Lone Solomon Islands giant skink (C. z. zebrata) that lives in Tortoise Shell-Ter's Southeast Asian vivarium, together with the recently-added golden coin turtles (C. trifasciata).
I think the Cuora trifasciata are being encouraged to breed, so a monitor won't be suitable tank mate. The blue tree monitor has been moved to the RepTopia behind-the-scenes area.
@Zooish I have a feeling both C. trifasciata are males, due to their more elongated physique and the fact that both were of similar body sizes. Female Cuoras tend to be much rounder. Or perhaps that could be the case for a select few species...
I was told that the blue tree monitor wasn't doing too well in the vivarium, expressing behaviours such as an increase in hiding and a loss of appetite, thus the decision was made to return it to RepTopia BTS.
@Zooish Put ‘temporary’ in the title as I’m not certain how long the Corucia will remain in the exhibit
But I do agree that is an ideal companion for the Cuoras, in line with its herbivorous & relatively gentle nature.
I might be mistaken in the genders of both turtles tho...
@Casuarius_casuarius thanks for sharing the reason for relocating the blue tree monitor. Hope it (she?) fares better in a climate-controlled environment. I thought I saw more than 2 C.trifasciata in the exhibit.. maybe I'm mistaken too. And yes, the Herpetology section does shift its animals around quite a bit, so the skink may not stay at Tortoise Shell-ter for long.
Do you know if the Red-footed Tortoise exhibit at Tortoise Shell-ter is being re-themed? There's at least one Polyplectron inopinatum in it now.
@Zooish The male V. macraei didn't take much liking to Tortoise Shell-ter; given the plan to focus on breeding indo-pacific varanids it made sense to move him and his future girlfriend (finishing quarantine now) to the reptopia section, where most of the herp breeding takes place.
The Corucia will remain there for quite a while.
The Cuora species were received last year only, and the plan was always to include them in Tortoise Shell-ter, we just never had the opportunity until now with covid delaying so many things.
The carbonarius tortoises have moved to the River Safari and some will remain at Reptopia; their former enclosure will receive Cuora galbinifrons and Indotestudo elongata, as well as a pair of Mountain Peacock-pheasants (already there) and 1-2 canopy birds species from Jurong.
@Zooish there are a total of four C. trisfasciata. They demonstrated breeding behaviour earlier on this year/late last year in their quarantine enclosure (there was copulation observed but no clue if it was successful). Fingers crossed!
