• Posted 12/19/2024.
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    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

    =====================
    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
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    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

Opinions needed...

K

Kisha

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After all the discussion about the alfredschmidti, I have taken a closer look at some of my lizards. I am suspicious that a female I have is alfredschmidti. Since I am still trying to figure out the identification criteria, I thought you all could help. I just measured her, svl= 300mm at least, may be more due to squirming, total length over 600mm. I can't get a weight today but will do so when I bring my scale back from school on Monday. She seems to meet the size criteria, but her markings are somewhat different that I would expect so thats where my doubt lies. I'll attach some side head shots, one should show the other female she is housed with and there is certainly a big difference in their coloring and size. I would love to know what you guys think. I have her paired up with a Czz male and they had a baby recently, so that would be interesting if she turns out to be Cza!

It looks like my photos are too big to post, so I'll have to adjust them and try again. So check back to see them.

Kisha
 
Here are the photos, I hope. Everyone was enjoying pumpkin night, so excuse the orange faces! Um Um

K
 

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Hiya Kisha,
I am perhaps the farthest from experience one can be without doubling back oneself, but in my very humble opinion I would lean more towards Czz for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, I believe the scelera of Cza is black, which gives the eye a very dark and muted colouration - certainly in mine, whose eyes appear almost totally black in most lighting. Celeste has a specimen with lighter eyes (which I think I read somewhere is typical of Cza from the Buka area, but I might be wrong), but again, looking at the pictures, the scelera appears significantly darker than the iris.

Secondly, I think that Cza are meant to display 50degree banding across the body. I think this is typical of their markings, but Im going off what I can vaguely recall from an article so again, there is room for error!

Thirdly, they are reported to have a yellow band that depends from the ear opening along the jaw towards the chin. I can see that your female definitely has the bright lemon yellow chin which stretches back across the throat, but I cant make out any yellow around the ear. I think the yellow towards the back of the jaw is significant, as I have another male that has a very yellow chin, but no yellow on the jaw.

The rostral scale does appear to be coloured in the manner of Cza though, which is one of the points of the original Cza description that confused me as all of my skinks appear to have very light and distinctive nose scales!

I re-read one of Sherris past posts, regarding the head scalation. It hadnt really occurred to me before, but when I look at my male Cza and compare him to the male Czz, he seems to have much fewer head scales in comparison and they appear flatter and less defined. Without going to the hassle of actually counting individual scales, I would say just from a distant observation that the Cza appears to have fewer scales at a glance.

Im hoping that Im wrong (theres a good chance!), as I would be very interested to hear about successful Cza/Czz pairings!
Regards, Jo
 
Im feeling a bit confused, as the report I read on Cza says that "The iris color of Corucia zebrata alfredschmidti does not seem to vary as much as in Corucia zebrata zebrata. The color is almost always a green-yellow mix - at least in Corucia zebrata alfredschmidti from Bougainville. However, Corucia zebrata alfredschmidti from Buka appear to have a more intense green iris.". This suprises me, as my believed Cza male has brown eyes. He is also below the average length (he is 23") and weight (700g), although he is not underweight and is bigger than my other skinks - especially his gigantic head!. On the other hand, he has the banding, and Im pretty sure black sclera as I cant make out any lighter colours in his eyes at all, as well as a pale pink rostral scale. Can I have opinions again as well please?

kaiser.jpg
 
Jo, you touched on exactly what I was thinking in regards to this ID. I am having trouble identifying what is meant by "black sclera" and one of my twin Cza lacks the banding alltogether. Her eyes are different than the Czz's I have and she is enormous in comparison. I'll post some photo's of the twins to show you what I mean, one of them is almost a blue color with no banding at all and the other is as typical as you can get. I am mostly suspicious due to her size, unusual coloring and her temperament. All this talk just got me wondering. Thanks for the 2 cents!

