Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well, much to my glee, suprise, and somewhat "Emotion that amounts to a shudder" I got saddled with a large 28" Female (Not sure, but the head is tiny, and if it's anything like BTS, It's likely a female) Monkey skink, with beautiful Turquoise scales in the midst of a lime green background and a brown pattern, and a silverish head (I'm assuming it's covered in sheds)
with a 2x2x5' tall cage, the whole thing for free from an older man who's gotten ill, and is not getting better.. And as the unofficial all-but-Iguanids lizard expert at our chapter of the SWHS.. It was offered to me first.
Needless to say, I was.. well, all of the emotions stated originally, It had been a year since I'd seen one in real life, and though I did a bit of research on them after reading a Reptile's issue on them, I had no clue what it was all about..
after a night of reading all the boards and 3 dozen care sheets (like cramming for finals) I got the skink, and the tank the next morning... And wow, what a creature, I knew they were pretty and unique, but this goes beyond reason, few skinks compare.. and the girl seemed to be intelligent! Extremely observant, quick to take advantage of a situation, and fairly calm.. I've already fallen in love.
So as you can guess, One of these days, I'm going to end up buying another one, or at the least, receiving a male through a loan and hoping for twins, not to mention just a successfull mating.

I can see why all of you have jumped into this species, their large size, calm (if prone to biting) nature, easy diet, intelligence, color, and overall personality makes these guys really cool .

Ok, now, finally, my question(s)

Biggest thing I need to know:
Will they regularly venture to the ground?

Depending on the answer to that... I need to know these:
Where do I place the hides? I hear they use them, but I can't imagine putting something in the branches.

Food? Water? I'd bet they get most of their water from their mistings and the food they eat, but is a dish used? I noticed when I soaked her, she defecated almost immediately, so if nothing else, it'd be a usefull potty.
And Food? I'll put up a few sprigs of parsely, some leaves of Collard and Kale and the like up on the branches for her to munch on, but what of the heavier vegetables and fruits? do I need to try and place a bowl in the branches? Or will she go down to pick those up?

Please let me know when you can, anyone

Thanks in advance.

Snakester: Email me at Slizarus@yahoo.com when you can, I'd like to help you with the site layout, also I'll have some pictures and the like.. I notice you on about every site I went to for info on them, very helpfull. Thanks .

-----
2.5 Leos
2.1 Beardie
1.0 Burm
1.1.24 Common Boa
0.1 Sav (Bosc) Monitor
Wish for: Candoia Sp, Frilled D, BTS

Well, we need a picture of this beautiful PTS.

I keep my guys in a large tall enclosure, lots of branches, some fake vines if they feel like hiding, and some resin hides, and cork hides.
I use newpapers fpr the cage bottom.
Well, resin and cork hides are not cheap. Newspaper is.
So after spending the money on the hides,my PTS hide under the newpaper. Which is fairly commom.
The hides they use very infrequently. I do keep a water dish in the cage. A large dog bowl. And I have seen them drinking.
I also handle my PTS a lot. At night, when they see me, they go nuts trying to get out. So my experience is, they enjoy freedom time, and social interaction.
At first, get used to getting pooped and peed on. Once yours gets used to being handled by you, you should be fine.
Why can't I find a deal like yours!?

Good Luck!
Bob

Thanks!

Aye, Mine is a very bright young lizard... She'll attempt to bite when I pick her up, or when she's been messed with a bit too much (I brought her to a display and showed her off for a long while, she was calm the whole while, but after 7 hours on and off my hand, she got really peevish and would attempt to bite when anyone touched her head.)

During the whole thing, I did get urinated on during it, note: She wasn't stressed, just natural occurences, thankfully no one was around other than my fellow herpers (This was a petsmart display)
and though they were disgusted, I had no problem with it.. seemed to be mainly juice and a few other unmentionables (She ate watermelon the night I received her)
dried and had no smell.. I don't think I'll have a problem with that.
The feces however.. which I received upon the ride home.. were large.. and I'm glad she held it in.

