New Expo Pick Ups!

[MissLissa]

So, this weekend was the local reptile breeders expo. When I've gone in the past, I have been incredibly disappointed as it's almost impossible to find anything other than leopard and crested geckos, ball pythons and corn snakes there. BUT NOT TODAY!

I got a tip from one of my herp friends that someone was going to have some cool stuff- and did they ever! They had a few Brooksei for sale, but I passed on them because as much as I like chameleons, by first love is skinks and things that look like skinks. So here are my two new additions. Better pics to come!

Also, if anyone has some name suggestions, I'm all ears.

Fire Skink
Ok, so it's just an eye, but she was super stressed by the expo, poor thing, and I didn't want to dig her up just for some pictures. This skink is still subadult, bred in captivity. She is assumed female by the breeder, but no guarantees.

Scheltopusik (European Legless Lizard)
No, this is not her cage- this was her travel box. I gave her some water before she went into her new home. This girl (assumed female since she is smallish for her species; not quite 3 feet) is WC but has been kept by the same family for 3 years. She came with her original receipt of purchase, a vet-signed health certificate, and a free fecal check! I usually do my own fecals, but it was a super nice gesture. She is a real sweetheart- no thrashing, and is very curious and active. She is SO nice, I might donate her to my work as an education ambassador. We'll have to see- I already love her!

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

Very cool! Especially the legless lizard! I've never seen one. Do they slither like snakes?

 

[MissLissa]

She is super cool.

They do serpentine, kind of like a corn snake, but they are much stiffer than any snake. They can't curl up as tight, or move as smoothly, or as gracefully. She does like to climb but she can't climb as far up a vertical surface as a snake, and she can't really wrap around anything very well. They also don't handle much like a snake; more like a big (kind of spastic) lizard. Kind of like if you chopped off a monitor's legs.

What's really weird is that most of her body is tail; her vent is about 1/3-1/2 way along her total length. When she is moving fast, she carries most of her body off the ground and just uses her tail for propulsion.

She is a bit of a picky eater, so far; she is really not interested in crickets or superworms, but did enthusiastically eat a mixture of 60% chopped snails and 40% ground turkey/chopped chicken livers and hearts/low fat no carb canned cat food. I might invest in freeze-dried or canned insects, and mix that into her snails, if she is going to refuse live prey.

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

That is really awesome! Thanks for sharing!

 

[MissLissa]

I took a video of her eating her snails; you can kind of see her movement at the end. I am not the best person to work a video camera, though!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RPzyr91_r0

(Hopefully posting links is okay? I can't find any rules saying it isn't, but I'm happy to take if down if it's not allowed.)

 

[Lathis]

Wow, she is seriously cool. Great video.

 

[zlew]

What is the evolutionary advantage of having no legs, but not being flexible like a snake? The appearance of being a snake, to ward off would be predators?

 

[MissLissa]

These guys are from grassland steppes; it's thought that leglessness allows them to "swim" through the very thick matted grasses. They are also excellent burrowers; mine can disappear into her aspen shockingly quickly.

Leglessness or near-leglessness has evolved several times in reptiles, mostly in burrowing species. For example, the families Ophidia, Scincidae, Anguidae, Gymnophthalmidae, Anniella, Dibamidae, Cordylidae, Gerrhosauridae, Pygopodidae all have legless or near-legless members- and this isn't even a complete list. Most of these evolved separately from each other, and some still seem to be evolving smaller and smaller legs (if they still have them at all). Convergent evolution is awesome!

Side note: Anguids, like Scheltopusiks, have a fairly good fossil record. The earliest fossils of their ancestors were found in Canada, and date back about 75 million years! They, like horses, apparently evolved in north America then dispersed to Europe during the Paleocene.

 

[Scout]

While hiking in the foothills near my home I found a legless lizard. I'm not sure of what decent it was from. But it was definitely unique and very intriguing.

 

[Carlton]

So, this weekend was the local reptile breeders expo. When I've gone in the past, I have been incredibly disappointed as it's almost impossible to find anything other than leopard and crested geckos, ball pythons and corn snakes there. BUT NOT TODAY!

I got a tip from one of my herp friends that someone was going to have some cool stuff- and did they ever! They had a few Brooksei for sale, but I passed on them because as much as I like chameleons, by first love is skinks and things that look like skinks. So here are my two new additions. Better pics to come!

Also, if anyone has some name suggestions, I'm all ears.

Fire Skink
Ok, so it's just an eye, but she was super stressed by the expo, poor thing, and I didn't want to dig her up just for some pictures. This skink is still subadult, bred in captivity. She is assumed female by the breeder, but no guarantees.

Scheltopusik (European Legless Lizard)
No, this is not her cage- this was her travel box. I gave her some water before she went into her new home. This girl (assumed female since she is smallish for her species; not quite 3 feet) is WC but has been kept by the same family for 3 years. She came with her original receipt of purchase, a vet-signed health certificate, and a free fecal check! I usually do my own fecals, but it was a super nice gesture. She is a real sweetheart- no thrashing, and is very curious and active. She is SO nice, I might donate her to my work as an education ambassador. We'll have to see- I already love her!

Fire skinks are so beautiful! I'm just wary of damaging their tails.

 

[MissLissa]

Well, she's not a handling reptile that is for sure- she is quite shy and LIGHTNING fast. However, she will take crickets and mealworms from my fingers and from tongs, and does seem curious about what I'm up to. She will often come out if I'm messing about with the other reptiles and beg for food. She is awfully cute.