Christmas Stockings

I let Rhino have a roam around the house after Christmas. Not surprisingly, he quite enjoyed investigating the decorations.

He enjoyed crawling inside the stocking so much I had trouble getting him out of it. Not even blueberries were tempting enough, so I put the stocking/skink assembly on the bed and sat with it for a while. Rhino loves our sheets so it wasn't long before he came out again.

Playtime Skink

Rhino's lip has been healing up (slowly) after his trip to the vet for antibiotics so he's been spending more time playing outside of his enclosure.

 Rhino has a bit of an obsession with stuffed toys. Here he is trying to drag Pooh bear under the couch so he could eat him in peace. After I took the toy away, he grabbed a marshmallow one of the kids had forgotten and dashed under the couch.

After finishing the marshmallow, he came out to investigate the rest of the toys. None of them tasted very good.

Later on he took a snooze under a pillow case. His lip is still a little puffy from chomping a metal belt buckle a while back.

Paper Towels Are Depressing

Well, at least the blue tongue skink thinks they are, probably because he can't burrow in them.

Rhino is on paper towel now so that it is easier for me to keep his enclosure is kept impeccably clean, which is important because of what that silly lizard did to his bottom lip.

Rhino had some trouble shedding a while ago, so I introduced a rough conglomerate rock into his enclosure for a day. It helped remove the shed, but he got a little overzealous and scuffed up his lip (obvious in the previous post). That injury alone probably wouldn't be enough to recommend putting him on paper, but there's more to the story.

That lizard has an obsession with shiny things (metal buttons, spoons, zippers, etc.) A few weeks ago while he was roaming around in the bedroom, he found my belt on the floor and decided to have a chomp-fest on the buckle. The next day, his lips were red and puffy and almost immediately he ended up in the situation he's in now: living on paper towel and getting povidone-iodine solution rubbed on his lips twice a day. Poor little guy.

Tube Skink

Paper towel tubes make a good, cheap toy for blue--tongued skinks. I'm half surprised Rhino managed to stuff himself into one given how big he's getting.

Blue Tongue Skink in the Grass

I took Rhino outside to play today. I was lucky with the camera. He gave me a couple of good shots of his tongue flicking out.

I always have to be very careful when he goes outside. Most of the time he just watches the cars go by, but sometimes he goes looking for strange things to eat or for tricky places to hide. Fortunately, he never goes anywhere fast, so I'm usually able to scoop him up if he starts getting into trouble.

Lazy Lizard

Rhino went through another shed today. It was hard work so he decided to lounge about in his water dish for a while.

 Chilling at the pool.

Showing off his shiny new scales.

Pictures of a Thirteen Inch Skink

I caught a few photos of the blue--tongued skink that lives in my bedroom. He just keeps growing. He's 13'' in total length now.

Basking.

 Climbing a blanket.

 Being curious about the camera.

Burrowed and grumpy.

Waxworm Treat

I decided to give my blue-tongued skink a special protein treat today. Here is a video.

Rhino has been growing like a weed. He's already starting to look less like a baby. One of these times, I'm going to have to get a picture of him beside a ruler so it's more obvious just how big he's getting.

Hello, Rhino.

My order from Jeff at btskinks.com arrived this week, a baby blue--tongued skink named 'Rhino.'

He was quite grumpy with me after his overnight flight from Arizona, but he's adapted quite well to his new surroundings, all things considered.

Here are a couple of video clips: one of him flicking his tongue and one of him eating a tasty treat.

These animals don't seem all that common in the pet reptile scene. I don't know why. Even as a skittish baby, Rhino is the coolest lizard I've ever met. He's huffy when first approached, but I've been able to hold him without biting or struggling. He's an interesting animal, too, as he is curious and into everything, almost like a very slow ferret with scales.