Blue Tongue Skinks are popular pet lizards and after you read this blog article detailing the top five things the Backwater Reptiles Team loves about them, you’ll know why!
1. Blue Tongue Skinks are the dachshunds of the lizard world. Blue tongues, or “blueys” as they are more commonly known, grow to be quite long, slender, and low to the ground. Their legs are also rather short and squat in proportion to the rest of their body. Overall, they remind us of weiner dogs…if weiner dogs were lizards, that is!
This is a particularly long bluey. They can reach lengths of around two-feet.
2. Blueys are generally super friendly. While the young lizards can be a bit squirrelly, once you get them used to being handled and they learn that you are not a threat to them, they become really docile. Due to their leg size, these skinks are not quick animals and as they grow larger, they generally slow down considerably. Many blueys will even sit and watch TV with you on the couch or enjoy a good chin and head rubbing.
3. Blue Tongues are relatively low maintenance animals. The only real “obstacle” to owning a blue tongue is that they usually need to be housed separately in fairly large enclosures. If you can meet the space requirement, they only need a substrate that allows them to burrow, a varied omnivorous diet, and appropriate heat and basking lamps.
4. Like many reptiles that are bred in captivity, blue tongues are available in different color morphs. From albino to melanistic to leucistic to patternless, blue tongue skinks have been captive bred to express genes that make their scales various colors and patterns that vary from the traditional coloring. They are essentially “designer” lizards – if you’re willing to cough up the dinero!
5. Blue Tongue Skinks have blue tongues! This might seen fairly obvious, but it’s true. The first time you see your pet bluey’s tongue, you will fall in love. It’s particularly endearing when they lick something other than food.
Would you like to meet some of our Pacman frog morphs? Like many popular reptiles and amphibians, Pacman frogs have been bred to express a variety of different colors and designs, also called “morphs.” In this blog article, we’ll present to you the most popular and common morphs.
Green “Normal” Pacman Frog
As you probably surmised, the “normal,” “regular” or “green” Pacman is the standard coloration for these frogs in the pet industry. They are generally bright green with brown spots just like the one pictured.
But, did you know that in nature, their natural color is brown?
Proportionately, these hungry and hefty frogs start out small but grow to quite large sizes due to their voracious and seemingly unending appetites. They can reach the size of a softball in less than a year.
A happy little “Green” Pacman Frog.
Strawberry Pineapple Albino Pacman Frog
The Strawberry Pineapple Albino morph is named after the colors of the fruits it resembles. Standard strawberry morph Pacmans have much more pink tones to their skin, but because this little frog is an albino, the colors are duller from lack of pigmentation.
Like most albino animals, this frog also has red eyes. Due to the lack of pigment, there are no other colors to hide the blood vessels, which ultimately makes the eye appear red. You’re seeing the blood inside the eyes.
Albino Pacman Frog
This morph is similar to the strawberry albino described above, but there is no pink tint to the frog. Instead, the lack of pigment creates a yellow and orange skin tone. The frog still possesses red eyes.
Top view of an albino Pacman Frog.
Notice the red eyes on this albino morph. This is a very popular frog, originally created by The Frog Ranch in 1992.
Chocolate Mint Pacman Frog
We’re a fan of naming animals after foods, which is why we like this morph. Just like the strawberry pineapple, this frog is named for the colors of the food it resembles.
Chocolate sounds so much better than brown, doesn’t it?
Mint chocolate Pacmans are a paler green color than the standard Pacman with lighter, less harsh brown accent spots.
High Red Ornate Pacman Frog
All the Pacman frogs are in the same family of Horned Frogs (Ceratophryidae), but the High Red Ornate Pacman is actually a Ceratophrys ornata and not a Ceratophrys cranwelli like all its cousins described above.
If you noticed this morph’s coloration is very vibrant, that would explain where the morph gets the “high” title. Any reptile or amphibian morph with “high” in the name basically just means “super” or “a lot.”
So this particular morph is named high red ornate because it’s skin is a very vibrant and noticeable red. They are really stunning animals.
Top view of a high red ornate Pacman Frog.
Summary
All of these Pacman Frog morphs are in the same family of horned frogs. The various morphs just reflect what captive breeding them has produced. Not only are the animals healthier, but they are uniquely colored.
A collage of Pacman morphs.
Backwater Reptiles currently offers a variety of Pacman frog morphs for sale, all of which are captive bred.
