# (Tropidophorus apulus) Spiny Water Skinks, Also Known As Phillipine Crocodile Skinks



## biggie01 (Feb 23, 2012)

Ive had my male and female Skinks (Tropidophorus apulus) now for about 8-9 months and a few week ago the female gave birth to 4 babies 2 of them died at birth other 2 was running around happily :lol2:.. But i was wondering if anyone else on here as any of these skinks ?? Only one person as got back to me which was about 6 months ago and he didnt really tell me much about them except he said im lucky to get these as there hard too get in england and not many people own these and i dont think he is active anymore as he asnt mailed back.. I was hopeing to find someone else with these lizards as there isnt one care sheet about them and only place ive seen these for sale is on american websites, every petshop ive gone in to ask about these lizards as looked at me weird and said they have never heard or seen them before and the petshop i got them from knew nothing about them either and said they never had anything like these before.. Just wanting to know what temperature they should be kept at at minute im keeping them at 28 celsius which is around 82 fahrenheit as i was told they dont like it to hot but they do like a basking light over there big water bowel.. ive set there tank up so its one third water and rest is land and substrate im using is eco earth as it keeps humidity up..
if anyone can get back to me who own these lizards would be a good help but i must be doing something right if there having babies as they are live bearers and was told live bearers require more atenshion lol pics of them are below

One of the babies i got




One of the adults (not best pic i got lol)


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## vukic (Apr 9, 2010)

Most animals stop reproduction if conditions are right... So you must be keeping them right... Maybe you should write a caresheet.....

So are these semi aquatic??? I'm interested in all things semi aquatic... 

And I'm tempted to look into these... Got any details you.can share??? Like how big the get/are? enclosure size?? How much they roughly cost??? Diet???? Etc... 

Sorry, I no it's not the response you were hoping... But.hope you.get more info soon.. 

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## Bigezza09 (May 3, 2011)

I'm sure someone posted pictures of these on here not so long ago or it may have been you?


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## Bigezza09 (May 3, 2011)

Are these the same? http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/lizard-pictures/886015-croc-skinks-tokays-iguanas-more.html


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## biggie01 (Feb 23, 2012)

Bigezza09 said:


> I'm sure someone posted pictures of these on here not so long ago or it may have been you?


Yeah i posted a pic of the babies a few weeks ago when they was born and no there not like them crocodile skinks


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## biggie01 (Feb 23, 2012)

vukic said:


> Most animals stop reproduction if conditions are right... So you must be keeping them right... Maybe you should write a caresheet.....
> 
> So are these semi aquatic??? I'm interested in all things semi aquatic...
> 
> ...


Yeah a few people said i should write a care sheet lol..
Yes they are semi aquatic they do spend about 70% of there time in water..
I have got my male and female in a 3ft x 2ft x 2ft tank they only grown too around 1 foot long maybe not even that ive not measured mine but they dont look 1foot long lol..
I have set mine up with eco earth substrate with live moss on top to keep humidity up then i have a big plastic container thats just over 1 foot long and 2foot wide and its about 5inches deep so its big enough for them to have a swim in and stay under water.. ive also put a hide on land for them and one in the water then i have fake plants all around the tank too.. i was told in the wild they live near river banks soo ive made it look like a river bank in my tank lol i have put a 40watt basking light over the water one end and a uv bulb the other end and that keeps the temp up to around 28 celcius and ive got a log that goes over the water so they can climb out water on to log to bask if they need to but normaly they sit with there head out water lol... 
When the female was pregnant i didnt have to seperate the male from her as they like stick together and the male gets abit territorial over the female and protects her i was worried they might eat there young but that didnt happen lol..
im feeding mine crickets, locust, meal worms and every now and then ill put about 3-4 small fish in the water i usualy use guppies..
but ive desided to keep the babies ive got as i think there awsome to watch and never seen them in any petshop in england before lol


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## vukic (Apr 9, 2010)

Nice... Definitely want some now.. Lol...

Yeah you should do a care sheet... Most.books you read are usually written from the authors own experience, so why shouldn't you...

Gonna have to start hunting some down now.. Lol.. 

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## biggie01 (Feb 23, 2012)

vukic said:


> Nice... Definitely want some now.. Lol...
> 
> Yeah you should do a care sheet... Most.books you read are usually written from the authors own experience, so why shouldn't you...
> 
> ...


Have fun trying to find some lol one of my friends wanted some when he seen mine and he went to about 10 petshops and asked for them and most of the petshops said they never seen them before or heard of them lol and he mailed a few petshops to that was further away and they said same lol


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## vukic (Apr 9, 2010)

Ouch... Lol... Challenge accepted! Lol. 

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## biggie01 (Feb 23, 2012)

vukic said:


> Ouch... Lol... Challenge accepted! Lol.
> 
> Sent from my LT18i using Tapatalk 2


let me know if you find some and ill help you with anything you need.. There is a few american sites that sell them but i was told by someone on here that they are illegal to have imported into england but once there over here there not illegal to own.. basically someone as done the hard work already getting them over here.. i dont know if this is true or not but it what someone told me who breeds them he said thats why there hard to get


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## vukic (Apr 9, 2010)

Yeah it's the importation that's the difficult part.. 

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## biggie01 (Feb 23, 2012)

vukic said:


> Yeah it's the importation that's the difficult part..
> 
> Sent from my LT18i using Tapatalk 2


yeah i was told they are very very hard to get imported in but i think thats why i got them sold to me as crocodile skinks as there not illegal but after about 3 months of researching english and foreign websites i finaly found someone with pics of them and the name of them are Tropidophorus apulus and spiny water skinks, but they also had in brackets crocodile skinks lol but if you put there latin name in you do atcually get a few pics of them and mine are exactly same as pics but still no care sheet.. But there is a handful of people that breed these in england not so long ago on preloved.com there was someone on there selling there breeding pair but they want about £180 each for them or £350 if you take them both


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## daveayres360 (Mar 28, 2018)

biggie01 said:


> yeah i was told they are very very hard to get imported in but i think thats why i got them sold to me as crocodile skinks as there not illegal but after about 3 months of researching english and foreign websites i finaly found someone with pics of them and the name of them are Tropidophorus apulus and spiny water skinks, but they also had in brackets crocodile skinks lol but if you put there latin name in you do atcually get a few pics of them and mine are exactly same as pics but still no care sheet.. But there is a handful of people that breed these in england not so long ago on preloved.com there was someone on there selling there breeding pair but they want about £180 each for them or £350 if you take them both


https://www.myhomenature.com/collections/other-collection/products/water-skink

Are these the same?


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## vgorst (Sep 27, 2011)

daveayres360 said:


> https://www.myhomenature.com/collections/other-collection/products/water-skink
> 
> Are these the same?
> 
> ...


Nope, they're T. sinicus, same genus but different species. I used to keep these guys, very cool little species!


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