Roots, Scoots, & Scales

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Roots, Scoots, & Scales A joint effort between two reptile hobbyists working with unique animals. Lizards, colubrids & more!
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We’ll be at the Hamburg reptile show in Morgantown PA this Saturday! Bringing a hefty list of cool stuff (swipe to see!)...
08/08/2024

We’ll be at the Hamburg reptile show in Morgantown PA this Saturday! Bringing a hefty list of cool stuff (swipe to see!) and maybe a couple other things depending on what I decide. Along with select terrarium plants and a couple invertebrates. Looking forward to it!

I’ve had several people message me on the topic of blue tongue skink diets as well as seen several posts as of late, so ...
06/08/2024

I’ve had several people message me on the topic of blue tongue skink diets as well as seen several posts as of late, so I had time to do a quick run down of feeding day.

This big mixture with all the veggies is for my adult breeders and older growouts. (Ps- the bowl of greens in the background is for the Egernia and Iguanas! 😎) All skinks under one year of age eat primarily high quality brands of wet cat food (pate type) and Repashy Bluey Buffet. They will *occasionally* get this adult/veggie mix for variety when the feed days line up, but 90% of the youngsters’ diet is the cat food, they grow very fast so the extra protein there is important at that stage, I rarely give them the mixed veggies added in.
This post is oriented towards feeding adult blue tongue skinks over one year of age.

This mix changes slightly depending on which veggies I have on hand, but this week it was yellow squash, zucchini, carrot, arugula, parsley, a scoop of chopped chicken hearts, & a bit of mango. Sometimes I will add a few raw eggs or frozen thawed freshwater snails (H-Mart or any Asian grocery store carries them) but not this week. Shown afterwards combined with 5 large cans of dog food for about a 50/50 meat to veggie ratio, plus 5 tbsp of calcium powder. I feel the skinks prefer the calcium mixed in vs sprinkled on top and tend to eat their veggies way better like this as well. Not all pretty after mixing it up but they love it 😂

The adults get a big meal like this once per week and sometimes a smaller treat in between which can be a different item. I think mixing it up keeps it interesting for them and increases appetite. Some weeks the ratio will be more meat oriented, or just dog food, or even more veggies. If you don’t have a bunch of skinks this is easy to prepare on a smaller scale, as well as freeze for later. This big batch cost about 20 bucks and fed dozens of adults. I’ve found the local farmers market along with H-mart to be a great place to source reasonably priced veggies and meats for the skink colony.

Been a minute since I posted her. This lady is doing well, I feel like she is pregnant but I never like to call it befor...
04/08/2024

Been a minute since I posted her. This lady is doing well, I feel like she is pregnant but I never like to call it before I actually see babies for any of the live bearing herps 😂 they can be sneaky! Eating great and just chillin, we will see what happens in the fall.

Just sharing two more Irian Jaya blue tongues residing here. These are not new additions, the first one is a WC we added...
01/08/2024

Just sharing two more Irian Jaya blue tongues residing here. These are not new additions, the first one is a WC we added late summer last year and he is adjusting well, he was super defensive at first and had even dropped the tip of his tail. I just love his extremely contrasting bands and lighter base color. I keep saying he but that is to be determined, showed no interest this past breeding season but generally it takes at least a full year for any wild Indos to settle in here, it’s a whole different seasonal adjustment. 😵‍💫 fingers crossed for 2025!

Second is a captive bred male who was one of my first IJs we got back in 2021, he was a bit more deep orange but has gotten lighter with age, an interesting progression to see. Extremely chill personality and all around great skink.

I had mentioned a couple posts ago about picking up some more Irian Jaya’s to expand the project, here are 3 of them! So...
26/07/2024

I had mentioned a couple posts ago about picking up some more Irian Jaya’s to expand the project, here are 3 of them! Some great looking skinks with a natural variety of colors. Happy to have them here and they are all settling in well.

More pics to come of the rest once they shed out and I have some free time for another photo session!

A couple weeks ago I was on the fence about this one, but they’ve now landed very firmly in the holdback stack. From a T...
18/07/2024

A couple weeks ago I was on the fence about this one, but they’ve now landed very firmly in the holdback stack. From a Turner white pairing that has previously resulted in some of the lightest skinks here with usually more opaque banding - so I’m pretty surprised to see just how dark and wide the stripes are on this baby. They have continued to expand pattern wise so I’m super curious to see this after a few more sheds.

Gettysburg Reptile Expo this Saturday! We’ll be bringing a really nice assortment of species, list in the second slide (...
18/07/2024

Gettysburg Reptile Expo this Saturday! We’ll be bringing a really nice assortment of species, list in the second slide (and Dad of the gidgees in the photo (nfs😎). Will also have a select few terrarium plants and a couple other things, perhaps some Endlers Livebearers if I have enough time. Looking forward to seeing everyone.

