a newbie with a question

[Floddermousie]

Hello everybody!

My name is Floddermousie and I'm new on this forum, and indeed to the reptile world.
I live in Leuven which is a city in Belgium, you know that small country in between France and the Netherlands... I speak Dutch, but also an bit of French and English of course. I apologise in advance for any errors in my English

I have been searching for good information on Blue Tongue Skinks for quite some time, but there is very little out there. In my own language I did not find a single usefull site. When I found the bluetongueskinks.net site I was relieved, finally a site with a decent caresheet!
After reading the site and the many posts here on the forum, I decided to join because you guys have made me fall in love with these blue tongues


Next to my cats and my aquarium, I currently own a baby bearded dragon, he's been with us for just 2 weeks now.
Unfortunately, one of my cats turns out te be allergic to the crickets we're feeding the dragon, more specifically to the cricket dropping... Might sound silly but it is true I'm afraid.
It's a long story, but in short this cat has some medical problems, an auto-immune disease, and the crickets are really making her sick.
Therefore we are forced to ged rid of the crickets and also our beardie, because bearded dragons really need crickets or other insects to eat.

Now I'm thinking about putting een blue tongue skink in to our terrarium (or should I say enclosure?)
They sound great, but first a very important question:
Is it true that you don't need to keep crickets in your house in order to keep een skink? I have no problem with giving the occasional cricket or a grashopper, but because of my allergic cat, I cannot keep a permanent cricket stash in the house.
If I were to give the skink other meaty foods such as worms, babymice, catfood etc etc would that be ok?
Or do they have to have crickets in their day to day diet?

Sorry for the long intro
I hope somebody can answer this question for me...

P.S. : I don't suppose there are other Belgians on this site?

Grs,

Flodder
(or if its to difficult to pronounce, you can call me mouse or something )

[mom22wins]

Hi and welcome! I have been on the forums for a few weeks now and from what I've read crickets are not a good source of anything for a bluey's diet. One person even posted that their skink had almost the entire cricket come out in their stool! Which indicated to me that they are incredibly hard to digest. Bluey's can eat them but shouldn't too often. Check out the food list on this site for a huge list of foods that Bluey's can eat.

You may not have to get rid of your Beardie. There has to be another alternative. Is it possible to feed your Beardie a diet without crickets? I don't know about their diet but there are so many other sources of food out there for reptiles AND vitamin suppliments for those who can't always get the food they need every meal. Hopefully you can find something that won't make your kitty sick.

Hope this helps.

[russman]

As mom22 said, blueys do not require crickets. In fact, a lot of people stay away from them because of the lack of nutritional value.

I also agree with mom22 in saying that there are other things you can feed a beardie. I have read that roaches are a good thing to feed a bearded dragon, and they are easy to keep too. The only problem with them is the chance that one or two could escape and cause an infestation.

One other thing that concerns me is this: how big is your terrarium? I know blue tongues require a bigger cage than beardies do, so you may need to upgrade to a bigger tank if yours isn't already big enough.

Hope that helps.

[Leigh]

Hold your horses there matey, my beardy is 6years old and I only fed her crickets for the first few weeks because I didnt know any better, they'll eatmeal/silk/super worms and hoppers{young locusts}and roaches, so will the BTS, if you go to the caresheet , food section it says that crickets are crap food for skinks{well its put a little better than that,but hey..}, and in my opinion for a lot of herps, there's loads of other ways to get protein into the little fellas, snails/mice/chicken/turkey/roo meat, people here have meatballs for skinks and allsorts.

We do have a mouse here already, but she lives in a milk bottle. Any way enough from me , stick around and the others will pile in with some answers as well.

[Funda]

Hi and to BTS.NET!

Blue tongues dont require crickets in their diet, infact they dont need them at all.
There diet includes a variety or greens, fruits and vegetables.
Also meats such as mealworms, silkworms, dog food, cat food, cooked chicken etc.

