BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Can someone help me with the species of my little baby? I’ve been told he/she is an IJ just wanted to make sure it’s so confusing when I look at all the different species. Thank you

Yes, it is.

Thank you I don’t want to be one of those people who bring home a blue tongue and think it’s one species and then it’s really another lol. I did my research and looked at I don’t know how many caresheets and pictures and used a breeder this site recommended who bred CBB irian Jaya’s I just started second guessing when you see all these slight variations that IJ’s can have.

They are quite variable. I've seen some so similar to easterns, the only difference at first glance being the price tag .. IJ is a confusing one, indeed.

What kind of substrate do you use for them to provide them with proper humidity? Would forest floor mixed with coconut coir and possibly play sand? I’m using forest flood right now but have to add water and till it up about every 4-5 days to keep it in the 60-80% range. I get an initial spike into mid 80’s then drops gradually to proper levels and when it gets back down to 55% I repeat the wet and till process. Would play sand help more or coconut coir? Thanks for your help.

I have used coco coir with success for the humidity lovers in my collection (although they are not skinks, my skinks are all Aussies.) I top it with Repti-bark or similar for my water dragons.

Ok thank you again I’m going to try and mix forest floor with the coco coir and see if that’s better at holding humidity.

Also, if you are using a glass cage with a screen top you can also cover part of the screen with foil to help slow evaporation. Large water bowl helps too. I no longer use glass terrariums but back in the day when I did, that and misting as needed was my cure-all for the humidity lovers. High wattage bulbs can dry the air quickly.

Yeah it’s a melamine enclosure so it holds pretty well. Hey while I have you what’s your recommendation on basking temperatures? I’ve read so many caresheets and have seen anywhere from 90-135? In your experience which is vast by the responses I’ve read from you lol what would you keep an irian jaya at? I have a Arcadia DHP as an optional basking spot and then a 75 halogen on a dimmer which provides higher temperatures like 110-130 in a very large diameter but the cool end is always at 78 so he can retreat to cool off but are those temperatures to high? The DHP makes a very large wide basking area in the low 100’s. What are your thoughts?

95-100 is fine for basking area. Anything else is overkill, higher temps will simply dry out the air. 75-80 fine for cooler end. I have kept Indonesians in the past (classic, Halmahera and Merauke) and none seemed to like temps higher than that. Back then I also used glass enclosures which were a struggle to keep correct temps/humidity. They did run for the cooler end though when temps exceeded 100. They all don't have the same preferences, so observation of your own animal is the key.

Yeah that’s what I was noticing when observing him. He’s only been here for a couple of days but he’s never sat directly on the chunk of slate under the light he’s always off to the side? I’ll drop the wattage to a 65 watt incandescent flood light they produce better temperatures the halogen run really hot!

If you don't have one get a temp gun to measure, fast and accurate.

I’ve got one and probably use it to much lol. Constantly checking temps for beardie to.

Haha I do the same. Probably since the darn things were invented.