A super exciting box arrived yesterday! After well over a year of searching for more, we got 1.2 Pachydactylus rugosus. ...
12/07/2024

A super exciting box arrived yesterday! After well over a year of searching for more, we got 1.2 Pachydactylus rugosus. One of the coolest species I’ve worked with so far, have had a lone male here for a while. Hope to hatch some babies in the future, thanks to .l.hupp.geckos for these. They look great!

A couple baby Irian Jaya blue tongues from this year! The first one is my holdback. These are from my oddball really tan...
09/07/2024

A couple baby Irian Jaya blue tongues from this year! The first one is my holdback. These are from my oddball really tan and light female with a more standard black & white banded male.

I thought I had too many males here (almost an even 1:1 ratio!) but when a few of those males just feel like taking a year off, I had two of them absolutely trying to carry the team, resulting in not many litters as I think they were just spread too thin. Because of that, I really expanded the project this year (ty to a couple buddies who really helped out with that!) so 2025 should be set. 🤞

Amphiglossus reticulatus/reticulated water skinks have begun to emerge from their eggs! These were laid sometime between...
29/06/2024

Amphiglossus reticulatus/reticulated water skinks have begun to emerge from their eggs! These were laid sometime between last Saturday/Sunday and incubated for about 5 days at 75-77F on a nest of damp sphagnum moss atop Pangea hatch. The eggs are laid with a developed baby already inside, hence the extremely fast timeline, and have a very thin shell that is partly see through. Since we have a lot of extra males here that need to be paired up, none of these will be leaving until we can see who’s what. Luckily they exhibit pretty obvious dimorphism but I don’t know how long it will take before we can figure that out. Super awesome, and can’t wait to raise these little ones up.

Chondrodactylus angulifer. Having a pretty decent first season with these guys! 4 babies hatched so far and waiting on o...
24/06/2024

Chondrodactylus angulifer. Having a pretty decent first season with these guys! 4 babies hatched so far and waiting on one egg left, not sure if the female will produce anymore clutches this year as she appears to have taken a break, but no complaints here, I’ll take it!

Great looking little eastern blue tongue growing up here! Produced by Milky Way Reptiles
19/06/2024

Great looking little eastern blue tongue growing up here!
Produced by Milky Way Reptiles

Some cool new additions to the Northern blue tongues. Probably the nicest looking Ivory I’ve ever seen, and another uniq...
10/06/2024

Some cool new additions to the Northern blue tongues. Probably the nicest looking Ivory I’ve ever seen, and another unique looking baby who has orange line, sunrise, and white walker in its lineage.
Ivory is from Adam Gee
Orangey red baby is from

Oedura monilis! Hatched a couple of these cool Aussie velvet geckos this season. These 2 are headed to their new home to...
08/06/2024

Oedura monilis! Hatched a couple of these cool Aussie velvet geckos this season. These 2 are headed to their new home tomorrow!

Hamburg reptile show in Morgantown PA this Saturday! Will be bringing a couple green keelbellys, Smallwoods anoles, plen...
06/06/2024

Hamburg reptile show in Morgantown PA this Saturday! Will be bringing a couple green keelbellys, Smallwoods anoles, plenty of skinks (Northern and Irian Jaya), viper geckos, pictus, cresteds & gargs. Vietnamese mossy frogs & Whites tree frogs. An adult pair of northern pines, and a few assorted terrarium plants & isopods. Gonna be a fun weekend!

I wonder what is going on here. Funky looking Pictus gecko hatched out from one of the anery groups. It looks extremely ...
03/06/2024

I wonder what is going on here. Funky looking Pictus gecko hatched out from one of the anery groups. It looks extremely light compared to the other visual anery siblings. Definitely a holdback!

We’ll be at the  tomorrow! Bringing a wide variety of herps! Stop by to talk reptiles and maybe pick up a new critter! H...
01/06/2024

We’ll be at the tomorrow! Bringing a wide variety of herps! Stop by to talk reptiles and maybe pick up a new critter! Hope to see everyone there.

1.1 Boiga multicincta
Crested Geckos
Gargoyle Geckos
Pictus Geckos
Viper Geckos
Mourning Geckos
Green Keel Bellied Lizards
Northern Blue Tongue Skinks
Irian Jaya Blue Tongue Skinks
Whites Treefrogs
Vietnamese Mossy Frogs
Will also be bringing assorted terrarium plants and a few isopods/inverts as well!

One baby pink tongue skink will also be attending unless it gets scooped up ahead of time, I have a few folks to message!
Most everything proudly produced in-house with lineage available.

Discovered a litter of 3 gidgee skinks last night! Excited is an understatement! I sorta had a hunch as the female was a...
01/06/2024

Discovered a litter of 3 gidgee skinks last night! Excited is an understatement! I sorta had a hunch as the female was acting suspicious back in February but I wasn’t totally sure, really cool and another first for 2024.

A couple quick photos of one Lepidophyma smithii/Smiths night lizard. This is an older sibling to the babies that were j...
30/05/2024

A couple quick photos of one Lepidophyma smithii/Smiths night lizard. This is an older sibling to the babies that were just born! Smiths night lizards are a different species than the slightly more common yellow spotted night lizard and I actually see them out in the daytime a bit more often by comparison. Care is mostly the same though.

