BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

OK guys,

I've just got off the phone to the Melbourne Zoo.

Basically i explained my situation and what i've found on the net and on this site regarding what to and what not to feed blueys.

here's the deal.

Grated, pumpkin, sweet potato, carrot and beetroot are all great for blueys. Iceberg lettuce is a NO GO!!! however the 2 other forms are ok.

Most Hard fruits are fine, however you should stay away from softer fruits.

Bananas are to blueys what lollies (candy) are to a little kid, no ideal!!!

In the warmer months, the melbourne zoo feed their blueys a green feed consisting of all the vegies i mentioned 3 days a week and an insect feed 2 days a week. I guess they feed them 5 days on 2 days off.

In regards to meat, Turkey mince is fine, as is beef mince, however, these are best used as extras in a meal rather than the base of the meal.
NO FISH (as we all know).

Hope this has Helped you all out. I know this may contradict what a few people in here believe, but these guys are Aussies, working with Aussie lizards and have done for MANY years. They do know what they are talking about. If anyone wants to dispute this, by all means call them up yourself between 3:30pm and 4:00pm AEST weekdays and they will talk to you. Phone number is on the melbourne zoo site.

This doesn't mean that what you may be doing is wrong, but it may help you to make your bluey healthier than he/she already is.

I really hope this helps people, it's helped me!!!

Any Questions or comments?

i can back up the zoo too, they seem really proffesional and have great enclosures for everything.

14 views and 1 response, hmmm.

I tried some sweet potato, carrot, pumpkin and beetroot and one of them went straight for it, however I think the texture killed the buzz. I need one of those food processors, mulch it up a bit, then it may be more appealing.

The smell was awesome!!! I was thinking about having a chow down with them!!! How good does beetroot smell!

I've heard of those being good as well, should they be cooked first or served raw?

From what i gathered they should be served raw.

I'd probably feed carrot as an occasional food rather than a staple. Apart from that I have no quibble with what you've said.

In general I'd say most people on this site would agree with most natural foods. Most natural foods are good for bluey's at least from what I've gathered. Of course lettuce and some other things being the exception. Most of the problems run into the processed foods, even the cat foods a lot of people use, including me. No matter how natural they are, they still have preservatives and various chemicals. That's why I try to serve mostly fresh fruit, veggies, and greens. And give silkworms, butter worms, Goliath worms, super worms etc. for their protein. I still usually have to serve a little spots stew to get mine to eat his greens though

do you think you'd have to do that simply because of the gravy???

I noticed when i give my guys loaf style dog food, they don't want to have a bar of it.

l agree with you Blotch, what the keepers at the Reptile department have sirjested as a stable diet for Blue-Tongue Lizards is good for them.

What l feed my Kimberley and Northern Blue-Tongue Lizards, is chopped up beans-mushrooms-sweetcorn-peas-carrot-blue-berries and the only meat l use is extra trim lamb leg steak, l don't offer any processed meats like dog or cat foods or mince meet.

My blue-Tongues love eating blue-berries-mushrooms-sweetcorn-chopped up green beans.

sometimes l give then a hopper mouse or newborn rats, because the bone structure of these, gives them calcium which is important, in developing their own bones by making them stronger, but you need a strong UV Tube, like the NEC T10 Blacklight SBL, to help them digest the calcium.

From Les.

What are hard fruits?

Maybe cantaloupe for example opposed to citrus fruits?

BLOTCH, I'm suprised they didn't mention snails mate!

Hard fruits: Apple, pears grapes etc.. andything that's not soft like banana and citrus fruits as zach said.

They did mention snails, but I thought that was really a no brainer - but thanks for pointing that out - newbies probably wouldn't know either way.

Here's a question - Anyone fed their blueys slugs???
I tried a while back and my blueys showed no interest what so ever. I thought they might see them as they do snails but nope!

Funny you should say that,I gave mine one once and he nailed it but the slug goo stuck his tongue to the roof of his mouth, it was tooo funny watching him trying to unglue himself A wet little finger to the tongue got it free though, it was a 3+ " slug so maybe a bit big, so many snails in the garden to bother with them since

I wish we had snails. That'd probably solve a few of my problems in regards to my thin eastern. *darn this drought!!! I know we're the sun burnt country but come on!!! I LIVE IN MELBOURNE!!!!! Where's the 4 seasons in one day!?!?!?!?

Blotch wrote:I wish we had snails. That'd probably solve a few of my problems in regards to my thin eastern. *darn this drought!!! I know we're the sun burnt country but come on!!! I LIVE IN MELBOURNE!!!!! Where's the 4 seasons in one day!?!?!?!?

I watched a docu the other night that reckons Oz is heading north 5cm a year so don't hold your breathe for the rain, tropical ....not in our life time

Have u tried witchety grubs? mine loves em. maybe hard to find unles u know someone or somewhere that sells firewood, theyre always in the middle of tree trunks. Hey since youre a fellow victorian maybe you could tell me if i should let my blotchie cool down over winter he seems to be getting sleepy even though ive put a stronger heat lite in. Thinking of either putting heat mat under tank or turning everything off for the winter an let him sleep. But ill miss him too much i think. What do you do?

Blotch wrote:Hard fruits: Apple, pears grapes etc.. andything that's not soft like banana and citrus fruits as zach said.

Thanks Blotch! I figured the banana would be, but wasn't sure what else. I do know not to feed citrus fruits so I was on the right track.

Thanks for sharing that info. I have no problem with their diet/suggestions - with the exception that I think there are some better choices they could have gone with. However, working in a zoo I know that it's not always possible for them to get the higher quality greens, veggies and inverts. Some of you may recall me posting what our zoo feeds our blueys and it was the same situation - nothing majorly wrong with it except some higher quality choices would have been better. They certainly don't used canned or cooked foods but rather used insects for the meat/protein. Oh, and Syd (our over 22 year old Northern) is still doing great!

Do they use supplements at all?

thanks for the info!

Tiger - Yeah They do the whole calcium dusting as you'd expect.

Have you ever had issues with blueys refusing food? If so - what did you do? It's time for Aussie blueys to start brumating, however a couple of mine are a bit thin, one in particular is worrying me, know how I can get her to eat? next Question - know how I can plump her up really quickly?