Kisha
 
Hiya Kisha,
I think that the sclera would be what appears as the "white" of the eye in humans - the area around the outside of the coloured iris in the centre of the eye. In the pics above of your female, the sclera appears (a slightly off) white colour - the first pic is perfect to get a good look at it! (no matter how I tried to distract my male he always turns his head rather than his eyes to look at things). Having re-read the article, it says that bands may be absent all together in the subspecies (just to be more confusing, lousy skinks lol), so I guess they arent a guarantee - theyre just another handy pointer if 50degree bands ARE present. Id really like to see pics of the twins - as I said, Im not experienced at all, but it does seem that there is some room for variation around the criteria.

Im wondering, could my male be a Czz/Cza hybrid do you think?

Id also love it if someone could point out which are the parietal scales in Cz - I know they run across the rear of the top of the head, but if the ones Im using are correct, my supposed Cza has 7 and my Czzs appear to have way more, so I think Im going wrong somewhere...
 
Ok, I think this is the twin that typifies the Cza ID. You'll make note of the "cream" color on the chin extending up to the "ear" and the dark coloration of the eye and you can almost see the stripes. The sclera, however, in this picture does not appear to me to be black. I'll post the other twin in a separate post.

K
 

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Jo,

I am virtually positive that your male is a Cza, but if it would put your mind at ease you can try checking with Sherri. I think I cc:ed her on some previous e-mails I sent you. If not, let me know and I'll send you her e-mail address offline. Note that Paulo in France has a female -- maybe you and he can work something out? I think your male may be elderly, however, just from his face (which could also explain his docile personality). Also, my Cza male is smaller than my female as well, but has all the other classic features. I just bought a food scale this weekend, and will try to get some weights on them all soon.

Kisha's female looks to me like she *could* be an intergrade -- she appears to have the 50 degree stripes, but not the black sclera. Is she unusually large? My Cza females have the same "dingy" sort of coloration (the males are much more colorful). But the black sclera are a definitive feature, and the one in the picture doesn't appear to have them. (Note that the eyes don't have to be totally dark, just the sclera -- I just got a rescue skink which I am pretty sure is a Cza male, and his eyes are green with dark grey sclera -- if he survives, I'll try to post some pictures of him).

I have a young female I also believe is an intergrade (Cza father/Czz mother), just based on her coloration and on some comments the breeder made to me when I bought her. He said the father "had a lot of blue" and was "extremely aggressive". At the time, I didn't know anything about Cza's. (Unfortunately, he has long since sold the father).

And I *think* Paulo in France said he bred his Cza female and a Czz male, because he didn't realize they were separate subspecies. So it *appears* to be possible to cross them. But it would be a shame not to keep the subspecies pure, especially considering how few pure Cza's are known in the captive U.S. population. Aside from Sherri's 9, and however many Kisha has, I have 5 (three males and two very elderly females, one of whom I am pretty sure is well past breeding age); there's one (probable male) in a zoo north of here; one male in a privately owned group in Ohio and one male in Illinois or Missouri (I think -- I am in e-mail contact with the owners, but don't recall off the top of my head what states they are in). Which reminds me, I think the fellow in Ohio bred his Cza male with a Czz female as well. That would make another case of cross-breeding.

I have yet to find any other pure Cza females of breeding age in the U.S. (And believe me, I have been looking!)

-- Celeste
 
Here's another Cza male

Here's a picture of my 1-year-old male, Arjuna -- son of Shiva and Shakti. He, too, shows the classic Cza (male) coloration.
 

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This is Zeke, he has had some trouble shedding in the past and is not as large as his brother. If I didn't know better I wouldn't even think they were related. You can see the "cream" coloring along the chin/ear and the dark eyes, but again in the corner you can see a lighter area that I thought was the sclera. He definitely does not have the stripes, though. I have been using the chin/ear coloring for Id's, I seem to be able to distinguish that better than the eye color. I see the dark olive vs. the more golden color of my others, but I still don't see the "black" sclera. I have no idea about the parietal scales, nor do I have any desire to try to count them:) It's hard enough trying to get those head shots.