Don’t miss the most in-depth, detailed Pacman frog care sheet on the internet, written by the owner of The Frog Ranch.
Are you wondering which lizards are venomous? Everyone knows that there are many species of venomous snakes in the world – rattlers, black mambas, and cobras being probably the most well-known. But did you know that there are actually two species of venomous lizards too?
Gila monsters are native to the southwestern deserts of the U.S. and northwestern Mexico. They are the largest land-dwelling lizard in the U.S. and can reach lengths of up to two feet and weigh over five pounds. They are black with orange, red, or pinkish-colored patches.
Because they are considered a threatened species (not to mention are dangerous animals!) it’s not always legal to keep a gila monster as a pet. It varies depending on where you live.
The venom of a gila monster is a fairly mild neurotoxin. The lizard does not possess fangs but does have sharp, serrated teeth. This means that in order to inject its venom, the monster will bite, hang on, and chew to allow the wound to open up and the venom to flow into the bloodstream. In other words, their teeth do not “inject” venom. Ultimately, because it bites like a bulldog, the bite will be very painful and could cause temporary paralysis or difficulty breathing, but is generally not fatal if treated properly.
By nature, Gilas are burrowers and in captivity, they behave much the same as they would in the wild. They spend most of their lives under ground and will eat voraciously, so if you are keeping gila monsters, you should probably be an experienced herp hobbyist who knows the habits of these lizards.
The Beaded Lizard is a close relative to the Gila Monster with similar body shape, venom delivery methods, and even skin texture. The Beaded Lizard gets larger than the Gila Monster though and can max out at three feet long and weigh as much as 45% more than its lizard cousin. Beaded lizards are also typically duller in color with browner bodies and white or yellowish splotches.
The resident Backwater Reptiles beaded lizard swallowing a pinkie.
Because the Beaded Lizard and Gila Monster both primarily consume eggs, scientists are not 100% sure as to why these lizards are venomous. Interestingly enough though, the Beaded Lizard’s venom has been discovered to contain enzymes that are useful in the treatment of diabetes.
Fun fact: the Beaded lizard can consume around 30% of its body weight in one feeding! We feed ours thawed fuzzy mice, around six per feeding, and the lizard is barely a foot long.
Beaded lizards (and gila monsters) use their tongues much like snakes do to taste and smell the air. They possess Jacobson’s organs which filter the sensory data obtained by their tongues so that it can be transmitted to their brains for interpretation.
The venom of the Beaded Lizard causes respiratory paralysis and failure, but is rarely fatal to humans.
Honorable Mention #1 – The Komodo Dragon (Varanus komodoensis)
Komodos are extremely large lizards and therefore eat large prey animals such as deer, wild pigs, and even water buffalo. Sometimes the Komodo Dragon doesn’t manage to kill its prey in a single sitting, but the dragon is a patient lizard and will wait until it’s venom has worked its magic, which depending on the size of the animal, could take a day or two.
Venom researcher Bryan Fry discovered that the Komodo’s venom is delivered via chewing, much like the Beaded Lizard and Gila Monster’s venom. Once the venom has entered the blood stream, it can cause rapid decrease in blood pressure, expedite blood loss, and send a bitten animal into shock, making the prey animal too weak to escape or fight back.
Honorable Mention #2 – Monitor Lizard Family & Iguana Family
New scientific research suggests that monitor lizards and lizards in the iguana family also possess venom glands. Not to worry though – your pet iguana or pet Savannah monitor is not dangerous to you through its bite. The trace amounts of venom produced in these lizards is only strong enough to take down small prey items such as mice or birds. It is not harmful to people.
This is still a somewhat controversial topic of discussion and we’re awaiting further scientific data and studies until we officially proclaim monitors and iguanas venomous for the purposes of this blog.
If you’re wondering, “Do Leopard geckos regenerate their tails?” then you’ve come to the right place. If you see a leopard gecko in a pet store that is lacking a tail or if you accidentally injure your own leopard gecko to the point of losing its tail, you might be wondering if the gecko’s tail will grow back. It is in fact true that some species of lizards can regenerate their tails and leopard geckos are fortunately one of these species!
A leopard gecko that is regrowing its tail.
Leopard geckos (and most geckos and other lizards for that matter) will only drop their tails under what they perceive to be extreme duress or a life-threatening situation, whether this be mis-handling or a fight with another gecko.
