Common Name:Giant Russian Legless Lizard

Latin name: Ophisaurus apodus

Size: Adult legless lizards range in size from three to four feet in length weighing 11 to 21 ounces.

General appearance: The first apparent feature of the sheltopusik is the lack of legs. To the untrained eye it can resemble a snake. It does have eyelids, external ears, a large tail and uniform scale size like most other lizards. It is brown to olive green in appearance with a lateral fold that runs the length of the body, but not the tail. The tail often makes up half the length of the lizard. The tail can demonstrate autonomy (breaking) but rarely regenerates the tail back. Fortunately this lizard does not readily drop its tail. O. apodus is the only European member of this genus and is the only member that also demonstrates vestigial limbs in the form of spurs near its vent.

In the wild, these legless lizards come from a fairly dry environment and often can be found along rocky hillsides with many places available for cover.

Argentinian black and white tegus are sometime simply called black and white tegus, although this can lead to confusion as there is also a Columbian black and white tegu (the Columbian is similar but smaller and less docile). Sometimes they are also called giant tegus, or big headed tegus. The scientific name is Tupinambis merianae.

The Argentinian black and white tegu is largest of the tegus, and adults often reach a size of 4 feet or even longer (including the tail). They have a fairly distinctive pattern of white and black dots and stripes over the entire body.

The Blue-tongued Skink (also called the blue tongue lizard) is an Australian lizard. It spends its days eating and sunning itself. At night it rests, sheltered in fallen logs or leaf litter. It is a relatively shy animal, but can put up a bold front when cornered; when threatened, it puffs up its body, sticks out its long, blue tongue, and hisses. The Blue-tongued Skink has a life span of up to 20 years.
Anatomy: Blue-tongued Skinks have a long, bright blue tongue, tiny legs, and a short tail which can break off and regrow. This skink grows up to 23.5 inches (60 cm) long.

Diet: Blue-tongued Skinks are omnivores (they eat meat and plants). They eat small animals (like insects, worms, and snails) and flowers, fruits and berries.

Habitat: Blue-tongued Skinks are native to Australia. They live in a variety of habitats, including grasslands, forests, rainforests, and deserts. They are now found all over the world as pets.

Reproduction: Blue-tongued Skink give birth to 6 to 12 live young. Newborns are about 4 inches (10 cm) long and weigh about 0.5 ounce (14 grams).

Classification: Class Reptilia (reptiles), Order Squamata (lizards and snakes), Family Scincidae (skinks), Genus Tiliqua , Species scincoides.

Once upon a time on a tropical island realm far away, there lived a colony of gnomes. These gnomes were especially arboreal, and loved to swing from tree to tree. With time, these little gnomes adapted more and more to their lives in the trees. The grew long tails to be able to hold onto the tree limbs better. They grew sharp claws to be able to grip the bark better, and they grew scales to be able to better deal with the constant drip of the rain forest. They became what we know today as Prehensile Tailed Skinks, or Monkey-tailed skinks, and they haven't lost their little gnome-like faces that hint of mischief. (Well, look at them and see if they don't look like gnomes - it sounded like a good possibility to me, anyway!)

Native to the Solomon Islands, the Prehensile Tailed Skink is one of the group of "Giant Skinks." They can reach well over 2.5', with about half that being their long, strong tail which gives them their name. This tail is able to wrap tightly around a tree branch, enabling the animal to hang at odd angles in order to get the choicest bits of vines and leaves - their primary diet. They are, in fact, completely vegetarian, one of the few skinks to have made this dietary adaptation. Feeding them a variety of dark, leafy greens such as collard greens, dandelions, hibiscus and grape leaves, and similar far is recommended. They also love fruits, though these should be offered in moderation.

Care of PT skinks is a bit more involved than some reptiles. They require a fairly large cage (at least 2'x4'x4'), with plenty of climbing branches and hiding areas. This size cage would be suffucient for one or two skinks. Larger colonies require larger cages, with many more hiding areas. Both males and females can be terretorial, so introducing new skinks into the cage may be difficult and risky. PT skinks often kill newcomers that don't "fit" into the cliques these lizards form.

In addition to the large size of the cage, it must be very humid (70% or higher) most of the time. They are nocturnal animals, and therefore, are not good for being sources of daytime entertainment. A large water area needs to be offered, as they enjoy soaking. The water dish often becomes a place for defecation, and it should be changed anytime that happens. Because these lizards are nocturnal, it is doubtful that they require UVB, though supplying a source of UVB would probably not do any harm.

PT skinks are mostly wild-caught imports. Few people are breeding them in captivity, and those that are couldn't possibly keep up with pet-trade demand for them. They are live-bearers, and breed only every other year, or less often. One of the other gnome-like traits they possess is that these skinks are one of the few reptiles which has actually been shown to care for their young after birth. Baby skinks are fairly large - up to 8" long at birth; the 7 to 8 month long gestation period is also quite unusual. This slow reproductive rate, combined with their being collected for the pet trade, and their habitat being destroyed, is quickly leading to these charming creatures' demise in the wild. Captive breeding programs are vital, but are not considered good fiscal bets, unfortunately. It would be wise to do it, anyway, as it may be the only way for these wizened gnomic lizards to avoid extinction.

Solomon Island, Monkey-tailed, or Prehensile-tailed skinks are darling lizards which make worthwhile additions to your home. Provide them with ample space, greens, and hiding areas, and they do very well in captivity. If you want one, though, time may be running out; consider finding a captive bred one, if at all possible.

Description: A large species of skink growing to a body length of 200 mm with moderately well developed limbs and tail 200% of the body. It has smooth body scales, and large sharply pointed teeth. The colour pattern consists of distinctive broad brown bands above and dark markings on the ventral surface.

Natural distribution: Widespread throughout New Caledonia over a wide latitudinal range, also present on offshore islands, and Lifou and Mare Islands in the Loyalty Islands. It is found in a range of habitats from disturbed coastal forest to high elevation closed forest and maquis shrubland.

Native Range: Virtually unknown in captive collections until 1994 when specimens of T. gracilis and T. novaeguineae were imported from the Indonesian country of Irian Jaya on the western end of the island of New Guinea. Little information is available on their natural habitat, although they have been collected in moist habitat along waterways at fairly high elevations.

Size and Appearance: Approximately two and one-half inches long at birth, they average about eight to ten inches in length as adults. Juveniles are dark brownish black with a thin white or cream mid-dorsal stripe. Adult specimens are solid dark reddish brown with a startlingly bright orange ring around the eye. Some captive-bred specimens have varying amounts of gold flecking on the toes and face. It is not know whether this is genetic or dietary in nature.

A smallish coppery brown skink. The dorsal surface is dotted with black spots, margined posteriorly by a conspicuous transversely oriented cream dash. Pale markings cluster on the dorsolateral region to form a ragged-edged broken stripe from the nape to the hips. There is a narrow black upper lateral zone that extends from the snout to the hindlimb which may enclose obscure paler flecks. A broken white midlateral stripe composed of a series of dashes extends from the side of the neck to the hindlimb. The lower lateral zone is black, merging to greyish brown on the ventrolateral region. The top of the head is rich copper in colour, sharply contrasting the dark upper lateral zone. The tail is suffused with grey and prominently dotted with black and is almost twice as long as the snout-vent length. The ventral surfaces are whitish and the soles of the feet are black. The lower eyelid bears a large transparent disc. SVL = 70mm.

A rich brown skink, either uniform or with a dark brown spot on each individual scale. Numerous dark spots, sometimes forming a dark streak is seen in the upper lateral zone, especially anteriorly. White or cream ventral surface. SVL = 90mm.