Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We have several broadheads that hang around our horse barn. They really enjoy the flies that our fly sticks kill. This makes me upset b/c the skinks get very lethargic and I have found a couple of dead juvies . There is not much that I can do, I have tried different fly catchers and different places, but flies always end up on the ground. We have two large males with territory around the barn and the babies love hiding in the wood shaving!

I love observing them, but they are so secretive I have trouble most of the time. So my question is, if a collected a few juvies to observe, what are the chances that they will thrive in captivity. (I have several other herps, all captive bred, that are thriving in their environments. I have experience and will do whatever the broadheads need thaqt is within my power.) If they typically do not thrive in captivity then I will settle for observing them around the barn, but I would like to try.

Thanks in advance for any input on the topic

Laura

It is a can of worms discussion (taking wild animals and making them captive)- with differing viewpoints on if this is appropriate or not.
My personal opinion- if you want to catch up one juvie and replicate it's wild environment as best you can (you can use the rocks/wood from where you caught it and clean them). Have water and a bask zone available. Make sure you quarantine it from your other herps, and don't share cage objects and food/water bowls. Offer it small insects you buy, get a fecal checked for parasites as wild herps usually have them, watch for external parasites such as mites. If it won't eat within a week, let it go (this may be controversial), before it loses too much body condition. I did this in the past as a teenager on the US east coast with 5 lined skinks, box turtles, and garter snakes- I learned alot- fostered a love of reptiles, and I don't *think* I did any harm. Releasing an animal after bringing it into captivity for awhile is a sticky subject due to possible exposure of the wild population to pathogens from your indoor reptiles- but if you practice good quarantine, *I* the risk is pretty low.
Cheers, jess b

Hi Jess
Yeah, it's a tricky one, the issue of keeping wild caught local animals. Of course we've all done it as kids, which as you say, fosters our adult interest, which hopefully expands into interest in conservation issues as well. I have a friend who has always had a 'knack' with native fauna here in Australia - he can find practically anything you want, and tell you all about it too.This though he can't read or write properly and hasn't got a job. Everytime he comes to visit he has a lizard or a couple of frogs or a little snake to show my kids. We usually keep them for a few days in an outside tank to observe them, then let them go where he found them.(He lives locally.) Hey - have to tell you the story of how he found out I was interested in animals...he came over one day and asked if I'd found the missing earring I was looking for...I said "Huh?"...he said "Well, I saw you crouched down very still with your nose to the grass in the front yard for about 10 minutes!" I had to tell him I'd been trying to locate the owner of a croak!...I always hear frogs croaking here after it rains, but the kids and I can NEVER find them, even standing right above where the sound is coming from. Of course, Rodney had the answer..."They're BURROWING frogs...they sit just below the surface." After that he started bringing animals for us to see. Just a little anecdote for the forum.
Susan

np