for masking the greens.

[TheeLifeOfBob]

Cool Dustin! When did you get a BT? What else you have now?

[ReptilesAndSuch]

@TheeLifeOfBob I got the Blue Tongue in the start of October from (Petsmart) mainly because they were keeping him wrong and abusing him (He's got a scar on the left of his head from being mishandled). Got him checked at the vet and hes 100% healthy (surprising). Nothing new really. My pacific tree frog passed away of old age a week ago. Her cage now hosues those two baby longtaileds that I kept. I already told you that I was thinking of buying another snake.

[jxz107]

Awesome skink! Blue tongues are so cool... I'm jealous!

I always wonder about WC animals, where they've been, what they'be been doing, really something to think about. : )

[ReptilesAndSuch]

@jxz107 It is odd to think about isn't it? The only thing I know about his past is that he was abused at a petstore. I wonder how old he is, what he did in the wild, what the scar on the side of his face was from, and all sorts of things!

-Dustin

[MrDJPenguin]

BTS are super cool! I wish I could afford one right now but so far I think the cheapest one I have found around here was $230

[ReptilesAndSuch]

@MrDJPenguin This guy was about $200, but he was being kept very poorly and the staff were regularly treating him like he was a toy. Put that ontop of him being WC no wonder he doesn't trust people. However, yeah they are super cool!

-Dustin

[albinoburm]

He seems pretty mellow. You sure aren't skimping on his food either hahahahh, I doubt he will ever go hungry in your care. Nice vid!!

[ReptilesAndSuch]

@albinoburm He's okay with hand feeding inside his cage now, He can be pretty defensive when it comes to actually moving him around in and out of his cage, but Ill build up that trust with him. Wild caughts *eyeroll*

-Dustin

[TheTurtlelover09]

Hes so cute :)

But i have wayyyy to many animals already!

[ReptilesAndSuch]

@TheTurtlelover09

I'm starting to think that I am getting too many too. Oh well "Just one more" come springtime hopefully!

-Dustin

[MrReptileSmile]

Sweet Dustin,Very Cool Skink!

[ReptilesAndSuch]

@MrReptileSmile Thanks a lot Gerry. He's been a lot of fun to work with lately.

-Dustin

[ChiefTokeABowl]

ii wnt one of those but they creep me mum out :(

[ReptilesAndSuch]

@ChiefTokeABowl Yeah, my mom thought they were cute, but the way they move creeps her out.

-Dustin