Not a chameleon but meet Neptune!

[phantomchameleon]

Neptune the blue tongue skink! He's 8-10 months old and im not sure of the gender yet but we'll call him a he for now.

Here's a video of him eating! Ignore my baby talk and my grandmother in the background.

He's a "rescue" as in he's from a pet store. I've been wanting a blue tongue skink for awhile so we went on a hunt. We found this guy at a pet store and he looked horrible. He still has some missing scales and a kinked tail but we love him none the less!
He's so friendly. He already trusts me enough to feed him by hand, pick him up, give him a warm bath, ect. The warm bath is for his stuck sheds on his tail.

I don't think im going to be getting another chameleon for awhile. Maybe a few years down the line i'll get another one, when i have more experience. For now I have Neptune.

 

[Angelwolf]

Congrats on your new guy. His cage looks a little bare. If you have any branches around, I am sure he would enjoy them. Good luck with him.

 

[Remkon]

First of all congratulations on your new purchase...
Given the episode with your late chameleon I think it's a wise decision you've went for a species of reptile that is more tolerable to handling and requires less 'specialized' care.

Now the part where you call it a 'rescue', and this more of a general statement to people that refer to their store bought animals as 'rescues'...
Because really... If you've purchased it from the store, rather than robbing the store or convincing the personnel to give it to you for free, it's more like a prisoner exchange. You have given the store what they wanted (money) and now they will just fill up the enclosure with a new 'prisoner'.

If you really want rescue an animal, look on a place like craigslist and rescue an animal from the incapable hands of some moron that bought and never bothered to do their homework like @Nursemaia has done or take a wild caught animal that many others would have given up on and nurture it back to health like @jajeanpierre has done.

Ideally we need to convince the stores that there is no money in selling reptiles, they should see profit in the accessories and food for these animals, not in the animals themselves. They can use the space they have now used for reptiles to expand the diversity of feeders and their, often limited, assortment.
To accomplish this we need to first stop purchasing animals from the petstores and make it well known to the crowd that purchasing an animal from a breeder gives you more bang for your buck and that can also provide you valuable information rather than some sales talk that will make you put an animal in a small enclosure with improper care.

Tempting how it may be to purchase an ill looking animal from the store in the end it keeps the stores buying new animals and puts you at risk of having to make a potentially expensive trip to a vet.

 

[Nursemaia]

Very well put @Remkon this isn't a rescue. It's a purchase that's adding to the pet trade and OP found reasons to call it a rescue to make himself feel better and justify the purchase.

 

[Andee]

Honestly at the age your blue tongue is at you won't likely ever be able to the gender correctly. What type of blue tongue is it do you know? I have a Merauke. There are also notherns, and two other types of smaller locales. If you have a Merauke it is recommended to get a minimum cage size of a 40 gallon long in the beginning. Then eventually switch to around a 75 or so. It's strongly recommended to find a high quality wet dog food (I use raw pellets for this or ground patty) or use ground meat that has all organs and bones ground into it very small. They have the need for a whole prey diet. Chicken and turkey are usually avoided proteins. I use insects of varying types. My largest "whole prey" meat source is actually rabbit, I use egg occasionally, and fruit and greens with every meal.

 

[jajeanpierre]

Very well put @Remkon this isn't a rescue. It's a purchase that's adding to the pet trade and OP found reasons to call it a rescue to make himself feel better and justify the purchase.

@Nursemaia I think that is a tiny bit harsh but I think there is a ring of truth to your assertion. There seems to be a lot of people who feel the need to "save" animals.

I agree with both you and Remkon--this is not a rescue. This is a purchase. I think we need to be very careful not to vilify the suppliers of our hobby--if we keep reptiles, they have to come from somewhere and usually go through at least one middleman. Some are in terrific condition, others not so. Whomever has those poorer quality animals still has to do something with them.

@phantomchameleon, pet stores are not usually places where animals are rescued from. They are places one buys the animal from. "Buys them" not "rescues them;" there is a huge difference. Certainly many pet stores do not keep them in very good condition but the business model is to move them through as fast as you can and there is nothing wrong with that business model. That goes for most importers, too. If a pet store or importer has to set up perfect caging, it costs a lot more money in caging and floor space. For America, price seems to be the issue, not quality. If quality really mattered to the consumer of most reptiles, I wouldn't be helping so many novices try to save their doomed tiny baby they bought because it was so much cheaper than buying an established juvenile from a reputable breeder.

Right now, I'm looking at ordering some Madagascar wild caughts from a importer/exporter in Europe through my local importer. This dealer goes to Madagascar himself, hand picks the animals, ships them to Europe where he acclimates them and treats them for parasites. Then he sells/exports them. They cost substantially more money than my local importer charges but the quality is much better. Few people appreciate the difference in quality and would rather pay the cheaper price. Even my importer prefers to import the more expensive WC animals from Europe, but few people want to pay for them so he's stuck buying the more battered/fragile animals.

I may be mistaken, but I believe blue-tongued skinks are all wild caughts. That means they will likely have nicks and bangs and flaws from the whole trauma of capture and import. Those marks don't mean the pet shop was necessarily negligent, which is the message the OP is sending when he talks about "rescuing" this animal.

By the way, the blue-tailed skink enclosure at the importer's I deal with was at least 8 feet long. They are a big lizard.

