Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello to all those who love these awesome skinks. We've been collecting/breeding them since 1991 and some of you may have seen some of our individuals when visiting our website. Sorry for not being social...isn't that how most reptile people are anyway? I keep hoping to make time to write a synopsis of how we care for them and put it on the site but I have little to no time to contribute to the skink forum. Besides, there are many knowledgeable stewards for this species out there already and I commend their passion to husbandry detail and pure curiousity in trying to understand their social nuances and behavioral needs.

If any of you are planning to attend the NARBC I'd love to meet with you and babble on, sharing experiences with keeping Corucia.

I'll shut up now, take care all,

Darlene Walder
AKA Darweedy
Owner
Oasis Aquarium & Garden Services
Signal Mountain, TN

Also share the reptile/rodent ranch duties at
signal herpetocluture
P.S. WOO Hoo...just had another baby born a few days ago to new a new pairing!!!

Good to hear from another Corucia enthusiast. I've got 1.3 myself, soon to be 2.3. I've plans to breed, but my male is just now getting old enough for it to be a possiblity and my incoming male is also still too young. However, I have been lucky enough to be employed as a zookeeper where I was responsible for the care of 2 very prolific mating pairs of PTS. In fact, 2 of the offspring now live with me (due to an unusual set of circumstances). I'm sorry that I won't be at the show this weekend to meet you and see your PTS.

I have a question for you though, and for the other Corucia-philes here:

Where do you get your cork tubes? My supplier has vanished and all of the other ones I can find are ridiculously expensive.

Alternately, if you don't use cork tubes - what do you use instead as hides for breeding pairs?

Hi Zeteki,

Cork bark quest...yes you're right, it's outrageous in price I believe due to wildfires in Portugal? a few years back. Since I dabble in gardening/ landscaping too I'll see if I have any catelogs/suppliers and how much $ pieces go for now. I remember in 2003 at the Baltimore Trade show someone was selling it...not cheap but I should have bought some anyway. Right now we use dead tree branches for perches and make ‘nest boxes’ by cutting an opening on the side of a 6” x 6” x 10” Rubbermaid container with lid, making sure to have multiple boxes in each cage. I’ve offered the boxes with and w/o substrate and the skinks didn’t care either way.

Cork bark is attractive but I’ve had a bad experience with some skinks who decided they wanted to nibble on it while I wasn’t looking. I wasn’t feeding them on the cork bark and I couldn’t figure out the reason for it. I wondered if they had defecated (I like the saying the word poop, so I’ll try to use it instead in the future) on it and then tried to eat that area on the bark…still not sure. Of course, the skinks looked ‘fat’ and healthy, or so I assumed. Bad assumption. They never stopped showing interest in food and water but something was up. In the case of 1 adult female, she was able to pass the cork but for two of her offspring it was troublesome. When unexpected lethargy set in I weighed the babes and they of course seemed lighter than they appeared. I then soaked them and to my amazement and shock…they floated and it wasn’t due to them holding their breath. ASAP we gave them mineral oil via a syringe and tubing into their stomach but sadly, we lost one of the babies I assume to impaction and I can say to this day that it was the prettiest, light colored baby we’ve ever produced. The other two are alive and well today and that particular piece of cork bark is gone. Ironically, this only happened in one cage with the one group and not the male skink. GO figure… Like a lazy fool, I haven’t abandoned the use of corkbark and also have not had that same problem since with those individuals or any others in the group.

Of course, I look forward to making time to share notes about more of our experiences with Corucia so we’ll see how much of it I can set aside before the trip to Philly.

Take care,
Darweedy

Thanks for checking into cork bark for me, I appreciate it. And for the story about your bark-eating skinks. How unusual. Currently one of my pairs has cork bark hides, but for the other pair I've been using cardboard boxes with holes cut in them. It's handy becuase I can just replace them when they get dirty or wet. It works for now while they're in "temporary" housing (5 months and counting), but once they get into their permananent homes I'd like something a little more attractive.

So how large is your breeding group, and how do you have them housed?

Hello again,

Back from Philly and soon to be off again to FLA. As far as I noticed, I didn’t see cork bark at this show…lots of driftwood though…mostly too small for using with these skinks. Hey, I think your cardboard homes are a very convenient set up and would assume that as long as there are no staples or other sharp things attached to them, their a great idea. You’d think if there was a similar unusual eating fascination with the cardboard that it would not be as hazardous? I don’t know about the glues/chemicals present w/in the cardboard but it should hopefully be less likely to cause impaction. Hopefully we’ll never find out the hard way.