If your leo’s lost its tail, the first thing you should do is allow it time to calm down and de-stress. If you have a loose substrate, be sure to gently transfer it to a container with a substrate that can’t get into the fresh tail wound and cause further issues. Paper towels are great temporary flooring for situations like this.
Here’s a close up of a leopard gecko’s tail during the regeneration process.
Your leopard gecko will have lost a substantial amount of fat storage (the tail is where its reserves are kept), so be sure that you are feeding it well to compensate. Wax worms are great fatty invertebrates to give geckos that are in the process of re-growing their tails. Be sure that if you are feeding it crickets that any leftovers are not allowed to remain in the cage after feeding time as they are known for nibbling on wounds.
Yes, when a leopard gecko loses its tail, its profile becomes somewhat “stubby,” but that doesn’t make them any less cute. :)
While leopard geckos are built to lose their tails if need be and the loss is therefore not a traumatic injury, the affected gecko should still be housed separately from other leos. This will mean it won’t have to compete for food or have to deal with potential aggression from other geckos. You can also keep a better eye on how much your gecko is eating.
Here’s an adult super giant albino leopard gecko with a fully regenerated tail. As you can see, the tail does not look the same as the original tail did. It appears smoother and with less defined “rings” or ridges.
It will take some time for the gecko’s tail to regenerate completely. Keep in mind that the new tail will also never look fully the same as the old tail did.
Your leopard gecko will be fine, and will be able to breed well, so long as you have identified what stressed your gecko to the point of dropping its tail in the first place and removed the cause. We think that leopard geckos who are in the process of regrowing their tails are quite endearing.
Have you ever wondered how to breed Panther chameleons? Well you’re in luck, because I’m going to explain the entire process to you, from initiating mating through successful incubation of the eggs–and everything in between.
I’ve bred many generations of Panther chameleons (Furcifer pardalis) and have acquired a significant amount of knowledge about these incredibly beautiful and ultimately rewarding reptiles.
Here’s one of our breeder male Panther chameleons (Furcifer pardalis) with striking blue coloration.
Selecting a male and female Panther Chameleon
The first step is to purchase a male and female Panther chameleon. The “locale” doesn’t really matter, although I prefer keeping the lines pure, some may want to experiment with “crosses,” and if that’s your desire, go for it.
A “locale” references the area of Madagascar from which your type of chameleon originates, such as “Ambilobe,” “Nosy Be,” “Nosy Faly,” and so on. They are all compatible, and a “cross” is when you breed one locale to another local, such as an Ambilobe with a Nosy Be.
We offer top quality, captive bred Panther chameleons for sale if you would like to start out with some quality stock. Regardless of where you purchase, we highly recommend starting out with juveniles, but not adults. The reason is, with juveniles, you can be sure they are raised correctly with proper care and nutrition, which prepares them successful breeding. Avoid wild caught specimens.
Here’s our first ever breeder male Panther chameleon from years ago. He’s still a sub-adult in this picture, and doesn’t yet have the normal adult coloration. Many believe chameleons gain more color with each passing month, for their entire life.Here’s the same male Panther chameleon (Furcifer pardalis) a couple months later.
Panther Chameleon Enclosures
If you’re not overly familiar with how to keep chameleons successfully in captivity, please reference our detailed chameleon care sheet. Going forward, this article assumes you understand how to raise a chameleon, including subjects such as feeding, hydration, lighting, etc.
Before breeding your chameleons, we highly recommend keeping your Panther chameleons in separate screen cages. We sell screen cages and complete screen cage kits as well (just scroll down on any of our chameleon pages to purchase). The reason for this is that virtually all chameleons can become very stressed having to share an enclosure with another specimen–it’s just not their nature. While it is possible to raise them together, it is not advised and will likely shorten their lifespan.
Keeping your chameleons in separate enclosures also makes breeding easier, as the old adage goes, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”
Here’s one of our breeder male Ambanja locale Panther chameleons.
Here’s a video where I detail exactly how we set up our chameleon cages for breeding. We sell this exact kit on each chameleon page of our website–if you purchase a kit with your chameleon, we guarantee the chameleon for a full 30-days!
Panther Chameleon Breeding/Mating
Once your chameleons reach about one year in age, it’s time for the introductions. Breeding them at six months is possible, but it’s tougher on the female’s body, so it’s best for the long-term to wait until they’re both adults. She’ll live longer and will have larger egg clutches.
Some breeders believe putting the female into the male’s enclosure is best, as he is supposedly going to be more territorial and will want to display his dominance, but we’ve actually had great success placing the male into the female’s enclosure as well. At the end of the day, it probably doesn’t matter much.
