Hi,
My name is josh and I have been a keeper of Corucia for about two years, but I have worked with them for about five years. I have a mated pair, the female has the normal "zebrata" banded scale pattern, and I believe my male is an example of the dark spotted morph.
I think my female is gravid. I noted some mating activity in late May, and my female has been gaining weight. Lately, she has been behaving oddly, and I thought it might have something to do with her current state of gravidity. Normally, she would eat a papaya spear out of my hand, flick her tongue out at me, and climb up my arm. Now, she seems afraid of me. If I put my hand anywhere near her, she will jerk her head in the opposite direction. Anytime I touch her, she jerks and scurries away into a hide. To be honest, she has been hurting my feelings. Is this behavior normal for a gravid skink?
I also wanted to ask about their diet. Personally, the diets in the books by de Vosjoli and Coborn seem flawed. I have been feeding mine a modified green iguana diet. I feed them about 70% greens, 20% mixed veggies, and 10% fruit. For greens, I feed them mainly collard greens, kale, and mustard greens. I do feed them other greens, such as endive, escorel, and chard, but these are the ones I get most often. I feed them mainly okra, squash, yams, and green beans for their mixed veggies. Lately I have been experimenting with prickely pear cactus pads, but my skinks don't seem crazy about them. I have tried frozen mixed veggies, and while the skinks seem to relish them, I did not like what it did to their excrement, which became malodorous and loose. For fruit, I mainly feed papaya, mango, and banana. They seem to like figs, but I can't get them very often. I do occasionally offer them pothos leaves and let them "forage" on my pothos house plants. I do supplement with a multivitamin/mineral weekly. I also top their salads with dried and powered plant matter(dandelion greens, alfalfa, hibiscus flowers, rose petals, clover flowers, and others). I occasionally top their salads with powdered bee pollen, mainly because they seem to like the smell, but also for its rich supply of nutrients. I use the powered flowers and greens as my skinks seem to eat more when I use it, and to add variety to their diet. I try to keep their diet in the 2:1 calcium to phosphorus ratio, although I am not sure if it is important for Corucia. I also try to avoid feeding foods that are high in goitrogens and oxalates. I am not sure that I need to avoid foods high in oxalates, since Corucia evolved to eat the oxalate rich Epipremnum. Does my diet seem suitable, or should I change it? Is the "salad topper" and the vitamin/mineral overkill? Does anyone offer meat items or protein rich foods like egg, tofu, or alfalfa? I can't see the point in this, but I just wanted to ask.
Thank you all for your help, and I especially hope to hear from Sherri and Brian. Josh
My name is josh and I have been a keeper of Corucia for about two years, but I have worked with them for about five years. I have a mated pair, the female has the normal "zebrata" banded scale pattern, and I believe my male is an example of the dark spotted morph.
I think my female is gravid. I noted some mating activity in late May, and my female has been gaining weight. Lately, she has been behaving oddly, and I thought it might have something to do with her current state of gravidity. Normally, she would eat a papaya spear out of my hand, flick her tongue out at me, and climb up my arm. Now, she seems afraid of me. If I put my hand anywhere near her, she will jerk her head in the opposite direction. Anytime I touch her, she jerks and scurries away into a hide. To be honest, she has been hurting my feelings. Is this behavior normal for a gravid skink?
I also wanted to ask about their diet. Personally, the diets in the books by de Vosjoli and Coborn seem flawed. I have been feeding mine a modified green iguana diet. I feed them about 70% greens, 20% mixed veggies, and 10% fruit. For greens, I feed them mainly collard greens, kale, and mustard greens. I do feed them other greens, such as endive, escorel, and chard, but these are the ones I get most often. I feed them mainly okra, squash, yams, and green beans for their mixed veggies. Lately I have been experimenting with prickely pear cactus pads, but my skinks don't seem crazy about them. I have tried frozen mixed veggies, and while the skinks seem to relish them, I did not like what it did to their excrement, which became malodorous and loose. For fruit, I mainly feed papaya, mango, and banana. They seem to like figs, but I can't get them very often. I do occasionally offer them pothos leaves and let them "forage" on my pothos house plants. I do supplement with a multivitamin/mineral weekly. I also top their salads with dried and powered plant matter(dandelion greens, alfalfa, hibiscus flowers, rose petals, clover flowers, and others). I occasionally top their salads with powdered bee pollen, mainly because they seem to like the smell, but also for its rich supply of nutrients. I use the powered flowers and greens as my skinks seem to eat more when I use it, and to add variety to their diet. I try to keep their diet in the 2:1 calcium to phosphorus ratio, although I am not sure if it is important for Corucia. I also try to avoid feeding foods that are high in goitrogens and oxalates. I am not sure that I need to avoid foods high in oxalates, since Corucia evolved to eat the oxalate rich Epipremnum. Does my diet seem suitable, or should I change it? Is the "salad topper" and the vitamin/mineral overkill? Does anyone offer meat items or protein rich foods like egg, tofu, or alfalfa? I can't see the point in this, but I just wanted to ask.
Thank you all for your help, and I especially hope to hear from Sherri and Brian. Josh
