When I first came across Tanimbar Island skinks (Tiliqua scincoides chimaerea) they came in many colors from rusty red, brown, silver and one of my favorites, green. I never considered buying one in the mid 90's as they were sheer terrors that made even the wildest Indonesia (t.g.g.) tame by comparison.  Just imagine how many of these rare tanimbars were left to their fate as the reptile consumer fled from them appearing to be the devil incarnate or at best, "Rose Mary's Baby."

I find it ironic and sad that, over a decade later, the only tanimbar that seems to be left is the Silver phase Tanimbar who seemed to endure the test of time as their other colored brethren are now lost forever.

In 2005 I came across a crown jewel among Tanimbars - the only yellow Tanimbar I've ever seen for over a decade. Dimmesdale, my yellow tanimbar, was among the last I ever purchased from James Wilson who kept tabs on this animal for years.

In hopes of jump starting the yellow tanny project, I bred Dimmesdale to a Silver phase female and produced a single offspring born, if you can imagine on 6-6-06! By popular demand, I named this single baby Damien which I still have in my possession today. I can just see the tips of two horns that are starting to protrude on its head (j/k). I'll probably end up keeping Damien as a pet or a back up bloodline for the Yellow for genetic diversity.

Hester and Dimmesdale were known to me soon after purchasing Dimmesdale in 2005 but I thought I would only be able to purchase babies if they were available. My babies that were on hold were inadvertently killed by animals that broke into its enclosure so I was able to purchase the parents, Hester and Chillingworth. I couldn't believe it - my momentary dismay and horror turned to pure joy when I opened the box to see them in all their radiance and splendor.

Yellow or Gold Tanimbars are highly unusual as they are significantly larger than the average Silver phase Tanny. It also seems to me that the Yellows are (on average) very placid and seem to take less handling to maintain a satisfactory temperament.

Still with any Tanimbar which can be quite irascible and temperamental, many tame down to be great pets. One of my favorite skinks is still my female Silver Tanny that's sweeter than just about any skink I have. My two male yellow Tannys are extremely tame also. James was just stunned how tame Dimmesdale was when he got him and couldn't wait to see my face when he handed him over to me in person. I'm sure I didn't let him down as my jaw became unhinged from shock just being able to manipulate Dimmesdale without any fear of retaliation.

It's a miracle! In June 11, 2007, I have 11 pure yellow tanny babies produced by Hester and Chillingworth.

Only a limited few will be offered for sale and will be $250 each.

Dimmesdale (male P1)

Dimmesdale (male P1)

 Chillingworth (Male P1)

 Chillingworth (Male P1)

Although some people may look at Chillingworth and want to call him an orange, Hester "neon yellow" and Dimmesdale "true yellow." I'm not fond of calling things new morphs. These guys are pretty much yellowish so that's what they'll be. If Chillingworth was GREEN then heck, I'd call him green but he's gold or yellowish. I can see some breeders separating all these different SHADES into "cool" color morphs. I wonder if consumers even buy into all that? I visited a local boa collector to see his "different" morphs from hypo this and anery that. This guy showed me four boa that were incredibly expensive due to their "drastic" differences in morphology. If I weren't Japanese with a strong sense of respect, I would've argued or at least walked out of this guys house. If you want my total honesty, ALL FOUR BOAS WERE THE SAME. So what that the saddles were A TINY BIT more solid and that particular boa was A TAD BIT lighter. They were all probably all from the same litter!  So buyer beware!