Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello, I'm new here. I'm interested in buying a Blue Tongue and I would like to know what breeders are the best. I would also like to know if there is a website that has pictures of the different BT spieces. I went to a show and looked at one there and I'm trying to identify which one it was. It didn't have yellow or brown, just a gray body with darker gray stripes on its back and a white belly.

You'll find this is a great place to find all sorts of info on the best pet lizard out there: blue-tongue skinks.
For starters, I'd highly recommend you contact James Wilson for a captive-bred skink. Look for his posts below in the forum.
Links to a couple of excellent sites specializing in blue-tongues:

http://bluetongueskinks.net/blue.htm
http://members.shaw.ca/cloose/

You'll find good pictures of all the many species and subspecies.
From your description, it sounds like the animal you saw at the show was an Indonesian blue-tongue.
In my opinion, as far as a pet, the best blue-tongue skink is a Northern.
If you have any questions after looking through the websites above, please let us know and hopefully you'll soon be joining our family of skink-lovers.
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Edward
Carpe diem

Hello Edward. Thank you for the warm welcome. The show I went to was last Saturday in Hamburg Pa. I was wondering if you or anybody else on the forum went there. I'd like to see if anybody can identify the Skink breeders there because the one I looked at went right straight up my arm and sat on my shoulder. I couldn't believe how friendly they are and I assume it was an adult.

Barbara

Hi, Barbara:
I'm pretty far away from PA -- I'm in AZ.
Did you get a chance to check out the two websites? Did you figure out what kind of skink it was you handled at the show?
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Edward
Carpe diem

Hi Edward. I think you are right. The one I saw at the show was an Indoneian. Are they the more expencive ones? I just think it was so neat it crawling right up my arm to my shoulder and sitting there.I got exspensive tastes, it probally was one of the exspencive ones. Are the babies pretty calm when you get them? Should I start out with a baby,or get an adult?

Barbara

It is so satisfying to watch them grow from cute hatchling to impressive adult. They grow extremely fast. I'm a teacher and my Northern is my student's favorite reptile in the class (I have several others). Extremely tame lizard, that gets hand fed superworms (and once even a Cheeto) while out on a lab table. Students love to get licked by its fabulous blue tongue!

Hi, again, Barbara:
Actually, Indonesian are the cheapest blue-tongues out there because they are, regrettably, imported in large numbers from their home islands, unlike all the Australian species which may not be exported legally.
I would definitely start out with a baby, but like I wrote before, I'd go with a Northern. They are very colorful and beautifully patterned and have the best temperament.
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Edward
Carpe diem

Thank you Edward. As soon as I get my Uro setup I will look into getting my BTS.