A Cat in Scales: About the Life of a Blue-Tongued Skink in a House (6 photos)

So, here we go: a small family of two adult amateur naturalists and one six-year-old child with an allergy to all living things and a passion for biology. There is no way we can live without animals in the house, and cats, dogs, and birds are prohibited.





He is passionately tolerant of a two-legged animal.

Nobody asked about a toy animal, we love animals seriously and respect the personal boundaries of any animal. Now, if the fauna itself happily breaks into our arms, that's a different matter. But usually reptiles don't get a thrill from communicating with humans, rather, they tolerate bipeds.

The answer to this dilemma came to us in a mayonnaise box. Tiliqua scincoides Intermedia, the northern blue-tongued skink. And the skink is also called the "Common Giant Lizard". Well, really, what's so unusual about that, big deal!



It is believed that the tongue of skinks is blue to intimidate predators. After all, they show it at every opportunity. In addition, it serves as a marker of the partner's health during mating games.

In fact, these plump lizards are unusual at least because they come from Australia, but they do not try to kill you. And honestly, they can’t: their arms are too short. Actually, all these guys are capable of is to puff up menacingly and stick out their tongue at the enemy, blue-blue, as the name suggests. At the same time, they flatten into a menacing wide pancake and hiss furiously. Not at all scary, although impressive. By the way, in their native land, everyone who is not too lazy eats these poor guys: sausages on tiny paws are clumsy and slow. Oh, yes, on the Internet they sometimes write that blue-tongued skinks can, if necessary, develop stunning speed and are excellent at climbing trees, but they are lying: this lizard is simply the standard of clumsiness. It can really develop speed, but in a short dash and certainly not stunning.





Still, this puzzle is too simple even for a reptile...

What did we know about skinks when we decided to take one into the house? A lot, but only from books. The real skink turned out to be a truly unusual lizard. Let's start with the proportions. Unlike the harmoniously built nimble or viviparous lizards that live in our area, this reptilian looks ridiculous: short thin legs, a very large, angular head, protruding rounded sides and a fairly short thick tail. Our pet also turned out to be not one of the smart ones, because in early childhood he bit off a third of his own tail. That's how not smart he is. Their tails don't really grow back, I've checked. The first six months, the young lizard tried to bite his own paw or tail when turning in a narrow space, but over time he still got a little smarter.



No, he's not a snake: he has arms, legs, and eyelids.

Another difference from the usual lizards is the scales. This is a soft lizard, smooth and glossy. In your hands, it feels like a python, but very short and with legs. The first molt really stunned us. It looked like someone had gotten into the terrarium at night and cleaned the fish, sloppily but diligently: small individual scales everywhere. That's how they molt, now we know.



When you fall asleep during the day, you wake up and don't understand where you are or what year it is.

We've heard that skinks are unpredictable and can give you a painful "bite". We checked, they can. For this, your hands need to smell like food. For example, peeling a boiled egg and then picking up a skink is a guaranteed bite. At the same time, the skink is noble and notifies of its intentions in advance. First, it slowly opens its wide mouth, full of small round teeth, and then just as slowly closes it on your fingers. Not a single sharp movement, slowly and smoothly, like an automatic gate. Who do you have to be in order not to have time to dodge? In fact, tiliquas love people very much and are tamed easily, no questions asked. They say that initially no one domesticated skinks, they themselves came to people and stayed. It is quite possible that this is true. The lizards are sociable and friendly, they happily sit on hands and love to be stroked. But they really do not like their fellow tribesmen, so they are traditionally kept either alone or in different terrariums.



The realization that you are on the other side of the world from your native Australia...

Overall, the pet is cool! Almost no trouble. Easy to care for, you can cuddle. One of the best options for those who want to try keeping a reptile for the first time.