My two lizards

[lisa127]

This is Bert, my leopard gecko. He is just turning a year old but is huge! He is ten inches long and weighs 106 grams!!

And this is Bubba, my blue tongued skink. He is old now. I got him as a young adult, and he's been with me for 13 years. So I'm thinking maybe 15 or so years old now.

 

[JeffG]

I love your Irian Jaya. It's pretty rare to see BTS known to be that old. Not because they don't live that long, just because people usually don't keep them that long. Tortoise people are probably the best about holding onto their reptiles long-term.

 

[lisa127]

Thanks. Bubba is a pretty cool lizard. And so easy to care for. He doesn't eat nearly as much as he did in his younger days. I feed him now once a week and he takes a few bites and that's pretty much it. Is that typical for old BTS? And what kind of life span should I expect him to have? Ive heard 15 to 20 years but I don't know how accurate that is. I'm asking you these questions because I know you're a BTS person....

 

[Sulcata tortoise665]

Cool lizards! I was wondering are leopard geckos better than bts? I've been wanting to get one but I've ears both are great

 

[lisa127]

I don't know....I love them both! The leo gecko, the BTS, and uromastyx are my 3 favorite lizards and probably the only three I would keep. As for the BTS and the leo, both are somewhat laid back and slower moving lizards. Both are easy to care for. The difference is in size of the lizard and therefore size of habitat. The BTS is much larger and is also an omnivore that does not have to eat live food. Leo's only eat insects of course. I love them both because they are both so friendly and calm. About a dozen years ago I got out of breeding leopard geckos. I purchased Bert last fall mainly because I missed the leo's and wanted to keep just one again as a pet.

 

[JeffG]

Thanks. Bubba is a pretty cool lizard. And so easy to care for. He doesn't eat nearly as much as he did in his younger days. I feed him now once a week and he takes a few bites and that's pretty much it. Is that typical for old BTS? And what kind of life span should I expect him to have? Ive heard 15 to 20 years but I don't know how accurate that is. I'm asking you these questions because I know you're a BTS person....

Again, it's really hard to say because very few people keep this type of animal for its entire life. I know of some BTS that are in their 20's. I actually know of a couple that are still breeding at 20+. The oldest I have right now that I know ages of are 14 &15.

It would actually be very useful information if you would keep track of how long Bubba lives (I know, duh!, but I mean it would be great information for other BTS lovers to know). You have obviously been doing something right to have such a healthy looking animal for that long. It makes me very happy to see Bubba and how well he is doing.

Also, I cut feeding to once a week by the time my skinks hit one year old. Their appetite does lessen as they age. Their growth rate gets slower and slower as they get older, so less food is required for that, on top of the fact that they tend to get less active when they get to their senior years. It sounds like Bubba's eating habits are perfectly normal to me.