I think the 10th and possibly final blue tongue litter of the year will be these 3 Irian Jayas! Second year in a row pro...
27/05/2024

I think the 10th and possibly final blue tongue litter of the year will be these 3 Irian Jayas! Second year in a row producing this species, I think I’ll be keeping one as a holdback. Lots to post up in the next week or so as some babies from the past several litters are moving into their first and second sheds and will be ready to go.

Litter 9 is 4 babies (I found 2 more the day after this pic was taken 😆 I think she is done now?!) from Taquito (hypo su...
22/05/2024

Litter 9 is 4 babies (I found 2 more the day after this pic was taken 😆 I think she is done now?!) from Taquito (hypo sunset Turner white) and Chowder (Turner white sunrise). Have not had any babies sired by him until now so these will be fun to watch the color develop!

Litter 8 consisted of 4 babies from Hibiscus (hypo sunset Turner white) & Chili (red outcross). I feel so lucky because ...
20/05/2024

Litter 8 consisted of 4 babies from Hibiscus (hypo sunset Turner white) & Chili (red outcross). I feel so lucky because I only managed to pair them up twice this season, and I didn’t expect any babies because of it. Looks like a really cool variety in this mix of and a new line to add into the colony here. Really awesome genetics in this pair, dad isn’t the most red skink but a very cool light shade with not much darker coloration, and perfect structure IMO. These will all be holdbacks for a while.

Litter 7 was 11 babies from Sage! Repeat pairing from last year as I was pretty happy with how a lot of them turned out....
18/05/2024

Litter 7 was 11 babies from Sage! Repeat pairing from last year as I was pretty happy with how a lot of them turned out. Got a lot of nice reds & oranges out of this mix with a little white patterning too.

Litter 6 looks like it’s gonna be just 2 babies, but hey she only had 1 last year so we are on an upward trend! Parmesan...
15/05/2024

Litter 6 looks like it’s gonna be just 2 babies, but hey she only had 1 last year so we are on an upward trend! Parmesan is a Turner white sunrise x T+ Caramel, and Tofu is a combo of hypo/sunset/Turner white. Last years baby from the same pair which I held back, turned out super cool and is pictured on the last slide. Excited to see how these two look after a couple sheds.

Litter 5 was born earlier this week, 6 babies from Linguini x Sorrel. I was curious if his sort of striped pattern down ...
12/05/2024

Litter 5 was born earlier this week, 6 babies from Linguini x Sorrel. I was curious if his sort of striped pattern down the back would be genetic and one baby does look similar which is pretty neat. Unfortunately a couple were born weak and didn’t eat their yolks so I am hand feeding a few till they beef up, fingers crossed for them.

Litter 4 is here and I’m so excited to see how these turn out! Mochi had 9 babies total (2 more were after this pic was ...
07/05/2024

Litter 4 is here and I’m so excited to see how these turn out! Mochi had 9 babies total (2 more were after this pic was taken, hours later!). I was going to try and pair her with a Turner white but he just did not want to participate and the season was nearing the end, so as a last effort I tried Cinnamon and thus, we might get some really colorful and high white skinks from this batch! He has a sprinkle of Twhite back in his lineage too so that’s neat. They’ll be staying a little longer than the others so I can appropriately pick holdbacks.

Litter  #3 was a total of 14 skinklets from Opal yesterday! I had taken the first photo in late April as I was really ho...
05/05/2024

Litter #3 was a total of 14 skinklets from Opal yesterday! I had taken the first photo in late April as I was really hoping she was brewing some babies and not just alarmingly large 😂. She fooled me the past 2 years so I’m pretty thankful this season took! She’s the mom of one of my favorite skinks (who is also due any day now too) so needless to say a few of these will be holdbacks! Will have to see how they’re looking after a couple sheds. These should be some extremely light/high white babies.

Litter  #2 dropped yesterday as well! 3 peppy babies from Gouda x Mango. Small litter but they are active and strong. Re...
04/05/2024

Litter #2 dropped yesterday as well! 3 peppy babies from Gouda x Mango. Small litter but they are active and strong. Repeat pairing from last season, I have one holdback who turned out beautiful so I probably won’t need to keep all of these but I want to see how they progress for a few sheds!

First blue tongue skink litter of the year! 8, maybe more, but so far momma appears to be done. These are a combo of red...
03/05/2024

First blue tongue skink litter of the year! 8, maybe more, but so far momma appears to be done. These are a combo of red, hypo, sunset, & a little bit of Turner white lines in the mix. Expecting some nice orangey red tones on these babies, I already have 2 favorites.
Parents in the last pic, Cinnamon x Rue

Reticulated water skinks are pretty cool 😎 I don’t know when we will produce them but I have accumulated a decent group ...
27/04/2024

Reticulated water skinks are pretty cool 😎
I don’t know when we will produce them but I have accumulated a decent group here so definitely hoping for some babies in the future. They have gotten so hard to find in the hobby.

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