My newest additions : Red Eyed Crocodile Skinks (Tribolonotus Gracilis)

[ragnew]

So I received these guys this tuesday, and I've gotta say that they are becoming one of my favorite pets that I currently have. Very secretive little lizards, but when you get to see them it's quite the treat!

First up is my female, Treeba :

And this little guys is Teak. He wasn't wanting to cooperate when I was taking pics, so all I've got are these two. I'll get more of him later on :

And here's a pic of both of them. Teak is on the left, Treeba the right.

Hope you enjoy the pics.

 

[Crysta]

oh wow lovely little guys!! I cant wait to get a pair of these hehe they remind me of little dragons, adorable!
What do you keep these guys in 10 g? overall how hard are they to keep ? hehe I see they require a bunch of moisture from the moss. very pretty guys!

 

[BQC123]

Awesome animals that you do not see too often.
Congrats, lookin' good.

 

[ragnew]

oh wow lovely little guys!! I cant wait to get a pair of these hehe they remind me of little dragons, adorable!
What do you keep these guys in 10 g? overall how hard are they to keep ? hehe I see they require a bunch of moisture from the moss. very pretty guys!

Thanks for the kind words ! I agree they do look like little dragons. I admit, I'm still learning about these guys as I go, but I can tell you how I have mine set up, after talking to the seller.

I use a 20 Gallon Long for the pair. These little dudes like it pretty cool compared to other herps I've kept, so at this point I'm not using any sort of heating elements. The temp stays in between 72 and 78 degrees. I've heard that they can actually die if they're exposed to higher temperatures. My humidity level is constantly sitting at 80%. I opted to go with Cypress bed as the main substrate, I have about 2 1/2 - 3" and I keep it relatively moist. I also decided to go with a nice layer of Zoomeds New Zealand Spagnum moss on top of that to help with the humidity. I have a large water dish for them to swim in, as I've heard they're remarkable swimmers. I might actually go with one that's even bigger, but I'm not too sure on that as of yet.

I have a ton of hides on each side of the cage, and so far, they've used them all. Thus far I've given them medium sized crickets sprinkled with rep-cal (with D3) and herptivite. I'll probably do this twice per week. I also plan on giving them earthworms, mealworms and waxworms for variety.

So far, I'm not using any type of UV lighting, and I don't think I will. I see these guys hiding even more if UV is used. They're quite nocturnal as well.

I might add a low wattage infrared bulb (a 40 watter) but at this point I don't know if that's necessary.

So far that's the route I'm going, and haven't had any issues yet. However, if anyone on the boards is keeping them I'd LOVE any information they can give me on top of what I've read / learned.

Hope that helped a bit

 

[ragnew]

Awesome animals that you do not see too often.
Congrats, lookin' good.

Thanks very much!

 

[Crysta]

very nice info! Ill be sure to try and get ahold of these sometime!
beauties. hehe

 

[MichiganReptiles]

Very nice! I have them on my list. I do agree that they look like dragons. I hadn't thought of that before though. I always thought they reminded me of a chiuaua. Every time I would see a pic of one I would say, "yo quiero taco bell."

 

[ragnew]

Very nice! I have them on my list. I do agree that they look like dragons. I hadn't thought of that before though. I always thought they reminded me of a chiuaua. Every time I would see a pic of one I would say, "yo quiero taco bell."

Haha! That's awesome! I can see where the Taco Bell bit could come into play!

Thanks for the kind words!

 

[pouchedrat]

Wow, now that someone said they look like dragons, all i can picture is Toothless from How to train a dragon.

I see these guys a lot lately, but knew nothing of them. They're pretty cool looking though!

 

[Crysta]

omg toothless!!!!!!!!! i must get these now. D:

 

[the toe cutter]

I have owned these little fellas before and actually got them to produce a few eggs. There are 8 recognised species, T gracilis, novaeguineae(New Guinea), T. brongersmai (Admiral Is.) T. blanchardi, ponceleti, pseudoponceleti, schmidti, and annectens(Solomon Is.). The color around the eyes ranges from red, orange, white, lime green and yellow. They are an extremely shy little creature, so handling is best kept to a minimum as they will get stressed and expire. They are best kept in pairs because males and females will fight to the death when kept with the same se.x for long periods.
Their natural habitat has fairly stable temps all year, being equitorial, so they can breed all year round pretty much. They become able to breed in about 3-4 years after hatching, they only lay 1 egg at a time, laying another not long after the first has hatched and they can produce 6 eggs a year. Only T. schmidti give live birth. Eggs incubate at 80F for about 70 days. And the hatchlings will play dead for a few weeks after hatching, so dont toss them!
They like a cool side of about 75F and a hot spot of about 86F. Ceramic heaters seem to work the best for the hot spot, but UVA is fine and supposedly has psychological effects which increase long term survival and stimulate breeding. Humidity around 80% is perfect and the substrate should help in facilitating that. But dont allow the beeding to get too wet for long periods because they will develop littlre warts on their belly. They live near streams in the wild and are extremely adept swimmers(they look like little crocs) and enjoy spending most of the day hidden away in rock crevices and rotting/fallen logs.
They are crepsecular in nature so it is best to feed them late in the day or early in the morning.
There are 3 way to sex them, the 1st being from their size. The males tend to have larger heads with longer and thinner bodies, while females tend to a more rounded body. the second way is to look at their feet. Males possess plantar pores on their 3rd and 4th sometimes 5th toes on their hind legs. Female dont have the pores and so their toes look alot thinner. The last way is the old school herpetology way! Thats right, counting scales! Abdominal scales that is, the males have between 4 and 6 abdominal scales around the belly button regionwhich are enlarged and faded in color.
And thats about it I believe. They are awesome little skinks and in my opinion the best pet lizards out there! The first time you see one retreat slowly while opening its mouth and belt out a high pitched squeak, you will want more! I absolutely love them

 

[the toe cutter]

BTW Treeba looks like a male to me! Larger head and narrow body, check for the pores!

 

[ragnew]

Toe Cutter! Thanks for ALL that information! I REALLY REALLY appreciate it as well! I was wondering the same thing about Treeba, "she" looks quite large all the way around. The dealer I purchased them from had the lids on the deli cups marked with the sex, but I'm going to be looking at them now.

Will the females have any of the abdominal pores? I've read some say they do and others say that they don't.

Thanks again!

EDIT : Just looked and this is the verdict.

Treeba - 4 Abdominal pores and whitish plantar pores on the toes on the hind feet.
Teak - 6 Abdominal pores and whitish plantar pores (though not too visible) on the toes on the hind feet.

Sounds like the pair I was wanting was actually a male x male "pair". Time to order a few females from another dealer and have a review to "edit".

Again Toe Cutter, thanks for the information! This helped a lot.

 

[the toe cutter]

No problem. Females don't have the plantar pores making their toes on their hind legs a bit smaller/thinner. Make sure you check the pores on the toes. I would try LLLreptile.com, they are very knowledgeable and should be able to facilitate you with a female or 2. Thats where I got mine from. Another side note, wild caught red eyes have been reported to live as long as 10-12 years in captivity! And watch out for them "playing dead". Adults will do this too, but more so as a last resort defense mechanism. And for something different try offering a regular garden snail as food and watch them remove it from the shell and eat it, its quite interesting. I plan on setting up a 120gal living tropical vivarium when I get out of the Army and move back down south, and I plan on having a trio of these guys as the main animal feature.