In-house name: Lola
Why here: donated
Age: unknown
Physical description: Weight: 10 – 18 oz., Length: 23.5 inches. Short, stout legs. Bright blue tongue. Upper body scales generally vary in shades of gray, blue, black and tan with some banding – color and banding dependent on the subspecies. Eardrums are sunken into sides of head.
Life Span: Up to 20 years
Habitat: Grasslands, forests, rainforests and deserts
Range: Native to Australia and New Guinea, but now found worldwide as a pet
Diet: Omnivores 60% plants, 40% animals - insects, worms, small rodents, snails, flowers, fruits and berries
Reproduction: Mating season is during the end of the summer, which is September to November in their native Southern Hemisphere – females give birth to 12– 20 live young after 100-day gestation period, which are independent at birth
Fun Facts
- Blue-tongued skinks store fat in their tails.
- When feeling threatened it will puff up its body, stick out its tongue and make a huffing/hissing sound; and can lose their tails if grabbed or pulled.
- Blue-tongued skinks do not have teeth, though they do have powerful jaws, good for holding onto their food.
- Like all reptiles, blue-tongued skinks do in some degree use their Jacobson organ to sense their environment – meaning that one reason they stick their tongue in and out is to ‘smell’, however not as efficiently as say a snake.
- They are one of the first Australian lizards to be reported by zoologists in 1790; and have become very popular exotic pets given their docile nature.
