BTS breeders?

[raisinjelly]

Does anyone happen to have a recommendation for a good Northern blue tongue skink breeder that produces non-standard coloring? I've been trying to set up a reservation with the owners of bluetongueskinks.net, who have beautiful pale colored skinks, but I'm having issues getting them to respond to my e-mails. It's very frustrating because I'd been planning on buying from them for years. And I'm having a hard time finding other options.

It's not that there's anything wrong with the standard coloring, it's still very pretty. I just have an eye for the more unusual and I figure if I'm going to have an animal for 15-20 years it should be my top choice, y'know?

[JLC]

So far as I understand it, "bluetongueskinks.net" is a forum, not a breeder. We get e-mails here at BP.net by people asking to buy this or that from us, and we ignore those as well. Now, the forum may be connected to or owned by a particular breeder, I'm not sure...but I'd be willing to bet that if so, it's someone that lives in Australia. Most of their members with active breeding and unusual blueies live in Australia and none of them can export their animals.

Brian Barczyk (BHB Reptiles) is getting into blue tongues. His are from Indonesia rather than Australia. He's got some axanthic-looking animals, if I remember correctly, but I don't know when he'll have babies available. You could write to him and ask, though.

It's extremely unlikely that you'll find any actual Australian localities available, much less any of their exciting morphs. If you do, be very careful about the source, because the last thing you want to buy is illegally smuggled animals.

EDIT: Well, disregard some of that. The forum is owned by the breeder, and the breeder is in the US. I do wonder how they got all those different lines of Australian animals, but I guess if they've been at it long enough, they got animals that came into the States before Australia shut down their exports. Anyhow...good luck with that.

[MarkS]

Actually I don't think it's as difficult to get animals out of Austrailia as it used to be, I think there is a lot of paperwork and time involved but it's not impossible. I believe that Nick Mutton of Inland Reptile has gotten quite a few carpet pythons out of Austrailia in recent years.

[jclaiborne]

There are quite a few breeding Northerns in the US, however babies generally aren't available this early in the year and litters are small, so the waiting lists fill up fast! Indos generally are still WC or "Farm Bred" and imported from out of the country, so that is why you will see a lot of indo babies for sale, people are trying to breed them, but it is a hard process to get them adapted, I have been trying to breed my IJs (both presumed to be WC) for 2 years now and no luck. So finding a northern that is not the "normal" coloration may be a challenge, you will generally see babies available around spring and they sell quick, I'm talking within a few days (especially the northerns). LLL reptile is breeding their own Blueys now, so they may have some babies pop up in spring time, but I don't know if they have any Northern Color variations, they did have some Indo color variations though, so if they successfully locked up there may be a source there, if they don't get held back.

[jclaiborne]

Actually I don't think it's as difficult to get animals out of Austrailia as it used to be, I think there is a lot of paperwork and time involved but it's not impossible. I believe that Nick Mutton of Inland Reptile has gotten quite a few carpet pythons out of Austrailia in recent years.

From what I understand from the people in Australia breeding the Blueys that they can't be exported at all, due to their protection status. Other species I don't know.

[raisinjelly]

JLC - Yeah sorry about that, I did mean the couple that owns the site. Right now I'm just interested in the Northerns, but the Indonesians are something I might like to get into in the future. Thanks for the suggestion! I hear good things about BHB.

jclaiborne - Where are all these breeders hiding at? Lol. I've only been able to find just one other person so far who keeps their website updated, let alone someone who produces different coloring. And the lists sure do fill up fast! That's why I'm scrambling to try and find someone before room runs out. I should have looked into back up options sooner instead of just assuming I'd be able to go with BTS.net. They've said I would have 7th pick but they haven't responded to my last e-mail and I've already had to prod them to respond to the one before that after I gave them a week. I'm probably going to try one more time but after that I'm not sure what to do. I don't want to have to wait for 2016 babies, even if I do have to go with the default

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Here are people who breed BTS

http://roussisreptiles.com/

http://www.deerfernfarms.com/BTSkinks.htm

http://captivebred.com/

[jclaiborne]

Other than what Deborah posted, I don't know if many other breeders actually have websites, they lurk on the BTS.net sites, generally that post in the classified section. Like I said in my previous post I know that LLL has a breeding project for Blueys, I know that they have successfully bred northerns and some indos, I don't personally know how many they plan to hold back, but they also don't start a waiting list, they sell their blueys through their website and in their stores, if you see them online and it is from their facility it will say "CB by LLL Reptiles", but it is a little early for babies to be popping up, you will likely see them available in spring time, especially the Northerns.

On a side note I personally wouldn't discount any others species, the Indo species are beautiful and come in a variety of "shades" as well. They require slightly different husbandry, but are still amazing lizards. My female has a light carmel color and my male has very dark bandings, both have bright red bellies. Dont' get me wrong I will still add a northern to the collection one day, but right now my focus will remain on attempting to breed my IJs.