Cork bark quest

Earlier this year I visited Tropiflora down in Sarasota and saw many gorgeous large pieces of cork bark tubes but the price blew me away. If you look at their website the only items of any use would be the cork bark slabs by the pound. Pieces under 10 lbs. go for $ 4.75 per pound and over 10 lbs. are $3.90 per pound. Ouch! Just for giggles, you might want to weigh some of your favorite pieces to get an idea of how much it could run you to get more…and what a gold mine you already have. Can anyone out there recall how much they’re paid for the cork bark they have now? Of course, shipping hasn’t been added yet.

I called them this a.m. to ask about the long, fully intact tubes and they run retail at $10.00 a lb. !!!! I just weighed one of my tubes (about 28” long) and it was 5 lbs. so $50 worth of cork bark! When I was there I asked for approximate weights for the pieces I was interested in and we guessed anywhere from 20 to 30 lbs. Totally insane you say? Agreed! Didn’t grab for my wallet that day.

As for your last question, I’ve run out of time to commit to it full tilt and it brings up the thought that I should check our website to see how out of date it is on our Corucia section. Perhaps the best way is to start there with pics and synopsis of group info. The short of it is that we’ve had Corucia since 1991. In 1998 and friend in Rhode Island learned of our fascination with them and sent 10 more our way which he had on loan at a couple of Zoos. We’ve been blessed with several births, but over time some losses from trauma due to aggression, the impaction incident and now have 12 in our collection (4.6.2). One pair is currently on loan to a great friend who teaches high school in Philadelphia and I had a chance to visit them this weekend! The female is so ready to give birth I had to guess it would be within a week…pure guess. I also just returned 1.3 to that Rhode Island friend since I have to face reality in how much space and time I have to work with these creatures. These were skinks that were always difficult to pair up or were getting along but had not yet bred i.e. a young adult male in with old (maybe very old) females.

Anyway, go to go to work,
Until next time, Darweedy

Here's the link to our page on our Corucia.

Somewhat updated, need to add pic of baby born to the last group on the page.

http://www.signalherp.com/prehensile_tailed_skinks.htm

Cheers, Darweedy

Nice site. Beautiful animals. I notice also that you're involved with the chondrocoalition (with Trooper Walsh too!). I've been thinking that the PTS community could use a similar organization. If you've ever got the time, feel free to email me or post particulars on how the chondrocoalition got started and how it operates today.

Thanks for checking on cork bark for me. Prices really are ridiculous right now! I did get lucky this weekend and found a small log that had rotted in the center and is hollow. I baked it and it's in with my little devils right now. Still waiting to see what they'll make of it.

Curious - how do you sex your PTS? I can manually evert most juvies, but as I'm sure you know - adults can be a bear!

i have a basket hanging from their largest limb with a half log inside it. they can all three fit inside the basket. it moves just a little bit when they get in, sort of like a hammock. but when they are asleep it is very stable. they seem to like it. there are hide areas on the ground but they don't use them much. they've never chewed either one as far as i know.- lucy
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Lucy
www.smalldragons.com

I just got my first and I spoke to you today at the NARBC.

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1.0 Indonesian Blue Tongue Skink (Don)
1.1 Irian Jaya Blue Tongue Skink(Sammy) & (Sausage Girl)
0.0.1 Tanimbar Island Blue Tongue Skink ( Spunky Sebastian)
0.0.1 Ornate Uro (Spike)
1.0.1 Green Tree Pythons ( Male=Floyd, Baby= Verdi)
0.1 Western Hognose (Piggy)
0.0.1 Egyptian Tortiose(Tank)
0.0.1 Sonoran Gopher snake ( Toro)
0.1 Albino Leo gecko (Sasha)

Hey …look at you and your new buddy! So nice to have met you both. Now we can recognize each other at the next show and chat again. I hope my enthusiasm to talk Corucia didn’t shock or annoy you….I don’t get out much. Keep in touch through the forum and otherwise.

O.K. next I’ll catch up with cork bark quest. Although I walked around at the show, I didn’t notice any for sale, did you? I didn’t have a camera either to take pics of the other two Corucia at the Regal Reptiles show, did you? Where there any others that I may have missed?

Take care all,
Darweedy

For one of my hide areas, I have a drawer of sorts built in under a shelf. The "drawer" is actually a rectangular rattan(SP?) basket. The rattan basket is a bad material for this purpose, but it is holding up fairly well in the high humidity. I built in a pair of tracks under the shelf and it doesn't look to bad. The "drawer" is opened a few inches so they can come and go as they please. Sorry if my sentences are a little confusing or something, I have the flu, I think, so I have a high fever . Ummm...I forgot what I was trying to say, sorry, the fever and all,. bye josh