Right now I am sticking with my large female being a Czz with unusual characteristics and size, but it was interesting getting your opinions and showing off my lizards!

Kisha
 

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That last pic looks quite interesting, as I *think* the eye appears darker around the edge of the iris. Youre right though, the sclera does not appear black in twin 1. How confusing! :) On Celestes picture, I can see that the eye appears ringed with a darker colour, like a cartoon outline, whereas the other gets lighter towards the edge of the eye...but it could just be my head convincing me that thats what I see! I see something similar in the 2nd pic of the 2nd twin, but it could be the angle.

Celeste, I do think that he must be Cza as he is different in all respects from the others, but its frustrating when they dont meet certain criteria lol! I guess I just wish for a perfect world :) After reading that repot I noticed that he didnt fall into much of the "typical" criteria, most notably size and eyes, which got me thinking. We were actually told that he was quite young when we got him, though possibly that story was given to the shop by his previous owner. He certainly has several old wounds that could suggest long term captive or wild caught.
 
Eye description on Cza picture

Hello,

On your picture, your Corucia, although has quite dilated pupils, shows a greenish iris and a black sclera indicative of the alfredschmidti subspecies.

Sincerely,
Brian
LCRC

johelian said:
Im feeling a bit confused, as the report I read on Cza says that "The iris color of Corucia zebrata alfredschmidti does not seem to vary as much as in Corucia zebrata zebrata. The color is almost always a green-yellow mix - at least in Corucia zebrata alfredschmidti from Bougainville. However, Corucia zebrata alfredschmidti from Buka appear to have a more intense green iris.". This suprises me, as my believed Cza male has brown eyes. He is also below the average length (he is 23") and weight (700g), although he is not underweight and is bigger than my other skinks - especially his gigantic head!. On the other hand, he has the banding, and Im pretty sure black sclera as I cant make out any lighter colours in his eyes at all, as well as a pale pink rostral scale. Can I have opinions again as well please?

kaiser.jpg
Click to expand...
 
sclera and corucia

Hello,

I hope the following will be of help to those trying to figure out scleras on Corucia.

To orient you on eye anatomy, look at a person's eye or your own in a mirror.

Going out from the pupil which is a black appearing aperature, you have the Iris which with most people is green, blue or brown. The Iris works like the shutter in a camera. Beyond that, you see the white part of the eye or sclera. With Corucia, it is very narrow and is almost completely covered by the lids. The black sclera in Cza is often described by Sherri Jones as looking like black eyeliner (except it is not on the lids but the black is on the eye itself along the lids. Certain other animals possess a Black sclera such as certain breeds of horses.

As far as my background, I am a licensed, board-certified Optician. If I can assist anyone further on optics, I be glad to help if I can.

Sincerely,
Brian
LCRC

Kisha said:
Jo, you touched on exactly what I was thinking in regards to this ID. I am having trouble identifying what is meant by "black sclera" and one of my twin Cza lacks the banding alltogether. Her eyes are different than the Czz's I have and she is enormous in comparison. I'll post some photo's of the twins to show you what I mean, one of them is almost a blue color with no banding at all and the other is as typical as you can get. I am mostly suspicious due to her size, unusual coloring and her temperament. All this talk just got me wondering. Thanks for the 2 cents!

Kisha
Click to expand...
 
Thanks Brian :) His eyes are actually entirely black-brown - his body colour changes in the photo, but all of my photos of him show brown eyes (except this one where the light must have messed it up) - which was one of those things that confused me, as I didnt think Cza had brown eyes.
 
kingsnake ad

I'm not sure if any of you guys have seen this ad: http://market.kingsnake.com/detail.php?cat=34&de=481669 . The pics aren't too great, but in the close up of one of the twins they have for sale, the baby really looks like it has black eyeliner. I just thought I'd point it out for those of you trying to track down Cza's.

-Alice

P.S. I could be totally off base because I have no direct knowledge about PTS's, but I've found the discussions on this forum very interesting.
 
What a shame! Well done though Alice for being so on the ball ;)
 
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