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 #1747291


Emmaluvsmango
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 Tamu my new occelated skink

I only got him a couple of days ago he is sooo cute, and very greedy, he is alot more active than i imagined, i was prepared for him hiding under the sand all the time but he has spent alot of time running about and watching me haha, he seems to be very intrested in what im doing.
he loves his heat rock and doest like his water bowl what i put in at nite, much prefers to eat wet sand from round the edges of the bowl than drink out of it.

He is only about 5 inches at the min half of that his tail



him on way home from pet shop he is very inquisitive



his set up, need to add sum desset plants and a background yet



the pics aint great only took them on my phone, hope you like him, if anyone has any advice for me id be greatful as this is my first reptile. He is already quite happy with my hand being in the tank, he let me stroke him earlier and ran onto me hand so am goin to carry this on for a few days and then pick him up don’t want to rush him and scare him want it to be his choice :)

thanx emma and tamu x :D
05/26/08  06:44pm

 #1748660


Ameivaboy
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   Message To: Emmaluvsmango   In reference to Message Id: 1747291


 Tamu my new occelated skink

I dont know how far you’ll get with taming it, but occellated skinks are awesome captives. When I kept them they would eat just about any insect I tossed in and would take most sweet fruits I offered. BTW do you use that red bulb during the day for heat? If so, in my opinion, the skink would be better off with a brightly illuminated basking light versus a red bulb.
05/27/08  10:03pm

 #1748976


Emmaluvsmango
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   Message To: Ameivaboy   In reference to Message Id: 1748660


 Tamu my new occelated skink

He does seem a bit nervous about me trying to pick him up, but he doesnt seem to mind me touching him aslong as i don’t go to pick him up. Think it may take some time to tame him, we had one at college who everyone used to ignore becuase they all liked the bigger reptiles but i though he was lovely and he was very tame so i think it can be done with time and patience.

As for the bulb im using the red bulb for heat but in the day im also putting the uv light Repti Glo 10.0, is this the right thing to do? thanx for replying :)

emma and tamu x
05/28/08  09:18am

 #1749246


JackAsp
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   Message To: Emmaluvsmango   In reference to Message Id: 1748976


 Tamu my new occelated skink

I don’t know that you actually need a 10.0, but since you’ce paid for it you might as well stick with it until it burns out. In the future, if you want to go with a weaker UVB output, though, that’s fine, as long as he’s still got some. There’s actually some concern that overly strong bulbs contribute to a higher incidence of cataracts and skin cancer than just using a 5.0 or 2.0 or whatever.
That "eating sand" thing is going to be terrible for his intestinal tract. You might want to go with a more gut-friendly substrate like Eco-Earth, and let him drink from plant leaves or drops sprayed onto the side of the tank. Don’t stop providing a dish of clean water, because he might have a day that he wants to drink from it or soak in it, but meanwhile try to give him the gentlest alternatives you can instead of ingesting coarse silicate particles on a dailly basis.
Those ocellateds are neat little guys. I hope he does well for you.
05/28/08  03:46pm

 #1749390


Emmaluvsmango
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   Message To: JackAsp   In reference to Message Id: 1749246


 Tamu my new occelated skink

Thank you for the advice, I will look into a different substate, and i will get him a 5.0 or 2.0 bulb instead once this one needs replacing. As for him eating sand he hasnt done it since, im not sure he realised there was water in the bowl lol, now he seems quite happy drinking out of the bowl, so im please about that. I managed to feed him a dead cricket tday off my hand for trying to tame him, so things are progressing slowly but wel :)

emma and tamu x
05/28/08  06:14pm

 #1749677


Ameivaboy
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   Message To: Emmaluvsmango   In reference to Message Id: 1749390


 Tamu my new occelated skink

I used a sand soil mix for mine. I also wet the substrate under a couple hides too so they had access to some humid spots.
I’ll dig through my pictures and see if I can find any old ones to post
05/28/08  10:15pm

 #1749879


Emmaluvsmango
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   Message To: Ameivaboy   In reference to Message Id: 1749677


 Tamu my new occelated skink

That a good idea, yep pics would be helpful thanx :)



05/29/08  05:05am

 #1750080


LadyLizard
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   Message To: Emmaluvsmango   In reference to Message Id: 1749879


 Tamu my new occelated skink

Hey, before you mentioned a heat rock? Those are really dangerous for lizards because they can crack and really harm your pet. You would be much better off with a heat pad! That way you can’t hurt him ;)
Very cute though!
05/29/08  01:25pm

 #1750835


Emmaluvsmango
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   Message To: LadyLizard   In reference to Message Id: 1750080


 Tamu my new occelated skink

Thanx for the advice everyone its realy helpful cin asthough its hard to get hold of reliable information from the web and pet shops :)
05/30/08  08:49am


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