Eastern Blue-tongue skink

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" height=95 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="21a8dfe1esnpes.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>index</B></FONT><B>     </B><B>|</B><B>     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="index"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id138.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Thicktail gecko"><U>Thick-tail gecko</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id73.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Northern LeafTail Gecko"><U>Northern Leaf-Tail Gecko</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id108.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Southern Angleheaded Dragon"><U>Southern Angle-headed Dragon</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id75.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Eastern Water Skink"><U>Eastern Water Skink</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id151.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Northern Blue Tongue Skink"><U>Northern Blue Tongue Skink</U></A>   |   <B>Eastern Blue-tongue skink</B>   |   <A HREF="id72.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Eastern Water Dragons"><U>Eastern Water Dragons</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id139.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Eastern Bearded Dragon"><U>Eastern Bearded Dragon</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id176.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Shingleback lizard"><U>Shingleback lizard</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id177.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Central Bearded Dragon"><U>Central Bearded Dragon</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=385 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="21a8dfc3.jpg"> <div> <I>Eastern Blue-tongue skink</I></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="751" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#003300" BORDERCOLORDARK="#006633" FRAME="BOX" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 25 ><NOBR><div> <I><B>Common Name:</B></I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT>Eastern Blue-tongue Skink</div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP ROWSPAN=6><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="19713ca0.jpg" border=0 width="275" height="202" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="1bbddc80.jpg" border=0 width="221" height="200" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="379"><div> <I><B>Scientific Name: </B></I><I><B> </B></I>Tiliqua scincoides</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP ROWSPAN=4 HEIGHT= 1 WIDTH="379"><div> <I><B>General characteristics: </B></I>In Australia there are six species of the blue tongue lizard.   Blue tongues have a heavy body, short legs and a short fat tail.  The most unusual thing about them is their blue tongue.  When frightened, the blue-tongued skink opens its mouth and sticks out its tongue as a warning.  Blue-tongued skinks are calm, quiet lizards and are sometimes kept as pets.   Although females are slightly bigger than males, the males generally have bigger heads! Breeding season is September, October and November.  Late November the pregnant females begin to bask more often. They need to maintain a more constant body temperature to regulate the rate of embryo development before delivering their off spring in late January.  They give birth to 1 litter (normally 5-25) of large babies only once a year in early to late summer.  The newborns are about 14 cm long and may live to 30 years.  They grow up to 50 cm long.</div> <div> <I><B>Diet:</B></I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT>They eat insects, snails (snails are a favourite and best collected just after rain and should only be collected from areas which you are sure are bait free), slugs, caterpillar's, raw or cooked meat some kinds of  fruit and seeds, mice, flowers, leaves.  </div> <div> <I><B>Habitat: </B></I>They live in a wide variety of habitats ranging from desert, to tropical and subtropical forests and mountainous areas.  They can often be found in peoples gardens.</div> <div> <I><B>Status:</B></I> Secure and common</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> </tR> <tR> </tR> <tR> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> Page updated 1 February 2006</div> </td> </tr></table></body>