 

[Andee]

It depends generally on the locale of the blue tongue. Generally yes they are large lizards and need lots of horizontal space, but a couple locales only get around18-20 inches at most. I have a merauke who when full grown can easily hit 32 inches or more. He will need to be transferred from his 40 gallon long. I use a rather strong basking bulb with him, coupled with stones that act as a heat absorber. I also use a 5.0 uvb. A lot of people do fine without using uvb at all with blueys though it's not recommended against, so I decide to use it just in case. There are some skinks that you can actually get CBB. But these usually cost at least 200 dollars but usually more. And they are far and few between, you usually have to go on a wait list. I have only found one American breeder that regularly breeds their skinks and is likely to only have two litters a year, because they have two females. Some European and other over see keepers have more success with breeding.

 

[Andee]

My blue tongue I believe was wild caught, because I did have to deal with reptile mites when I first had him in my care.

 

[Angelwolf]

I think the mention of"rescuing" the animal was supposed to be a bit of a joke. Many others on this forum also say the same thing, and no body questions it. I genuinely don't think the OP thought they were really"rescuing" this animal. On the other hand, I really hope that a lot of research has been done prior to buying it, so history doesn't repeat itself as was the case for Slurpy. And again, I wish the OP the best of luck.

 

[Decadancin]

I think the mention of"rescuing" the animal was supposed to be a bit of a joke.

I agree, thus the quotes used by the OP, but could be "wrong" (but that has never happened before).

 

[phantomchameleon]

Very well put @Remkon this isn't a rescue. It's a purchase that's adding to the pet trade and OP found reasons to call it a rescue to make himself feel better and justify the purchase.

Not really. It was mostly a joke.

 

[phantomchameleon]

My blue tongue I believe was wild caught, because I did have to deal with reptile mites when I first had him in my care.

Mine was raised in captivity from birth. He was more expensive because of that.

 

[phantomchameleon]

I think the mention of"rescuing" the animal was supposed to be a bit of a joke. Many others on this forum also say the same thing, and no body questions it. I genuinely don't think the OP thought they were really"rescuing" this animal. On the other hand, I really hope that a lot of research has been done prior to buying it, so history doesn't repeat itself as was the case for Slurpy. And again, I wish the OP the best of luck.

Thank you. And you're right. I didn't think i was actually rescuing the animal. Just moving it to a better home.

 

[phantomchameleon]

Honestly at the age your blue tongue is at you won't likely ever be able to the gender correctly. What type of blue tongue is it do you know? I have a Merauke. There are also notherns, and two other types of smaller locales. If you have a Merauke it is recommended to get a minimum cage size of a 40 gallon long in the beginning. Then eventually switch to around a 75 or so. It's strongly recommended to find a high quality wet dog food (I use raw pellets for this or ground patty) or use ground meat that has all organs and bones ground into it very small. They have the need for a whole prey diet. Chicken and turkey are usually avoided proteins. I use insects of varying types. My largest "whole prey" meat source is actually rabbit, I use egg occasionally, and fruit and greens with every meal.

It was something that started with a B. I dont remember the full name though. I'll take your food advice into account for sure, but im trying to avoid dog food for him.

 

[phantomchameleon]

Congrats on your new guy. His cage looks a little bare. If you have any branches around, I am sure he would enjoy them. Good luck with him.

I'll be sure to give him some. I'll say they're from you as well

 

[Andee]

If you plan to avoid dog food, look into getting some... Raw dog food that's premade, they are called patties usually, and come in tons of different kinds of meat. I usually buy mine from reel raw because it's inexpensive and they have relatively fine grinds. I have gotten rabbit for both my bluey and my dog. Also I think they have leaner beef available which would work great for a bluey. And any sort of game bird like duck or quail would work too. Always try to get the bones and organs ground with the meat. I like the ratios with for raw dog food for blueys. The great thing about the website I mentioned and the grinds is that they have no added vitamins or minerals that are specific for dogs, just meat, bones, and organs. They come frozen and keep in the freezer well. You don't have to cook them at all, I don't cook any meats given to my bluey. I do cook eggs though. Uncooked meats have higher nutrients. Insects are also highly recommended. I feed Chromos, my bluey silkworms and dubia roaches regularly. He also gets a multivitamin dusting twice a week.

 

[phantomchameleon]

 

[Andee]

Are you trying to potty train him? It takes a few kind of... tries and a very regular schedule to potty train blueys. Since he still looks relatively young not over a year, I wouldn't generally work on potty training while expecting much success. Though I definitely understand the frustration of other family members. XD In my opinion he looks more similar to a Merauke than an Indosian and definitely not a Northern. So it is very likely he will get quite large with the right care.

 

[phantomchameleon]

Are you trying to potty train him? It takes a few kind of... tries and a very regular schedule to potty train blueys. Since he still looks relatively young not over a year, I wouldn't generally work on potty training while expecting much success. Though I definitely understand the frustration of other family members. XD In my opinion he looks more similar to a Merauke than an Indosian and definitely not a Northern. So it is very likely he will get quite large with the right care.

He's a fat boy. He clocked in at 383 grams! Should he lose weight?

 

[Andee]

No, honestly blueys weigh a lot and always look chunky compared to other reptiles. As long as you aren't feeding him tons every day then he should be fine.