Today I picked up $20 of Pothos (seemed to work wonders for my Chamelions long past.. why not again? besides, I heard they encountered it in the wild)
And decorated the Vivaria.. It's really quite pretty now, and not only is she stripping the pothos.. I believe she might seek shelter in what remains of the vines after she's finished with it. Only time will tell.

As far as substrate.. I'm using paper too.. though I'll be switching to moss as soon as I care to dredge that up out of my supplies.. because right now.. I'm drenching it daily with my water bottle.

And hides.. We'll see, she seems to enjoy sleeping on the ground.

I'll have pictures up in a few.

Now, my question:

I heard something while doing my research.. and it was later confirmed.. that a great amount of this lizard's urine is indeed liquid and not in the form of urates which quickly dry afterwords. And the feces seems to be unusual as well.

I'll admit, other than tropical snakes, my only venture into tropical lizards is Chameleons which died in a fire some time back.

Is the urine and otherwise to be this wet/liquid normally in Tropical lizards?
I found this extremely unusual, I just didn't expect it.. all of my lizards are desert/savannah/plains and they conserve as much water as they can..

I just thought this was a curiousity, can anyone else confirm that tropical lizards are typical in this? Or atleast is it common among certain families/genii where dehydration isn't the worst thing that can happen to it.

Zeteki, Beautiful PTS
Thanks in advance, awesome replies
-----
2.5 Leos
2.1 Beardie
1.0 Burm
1.1.24 Common Boa
0.1 Sav (Bosc) Monitor
Wish for: Candoia Sp, Frilled D, BTS

They will regularly venture to the ground. I have one that even prefers to sleep there.

Feeding out of a bowl set on the ground is perfectly acceptable and is by far the easiest thing to do.

As mentioned, cork bark tubes are fantastic hides, but are not cheap. However they look great and will be well used by most PTS.

Here's a picture of 2 of mine happily eating out of their bowl.

Image

Enjoy

Comment: Don't they look like dappled paintings? Wow

C; Green eyes

C: Cage top, I'd get a full view.. but in a 1 bedroom quarters behind a house, over 50 reptiles (3 BIG snakes) living with your mother (I'm 16) and trying to make the most of your space.. The cage is in the dining room where we keep our Boa and where my mother does haircuts at home... Crowded? Ohhh yes... utilizing every surface for tanks takes on a whole new meaning at my house.
But as you can see, the branches were already there, and the plants added a new dimension to the tank itself.

C; Yah... Me and the girl, forgive the appearance, it may not appear as that of a responsible owner, but I'm not well respected in the SWHS and the one to typically come to for any care issues concerning lizards and most snakes for nothing

Hope I get some more up sometime soon, when I go down to Los Angeles for an Exhibit our society hosts, I know of a breeder where I got my first in person experience with PTS, But the babies hid, and the only adult I got a glimpse of was deep into shed, where the skin was pretty much off, just needed to be rubbed off.. So I had no idea about these things until now.

Hope I can get a loan for a male, I believe her to be female judging her appearance, I plan on getting her probed at the nearest oppurtunity, I know little of lizard probing as the sexual dimorphism visible externally is usually enough for me to tell the difference in everything I've kept up to skinks and a few assorted lizards/snakes I never bothered to sex. So I'm not sure if it's the same or not, but I'll be looking it up.

Thank you in advance.
-----
2.5 Leos
2.1 Beardie
1.0 Burm
1.1.24 Common Boa
0.1 Sav (Bosc) Monitor
Wish for: Candoia Sp, Frilled D, BTS

They're very difficult to sex, even by head size. Also very social....to other skinks, not so much people. The general warning is not to let them sit on your head or in your hair. The nails will easily draw blood. Yes, lots of liquid urine. There are still a couple of publications out there on them....check the internet.