One trick to get the male fired-up is to hold a mirror in front of him for a minute or two. He’ll think it’s another male, and it will ignite a territorial reaction in him. If you haven’t guessed, one show of dominance is mating, or being the alpha male. Although, we’ve also found that using a mirror isn’t usually a necessary step.
Important note: a peach/pink colored female is generally ready and receptive for mating.
Once you’ve placed the female into the male’s enclosure (or vice-versa), pay close attention to the female. You’re looking for signs that she’s either receptive to mating, or not receptive. Watch her intently, and once she spots the male, she’ll either calmly continue slowly walking or swaying (this means she’s likely receptive), or she’ll put on a defense display by widening her body and hissing or frantically trying to run away (or both). If she wants to escape and is obviously is distress, remove her–she’s just not ready.
If she is receptive, let nature take its course. Mating should begin in minutes, and will last anywhere from five to thirty minutes or so. We usually leave them together for 12-24 hours as mating may take place more than once.
Here’s the above pictured male preparing to mate with one of our females. The male will always be on top, and the female will always lift her tail. It’s usually a fairly gentle process.
Is your Panther chameleon gravid?
So, your pair has mated–but did it work? Well, you’ll find out within about 24 hours. If the female is now gravid (pregnant), she will turn dark brown, with a bright peach stripe down each side. It’s unmistakeable.
Here’s what a freshly gravid female Panther chameleon looks like. Note the dark brown base color with a bright peach strip along her side.Here’s another gravid female, but much further along in the gestation process. Notice the dark brown coloration and peach stripes, as well as a hugely swollen belly (the developing eggs).
Gestation is the amount of time between mating and laying eggs. Our Panther chameleons average around 3-4 weeks, but sometimes up to 5-6 weeks. During this time, feed her plenty (as much as she’ll consume), and dust the feeders with a high quality calcium supplement once to twice per week.
Preparing for Egg Laying
We always have a few laying bins prepared, but even on a small scale, make sure you have a bin ready for your female before she’s ready to lay. We use simple plastic bins from Home Depot, which are around 24″ x 16″ x 18″ (L x W x H). While you’re at the store, purchase a bag of peat moss, and a bag of sand.
Fill the bin with approximately 8-inches of a mix of peat moss and sand, at an approximate ratio of 3:1, respectively. Now, add enough water so that you can clump the peat/sand mix in your hand, but avoid making it wet. If you squeeze a handful of the mix, there shouldn’t be any water dripping from it. Now, press downward on the peat/sand mix surface firmly with your hand so that its all well packed. This makes it easier to hold a tunnel during the digging process.
The point here is to make it damp enough to hold the tunnel that the female Panther chameleon will dig, and damp enough so it doesn’t dry-out the eggs in case you can’t get to them immediately.
Here’s an example of a chameleon laying bin with the moistened and packed peat moss and sand mix we use.
Laying the Eggs
Ok, so you’ve bred your Panther chameleons. If you’re wondering how to tell when the female is ready to lay eggs, no worries, it’ll be obvious. The moment you see her pacing the floor of her enclosure, you know it’s time. Gently move her into the laying bin. We then place the cover of the bin over about two-thirds of the top, leaving most of it dark, but about a third of it lit.
Leave the female alone, and avoid checking on her often as it can spook her and prevent her from laying her eggs (she thinks you’re a potential predator waiting for eggs to eat). We set up remote cameras on our laying bins so we can check from our mobile phones to observe their progress.
She will potentially dig a couple test holes, but will soon find a spot she likes and will dig a tunnel about 6-8 inches deep, at the end of which she’ll lay her eggs, upwards of 35 of them if she’s in peak condition. The vast majority of the time our’s will choose a corner of the bin to dig a tunnel.
Here’s a tunnel containing one of our female Panther chameleons preparing to lay her eggs. Notice how the dampened peat/sand mix holds a tunnel nicely.
When she’s done, she’ll turn around and start burying the eggs. She’ll re-fill the entire tunnel, and will pack it down and disguise the surface so well that you’d never even know where she laid them–it’s impressive.
Remove the female, and place her back into her enclosure. Start a slow drip in her enclosure so that she can rehydrate, as she’ll be exhausted. She may want food immediately as well, so offer a few crickets to see how she responds. You don’t want to annoy her with feeder insects if she’s not hungry and just wants to drink and rest.
