BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Hello Folks,

1) I was in the hardware store yesterday and found a 4 inch round Y joint piece of PVC piping, about 14 inches in length, that looked to me like it would make a great hide. And it is cheaper than the half logs that most pet stores sell. Does anyone know if there is any downsides to using PVC pipes with a blue tongue?

2) Also yesterday I was at a local pet store and the guy from the reptile area actually has a blue tongue as a pet. He mentioned he uses Millet as a substrata for his bluey. I am wondering if anyone has/does use it or has had experience with it. Or should I just stick with good old fashion aspen bedding?

3) To the people who have plants in their setups, do you use plastic or silk ones? I saw both in the reptile section of the pet store yesterday and was wondering if the material made a difference.

And yes I was doing a bit of running around yesterday

Cypython

pvc pipe is fine,only diff is the natural look,but if your bluie likes it thats more important than if u like it,fake plants id recomend to,easy to look after,bluies wont destroy them and u wont have humidity probs ect as u would with live,cant comment on the substrate though,had no experience with what u were told,i use sand,newspaper and astro turf

PVP pipe will work great. I use the fake flowers/plants from the craft store. They are cheaper then the reptile ones (especially if you but at the end of the flower season) and hold up great. I just make sure that I don't buy any that have glitter or other crafty stuff glued on.

There's no problem with using PVP, so go for it. And I don't think there's much difference between plastic and silk plants. Both can be used, and neither is bad for the skink (unless it eats em, silly skink). Pick whichever you like more. I like silk personally.

Just like everyone said, material doesn't really matter so pvc and either plants are fine. Millet though? Seems impractical. It would probably be ingested by the skink some, and grains should not be fed too commonly. Besides, where would you get so much? I'd stay with aspen.

piggy wrote:Just like everyone said, material doesn't really matter so pvc and either plants are fine. Millet though? Seems impractical. It would probably be ingested by the skink some, and grains should not be fed too commonly. Besides, where would you get so much? I'd stay with aspen.

Wild bird seed store or section of store. I wouldnt use it though wouldn't it sprout?

Millet is commonly used for uros.

I'd worry about how absorbant the millet would be, how easy it would be to spot clean well, mold, etc. Nomad is right that some use it for Uros.

Maybe Kyle will share his pics of what he did with PVC

Pipe is fine, don't use it as the basking spot though, the only thing I've found is that they can't climb on/over it all that well, good for a laugh watching em wheel spin though

Tigergenesis wrote:Maybe Kyle will share his pics of what he did with PVC

Okay.

Kind of hard to see, but I took some weathered mulch bark and a hot glue gun and went after this piece of ABS plastic tubing. It's in the shape of a "Y," so it gives a bit of fun to crawl both through and around. I left the bottom as-is with no bark, so it wouldn't roll around and less potential to soak up any thing nasty. I clean it with a wire brush when needed, and if the pieces fall off, big deal, right?



KW

I use the millet for my uro, but use reptibark for LittleFoot, you can't burrow in the millet and he burrows like crazy in the reptibark...PetSmart sells the millet for reptiles, on the bag says not recomended for several types of lizards including skinks.

It says that on the bag? That's good....I'm not familiar with Millet except our dogs used to get it in their eyes when out in the brush.

Kyle, I love the tube; I didn't realize you had glued the pieces on. Well done.

Thanks everyone for the great advice. I decided to go with good old Aspen shavings for a substrata. Here is a pic of the tank as I set it up last night. Not sure if the floor tile I have in there for a basking rock it too big or not.

There are two things missing from the tank at the moment, the water dish, which I will get when I lizard so I know how big a dish to get. And the Lizard itself Hopefully the show tomorrow will be good to me and have a decent breeder or two there.



As you can see, there is the PVC sewer pipe of doom right in the middle

KyleWeiss: Thanks for the pic. That looks really great. Awesome idea. Might have to try that with mine.

Jenn: I went to the local craft store chain and found a nice 6" purple heart ivy vine, that I hung in the back corner of the tank, with a pair of 3lbs suction cups. If they get pulled down I will figure out some other way to secure them to the tank.

Cypython

Zach wrote:
Kyle, I love the tube; I didn't realize you had glued the pieces on. Well done.

Well, you're still welcome to believe it's magic that keeps them on.

KW

Cypython wrote: KyleWeiss: Thanks for the pic. That looks really great. Awesome idea. Might have to try that with mine

Go for it! One suggestion, if I may, that pipe you have looks a little small. Not so much that the bluey won't fit, but if that's a 40 gallon vivarium, I imagine the pipe joint is about 7" - 8" long? The pipe I used was the black ABS plastic rather than the white PVC, benefit being, bigger sizes in ABS much of the time. Granted if you decide to change it's cheap, but I wanted to mention that before you glued five hours worth of stuff on it to find out your bluey may outgrow it...

KW

Actually the tank is a 75 gallon tank. I looked at the 40 gallon vivariums when I was shopping for a tank but did not think they were long enough to set up a good heat gradient. So I went with the bigger tank, since the 50 gallon reptile tank I saw was about 2 inches higher, than the 40 gallon but the exact same length.

The PVC pipe is about 12 inches long and 4 inches in diameter. Will that be big enough or should I get something longer?

And never be afraid to make suggestions. As I have said I am new to the world of blue tongues and welcome suggestions.

Cypython