Alright, I know that you are supposed to hibernate your skinks to stimulate a breeding response, I have yet to do so, but they pair are acting a bit odd. They are housed seperately in adjoining tanks, but today Jack (male) found a way to climb up the side of his enclousure and underneath the UVB light, over a divider, and drop down into Tequila's tank. I dont knw how long he was in there because I left for work at 10am, and when my dad found them in the middle of copulation it was nearly 8pm.They have a few bumps and bruises but all seems to be alright, it looks like there was an explosion though, there are scales everywhere! (both were in shed). After seperating them and making it impossible for jack to get to her he sat against a wall and scratched all of the paint off of it trying to get to her and wore his claws down to nothing. I think i'm going to have to move her to another room.

My questions are:
1.) do you think a recent cold snap (5 days at about 50 degrees outside, still normal inside)then a warm spell (about 4 days at 70) could be enough to make him want to breed?
2.) Do you think the female might have been receptive, and possibly get pregnant?
3.) what antibiotic do vets generally use to treat an abcess on a lizard?
(this last one is precautionary, I'd just like to know in the event that an abcess does occur, because the last vet I visited didnt know which end of the lizard was up)

__________________

Those who say it can't be done should get out of the way of those who are doing it.

~*~Lacey~*~

My Photos

I know nothing about breeding skinks but I do know that many reptiles are sensitive to changes in the atmosphere - temp changes, barometric pressure etc, even if their cage enviornment stays relatively within their normal conditions. So it's possible that your cold snap *turned* something on.

Or maybe either the male or female has reached the correct stage of maturity and your male knew it and that's what drove him nuts and made him break out of his area and get into her area. Tricky little devil isn't he? Didn't one of them break out of their cage a month or so ago too?

Moving her to another room or a cage within the same room but out of his sightline might be a good idea.

Can't say whether the female might become gravid, but it's possible. how old is she? Is she mature enough to become gravid?

usually oral or injectable antibiotics are used when a reptile has an abscess. Often baytril is prescribed. If your vet ever prescribes oral baytril make sure he/she puts a flavour into it ... it's nasty smelling stuff and my reptiles that have had to take it always hated it- wiping their faces and tongues on objects, shaking their heads ... nasty.

__________________
Tricia

As has been mentioned the change could probably easily have been picked up by the senstive reptiles. However, I have also heard of brumation/cooling being just a good way to stimulate a healthy breeding response and not the rule. Many reptiles that come from cooler climate will breed suceesssfully even without brumation and some will even multi clutch. I am thinking that it was circumstancial she probably started cycleing and happened to cath both of them of age and stimulated the breeding response.

If he was able to pin her then chances are good. If they were interruppted mid copulation I'd say the chnaces of pregnancy are fairly decent. But then again I am not a skink expert, so you may wanna get more feedback.


Tricias covered this, its usually baytril.

Alright thanks for your help, both of you. I'm pretty sure he was successful in his conquest, shes got bites up around her shoulders and neck.I'm going to start weighing her twice a week to see if I notice any changes. I'm going to weigh Jack and Mazola (my Bearded Dragon) also to use as controls (and just because im curious).

I caught him today wedged in between the top of the cage and the UVB light (a 2 inch gap) trying to get into her side of the cage again. I haven't the slightest idea how he got up there, but either way I plugged up the hole. (I took some pix to that i'll post later)

I'm debating if I should let them get together again and see what happens. I've also decided not to cool them for the winter, just incase she is prego, I don't know what effect it would have on developing babies, but I can't see being cold and without food as a favorable situation.

As for the abscess question, it was just precautionary *thankfully* Tequila has a little bump near her mouth and I couldn't remember if it was there before, but it hasn't appeared to change size or shape and isn't tender, so i'll keep watching it, but im not worried.

Thanks again!

__________________

Those who say it can't be done should get out of the way of those who are doing it.

~*~Lacey~*~

My Photos

This is what I came home to today:



Soaking up some super UVB rays...and trying to pretend he's not really up there


Trying to get back into his side witho me noticing


I don't know how he's getting up there, but i'm going to plug all of the holes now. There will be no mating without my permission!

__________________

Those who say it can't be done should get out of the way of those who are doing it.

~*~Lacey~*~

My Photos

Persistence is key and he sure has some persistence. Keep us updated on the weights I'm curious to see the changes in weight if she is indeed pregnant.

I'm crossing my fingers and hoping...It'd be great to hear the pitter patter of little feet around here
She's been awfully moody too, so who knows.

__________________

Those who say it can't be done should get out of the way of those who are doing it.

~*~Lacey~*~

My Photos