The Northern Blue Tongued Skink Care Sheet
Household and Scientific title:
Scincidae; Tiliqua intermedia
Figuring out Options:
They’re the most important of the blue tongues, heavy bodied with keeled scales, darkish crossbands, typically pink to orange colouring on its sides and no ocular stripes. They’ve a triangular formed head and lengthy our bodies. Vary and Origin:
Northern areas of Australia, discovered within the grasslands / woodlands. Some are domestically bred, however many are imported for the pet commerce from New Guinea breeding farms. I might extremely advise folks to buy a captive bred BTS. There’s significantly better probability of getting a wholesome, handleable reptile pet. After all after getting one a reptile vet examine up is so as. Together with a fecal examine for parasites. Grownup dimension:
They’ll develop to about 24 inches lengthy. Life Span:
Greater than 20 years. Habitat:
Greater is all the time higher. A glass Critter cage with a sliding display locking lid, 36 inches lengthy, 18 inches large, and 12 inches tall is appropriate.
Present a pleasant large water dish, ideally ceramic, they like to maneuver issues round spilling the water. Substrates:
Variable, so long as the substrate isn’t moist. A substrate of paper towels, Aspen shavings, reptile bedding, or coconut mulch can be utilized. They do wish to burrow. Watch out the place you get your aspen bedding from. I purchased mine from an area pet store and it had a gap in it. I did not care till I had an issue with reptile mites. Greatest is to purchase from an area farm provide retailer, or any retailer that does not maintain pets.
Heating/lighting:
A mercury vapor bulb is beneficial and ought to be changed annually or as directed on the packaging. I take advantage of a 100 watt powersun with a ceramic base. It offers each the UVB/UVA that the reptile wants. Each the warmth and lightweight. You may maintain the lights on a timer, 12 hours on 12 hours off. There are those who imagine that this reptile would not want the UVA/UVB however I’m not a kind of. Basking temps:
Between 95-100 levels. The cool finish of the enclosure must be round 75 levels. You need a good temperature gradient. The lows can go to 65-70 levels at night-time. Spend money on an excellent temperature gun for instance PE2. A lazer temp gun will be ordered on-line from proexotics.com. Hides/cage decor:
A number of hides ought to be offered, I’ve three hides, one is a log. You should use pretend crops however maintain a watch out that your skink dont attempt to eat it. You may present a moist cover by filling a plastic container with moist sphagnum moss, however mine tried to eat all of it, I needed to go get it out of her mouth! I’ve talked to house owners which might be profitable with this technique although. Simply try to see. Feeding:
Juveniles ought to be fed each day. An grownup will be fed as soon as per week, if fed extra typically the skink might smear the meals throughout.
They eat a assorted weight-reduction plan, they’re omnivores. Adults will eat frozen thawed mice, superworms, cooked rooster, mealworms, snails, collard greens, turnip greens, squashes, dandelion greens, good high quality canned cat meals. I like to recommend Spot’s Stew.
You may feed them fruits like Strawberries/blueberries/bananas/apples. They are often very choosy eaters. Mine went a month with out consuming for no motive. I simply stored attempting totally different meals and checking weight, temps. Mud bugs with vitamin D3-calcium powder twice weekly for infants and ovulating females as soon as weekly. Nutritional vitamins and mineral are essential to those lizards.
Shedding:
It is like a shedding storm. Skinks free the pores and skin in clumps, scattering it throughout all the things. Verify to ensure the pores and skin got here off the toes and ear plugs.
You may bathtub your skink in a bathtub of heat water, the identical temperature as you’ll bathe a child in. The water ought to be about an inch to an inch and a half in depth.