Now, assuming you know the corner where she buried her eggs, start gently swiping the peat/sand mix away, digging very slowly. I use my fingertips and use a back-and-forth motion, almost like you’re dusting sand off something. We’ve never damaged a single egg (out of thousands) using this method. Don’t ever dig with a tool–you’ll lose the sensitivity of touch.
Eventually, you’ll see a flash of white–you’ve found the eggs. It’s exhilarating every single time–it never gets old! Now slow down and very carefully continue dusting the surrounding peat/sand mix away so that you can start harvesting the eggs.
Here’s what the eggs look like when you discover them. The eggs are laid in a round/oval clump, although they don’t stick together. Believe it or not, there are 34 eggs in this clutch.
Handling the Panther Chameleon Eggs
It’s time to bear the fruit of Panther chameleon breeding! Carefully remove the eggs, one at a time. Make sure you don’t rotate them around their axis–it’s vitally important you keep the eggs in the same position (there’s an air bubble inside each egg that settles at the top–rotating the egg after laying can potentially kill the embryo).
Place the eggs into the incubation container (we use plastic shoe boxes with no air holes). In the below picture, we used the same peat/sand laying mix with success, but we now use Perlite, mainly because it’s cleaner and more sterile. If you’re using Perlite, add enough water so that the perlite is barely damp, but definitely not wet. The eggs are pretty tough, so there’s generally plenty of leeway. We almost always get 100% hatch rates with our Panther chameleons. If you’re using vermiculite, dampen it enough so that when you squeeze it with your hand, it clumps but doesn’t drip.
Here are the resulting eggs from the above clutch, 34 in all.
Incubating Panther Chameleon Eggs
As mentioned above, we use plastic shoe boxes and we do not drill air holes. We’ve found that adding air holes does not increase hatch rate percentages, and adds the risk of the eggs dehydrating. In nature, when they are buried six inches in the dirt, they’re not getting any air.
We recommend that you avoid buying a commonly available reptile egg incubator, as we have found they are unreliable, and experience quick temperature swings. Specifically, we’re talking about reptile egg incubators in the $100-$300 range. If you want to spend $1,000 or more, you can get a good quality incubator.
Do you know what temperature we incubate all our chameleon eggs at? Room temperature. That’s right, we keep the plastic shoe boxes stacked in a room, and let the natural room temperature do its thing. This means a daily fluctuation of around 66F to 76F, depending upon the season. Our hatch rates are sky-high, and its free. Don’t overcomplicate things.
The dangerous part of reptile egg incubation is a quick temperature change, not a slow one. Chameleon eggs are actually pretty tough as long as rapid temperature changes are prevented. This is why the reptile egg incubators are dangerous in our opinion–they can quickly increase or decrease in temperature, and for no apparent reason.
Here’s one of our sleeping male Nosy Be Panther chameleons. This locale attains an almost iridescent pastel blue coloration.
Hatching Panther Chameleons
Let’s continue using the above clutch in our article on how to breed Panther chameleons. The eggs were laid on November 11th, and started hatching on May 18th of the following year. That’s an incubation period of a little over six months, although it can take a little longer in some cases. The eggs continued hatching for a period of about a week.
Quick tip: Resist the temptation to remove the first hatchlings as soon as they appear. The reason is, eggs seem to communicate. Once one starts hatching, it seems to somehow signal the other eggs to start hatching too. I’m not sure if it’s chemical, but there’s definitely some sort of phenomenon that occurs. Let the initial hatchlings wander around in the laying bin for a day before you remove them.
One sign to watch for during incubation is what’s called “sweating.” This is when an egg appears to sweat, which means a clear liquid beads-up on its surface. This is your signal that hatching is about to begin!
Here’s the result: a baby Panther chameleon hatching. It’s a beautiful and satisfying sight to behold. Note: the bottom-right egg is sweating.
Summary – How to Breed Panther Chameleons
We hope you’ve enjoyed reading our in-depth article on how to breed Panther chameleons. It’s a process that’s not only easy, but extraordinarily rewarding. We encourage you to use our guide to try to breed your own Panther chameleons, and don’t forget that you can buy your first pair on our website by visiting our Panther chameleon page.
If you purchase from us , we’re always available for questions and breeding guidance. Also, don’t forget that you can buy the exact chameleon kits we use and you’ll get a free 30-day guarantee on your new chameleon.
Here’s a quick summary of our chameleon kit promotion:
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