Care Sheet for SkinksAverage Rating Given To This Care Sheet Is 5.00 (1=lowest, 5=highest) Last Updated: 03/26/2009 |
Main Category: | Lizards |
Sub Category: | Skinks |
Care Sheet Submitted By: | Waterdragon65 |
Years Experience: | 10 to 15 Years |
Species: | Blue Tongue Skink |
Other Species or Phases this Care Sheet May Cover: | N/A |
Sexing and Characteristics: | The males tend to be larger and have a wider head, while the females have a slimmer head and are slightly smaller. Generally, the males have red eyes and the females have brown eyes. The only way to tell for sure is to have them probed by a veterinarian. |
Mostly Active During: | Day |
Substrate and Water Needs: | Blue Tongue Skinks love to burrow. They should have a substrate which allows them to bury themselves. The substrate I use is aspen shavings. Never use pine or cedar shavings because these can be harmful. When picking out aspen shavings, be sure to get the kind that have no scents added or aromatic chemicals or oils. Another good choice for substrate would be "Carefresh" recycled paper bedding.
Water- They need a large, heavy water dish that they are not able to knock over. The water dish should be large enough that they can soak themselves in it if they want to. It should be changed DAILY as they will make a mess of their water. |
Lighting and UVB: | Many people think that BTS do not need UVB lighting. I disagree. I feel that almost all reptiles, with the exception of completely nocturnal reptiles, can benefit in some way from UV lighting. I use fluorescent UVB lights for my blue tongue. I personally use the 5.0 UVB. I don’t think that 10.0 is really necessary so 5.0 is just the right amount of UVB.
Other than the UV light, your BTS will also need a basking lamp. |
Temperatures and Humidity: | The temperatures for blue tongues should stay in the range of about 80-85 degrees F during the day and can drop to 70-75 degrees F at night. Their basking spot should be kept at a temperature of about 95-100 degrees F.
Humidity- These lizards do not need a high level of humidity. The humidity can stay at about 25% or so but it shouldn’t really get too much higher than that because it can allow bacteria to grow. Misting should not be necessary and a large water dish should do the trick. When your BTS is shedding, it may need extra humidity. If you notice it is having a hard time shedding or its scales feel dry or rough, you can do a couple of different things. You can make a humid hide, which would be some type of hide box with damp paper towel in it. You can also fill your sink with shallow, warm water and let them soak in it for about 10 or 15 minutes to help moisten the skin. |
Heating and Equipment: | Blue tongue skinks need a basking spot that stays around 95-100 degrees. This can be achieved by using a regular household light bulb. Depending on the size of your enclosure, you will need different wattages of bulbs. I use 60W bulbs. A good way to provide a basking platform is to have a large piece of slate or flat rock directly underneath the basking lamp. You may need to adjust the distance between the lamp and the rock to achieve the correct temperatures. Do not use hot rocks. They can burn your lizard and you cannot accurately control their temperature. |
Caging Provided: | For an adult BTS, you will need at least a 40 breeder size tank. Larger is always better and they do not need a lot of height to their cage since they are mostly ground-dwelling. A 55 gallon tank is a pretty good size for an adult.
Babies can be kept in a 10 gallon for a very short period of time since they grow very fast. Juveniles can be kept in a 20 gallon long tank as well. However, it is usually a good idea to just purchase an adult-size tank to start off with so that your skink can grow freely and you won’t have to worry about buying new tanks as the lizard gets bigger. |
Diet: | Omnivorous |
Description of Diet: | Blue tongue skinks eat a diet of both animal and plant material. They should have about half and half plant and animal.
Animal- good choices would include: superworms, mealworms, high quality canned cat food (non-seafood, in small amounts), snails, cooked lean ground turkey and chicken.
Plant- greens such as collard greens, escarole, endive, and kale. Small amounts of fruits such as apples, bananas, blueberries, raspberries, papaya, and mango
Veggies such as acorn squash, carrots, summer squash, butternut squash
Adults should be fed every other day. Babies should be fed every day.
Note-often times, BTS will not have a regular eating pattern. They may eat a little bit one day, then not eat for a few days, then scarf down a lot of food the next day. They will not starve themselves and as long as they are looking healthy, don’t worry too much if they aren’t eating in a regular fashion. They are just strange that way sometimes |
Supplements, Nutrition and Usage: | Supplements are not really necessary with the proper diet and UV lighting. |
Maintenance: | Their droppings should be cleaned up every couple days. The water dish should be changed out every day. The cage should be totally cleaned once every month. |
Some Words on this Species: | They are a very fun and rewarding lizard to keep. They are generally very tame and friendly and seem to have unique personalities. |
How Members Rated
This Care Sheet | Rate This Care Sheet
Please keep all comments constructive to Blue Tongue Skink husbandry methods and care. Any degrading, sarcastic, or disrespectful comments will be removed. |
Total Members Rating: 1
| 1 |  ( 0 ) |
| 2 |  ( 0 ) |
| 3 | ( 0 ) |
| 4 | ( 0 ) |
| 5 | ( 1 ) |
|
|
