Measuring the lizard is difficult as he will never lie still while stretched out straight for me. I managed to get pretty close here, though. Looks like he is at least 50 cm long, probably 51-52 cm if he were completely straightened out.

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Also checking in on the home alone lizard while approaching the Caspian Sea at 40,000 ft.

The dips in the basking spot temperature readings tell me that he was quite active and basking regularly in the middle of the day yesterday, but has been less active so far today.

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Hmmm. 6 weeks until we go away for our summer/winter holidays, and I still need to find someone to look after this dude.

Blue tongue skinks are super convenient pets if you're going away for up to about two weeks or so. Adults can comfortably go that long without eating so with heating and lighting on a thermostat and timers, a reservoir of drinking water, and (in summer) aircon left on in the room to avoid overheating he is absolutely fine being left home alone. Longer than that, though, and it can get a bit tricky.

Unlike more common pets like dogs and cats there are no commercial kennels/pet sitters for scaly sausages. Also his enclosure is big, heavy, and fragile, so moving it to a volunteer pet sitter's home is not really practical. So, either I need someone willing to come to my house once a week to give him food and fresh water, or I need to improvise a portable temporary enclosure.

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