BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Hi,
My name is Mac and I'm new here.

About 5 months ago I took a couple of Skinks from a "friends" house because I didnt like the way they were being kept. They were living in a bird cage which was about 2 feet square. They had very little acces to water as it was a bird feeder type attached to the side of the cage. They had no lighting, no heat source and didnt seem to be getting a good variety of food. Needless to say...I pestered the guy until he gave me the pair for free.

I keep snakes and have never had a skink, let alone 2 of em. However, I think they are quite simply amazing creatures and as such I would like to do the best I can for them. At present they are housed together, I know.. not the done thing. I will address this as soon as I can. I have however rehoused them in a very large glass tank with a hood which I made containing a red heat lamp for basking, a repti-sun daylight bulb, and a blue actinic for nightime. I have the tank temperature controlled on a thermostat and probe system and the temps and humidity seem fine going by your settings.

What I want to know is...
What type of skinks are they? They look like so many of the pics I have seen on this site.
Do different types of skink need different care?
I have read so many conflicting articles about food, what food is a BIG NO NO?

I will try to post some pics as soon as I can, if anyone can help identify them, I would be very grateful.

Thanks for reading this.
Mac.

Firstly to the forum Mac!
The conditions the skinks were in before are dreadful, luckly for them he gave them to you and their in much better care!

There is no difference in caring for skinks, there all the same.

Well when feeding make sure u keep away from lettuce and spinnach, very bad for skinks

Reading the bluetongueskinks.net caresheet would help you greatly!!
http://bluetongueskinks.net/care.htm <---- Everything you need to know is there!

* Posting pictures might help us identify the breed of skinks, so get posting! *

f.C

Funda wrote:Well when feeding make sure u keep away from lettuce and spinnach, very bad for skinks

Are they really bad for them? I had the impression that there just wasn't any nutrition in them. Not necessarily bad, just a waste of belly space.

Oh, and WELCOME! Please post pics ASAP!

I posted a couple of pics, hope you can tell what flavour they are.
thanx

Welcome to the forum Mac! You did a good thing!

You're correct Russman, lettuce is harmless, just water, but no nutrients. Spinach, however, and also kale contain oxalates which are calcium binders. Calcium binds to these greens and is prevented from being used by the animal for bone growth.

The pink/orange belly on the smaller one makes me think Irian Jaya, and the clean legs, orange color, and size of the larger one makes me think Northern.

I am by no means an expert though, and I would wait for other opinions.

On a side note, HOLY COW does that big one have a huge chin!

although now that I look at that dark spot on the neck of the larger one, and look at the pictures of Easterns and IJs (left of screen), I get a bit confused.

Stinky and Slinky! That is too cute. They are beautiful, Mac. You are a good guy for rescuing them.

Welcome to the forum!

Diane

Wow, you got two for free?!? Lucky! I only got one
Mine was certainly in a better situation than yours when I got him, but before the people I had got him from, the guy had really abused him. I'd strongly suggest taking your beauties to a good Herp vet just for check up if nothing else, and Congrats and Welcome!!! Good luck with your guys, they're gorgeous! Love the chubby-chin on the lighter one
P.S. we need an emoticon for chubby skinks!
Saille

Great looking skinks Mac! Stinky reminds me of Jay Leno.

Not Northern or Eastern. The smaller one looks Indo and the big chunky one is either Indo or Irian Jaya. That is one big chin!!!!!!!

Steve

Welcome

Did I miss the pictures somehwere?

KW

KyleWeiss wrote:Did I miss the pictures somehwere?

KW

In his personal gallery

The big one looks IJ to me, but the smaller could be a merauke or maybe an Indo/IJ hybrid?

MartinsPerson wrote:The big one looks IJ to me, but the smaller could be a merauke or maybe an Indo/IJ hybrid?

That's exactly what I'm thinking. The big one is beautiful and reminds me of an oversized Nona. The other could possibly be a cross, or it could just very well be a wild caught from an area full of both Indos and Merauke (Papua).

Funda wrote:There is no difference in caring for skinks, there all the same.

That's not true necessarily! While "general" care is the same, each blue tongue comes from very different environments.

Zach wrote:

Funda wrote:There is no difference in caring for skinks, there all the same.

That's not true necessarily! While "general" care is the same, each blue tongue comes from very different environments.

Yeah thats what i meant

f.C

Zach wrote:

MartinsPerson wrote:The big one looks IJ to me, but the smaller could be a merauke or maybe an Indo/IJ hybrid?

That's exactly what I'm thinking. The big one is beautiful and reminds me of an oversized Nona. The other could possibly be a cross, or it could just very well be a wild caught from an area full of both Indos and Merauke (Papua).

The smaller one looks IJ/Indo....the legs of an IJ, some pattern characteristics of an Indo, also more of an Indo head.

Both are very pretty

Usersafe wrote:Not Northern or Eastern. The smaller one looks Indo and the big chunky one is either Indo or Irian Jaya. That is one big chin!!!!!!!

Steve

Welcome

i agree - of course, i'm so untrained, it's sad...

i would call them both INDO or INDO/IJ hybrids. not only because of the patterns and colorization, but because of the condition they were in when you got them.

it sounds like they were kept by someone who didn't care. which says to me that they were likely bought by someone who didn't care. which means, they are probably wild-caught INDO's from a pet store.

if you read up on INDO's, you'll find that they have a very wide range of colors and patterns. so many sub-species, it's easy to get em confused! the lighter one makes you think "merauke" right away, but no way.

they are nice though! treat them well and thank you for rescuing them! if you feel you can't take care of both of them, you might find someone here who has room for another!


oh, btw - that lighter one - the merauke-looking one. check out the back legs... the pattern is quite unique. of all the hundreds of pictures i've looked at, i have seen very few who had well-defined lines rather than blotches on their hind legs. a real keeper there!