There is a list of foods on the caresheet.
If you havent already read it, here is the link;

http://bluetongueskinks.net/care.htm

You will find that this piece is VERY informative and will help you alot with your questions and thoughts.
If you cannot find or have trouble finding the answers to your question, do not hesitate to ask ....
We dont bite..... Or do we??!! (just kidding)

Hope all goes well for your kitty-cat and you find away to keep your beardie!

f.C

[Floddermousie]

thanks for the quick response everyone!
good to hear that blue tongues don't need crickets or other insects

everyone on the belgium and dutch forums tell me that a bearded dragon need to have crickets preferably, or other insects such as roaches (which our vet told us we couldn't have in the house if we want to keep the cat)
they tell me that a diet of worms alone is bad for him because it's to rich and they could develop liver problems etc etc
the breeder of our beardie also agrees, and I feel very uncomfortable raising this beardie in a way that the breeder thinks is not good for him
I have tried with other meats such as catfood or chicken, but he won't even eat it, and the breeder was nòt happy about it.

In stead of taking the risk by feeding my beardie foods which some tell me is fine, but others tell me is deadly, I choose to find my beardie another home If I can't take care of him properly, I just shouldn't keep him. I like him to much to risk it...

but by the sound of it, een blue tongue skink could be a better option voor me

@leigh: wat is roo meat?

[Funda]

Flodder the reason why your beardie wont eat the food you give him is because he is so used to eatting crickets in his diet.
It will take some time and effort to get him to start eating the preferred food.
Dont give up

@leigh: wat is roo meat?

Roo meat is Kangaroo meat. Roo is short for Kangaroo.


f.C

[Floddermousie]

oh and I have read the caresheet, but it's a lot of info
just thought I'd ask specifically about the crickets to make sure
I've heard of several people (in Belgium and the netherlands) who feed the skink mostly crickets...

I also have a practical question... this is probably going to sound silly...
when you say you can give them 'cooked' chicken, what exactly do you mean? In my language 'to cook' translates to serveral things
I mean do you put in a big pot with water and boil it?
Or do you prepare it in a pan with butter and everything? As you would for a human? sorry about the stupid question

[Floddermousie]

@leigh: wat is roo meat?

Roo meat is Kangaroo meat. Roo is short for Kangaroo.

ow...
I guess you have to be in Australia for that
I have eaten kangaroo only once, on Christmas Day, and it was VERY expensive...

[Funda]

Im not quiet sure.
I havnt cooked chicken for my blueys as of yet.
Although other forum members already have.
I think boiling it or barbecuing (or something like that) because cooking it in oils or butter is fattening, but I'm not 100% sure on how to cook it.
Sorry i couldnt be of much help.
Hopefully other members can help you with that question

f.C

[Floddermousie]

One other thing that concerns me is this: how big is your terrarium? I know blue tongues require a bigger cage than beardies do, so you may need to upgrade to a bigger tank if yours isn't already big enough.

sorry I forgot your question
I don't know the exact dimensions in feet and inches, but I calculated that it is bigger than the minimum size mentioned in the care sheet: 3 feet x 18 inch
this is not exact but to give an idea: mine is more like 4 feet x 25 inch
I made it out of wood, with glass sliding doors in the front
I have one normal lamp for light, one hot lamp for basking (with a log directly undernaeth, and there is also a UV-lamp
the sides and the back I made to look like rocks
I also have (rocky) platforms in it for extra floor space...

which bringes me to my next questions: how good are they in climbing, with those little feet? my beardy can climb up vertically like a gecko, but I expect a skink cannot?
can they climb on rocks and stuff?

[Funda]

Blueys dont nesseceraly climb.
They do more digging and exploring, oh and dont forget basking, they loooooove basking

If you have large rocks/stones, logs or any other ornament in there enclosure they are likely to climb over them and stuff but they dont do as much climbing as beardie would do.

Also if you want, post a few pics of your enclosures and even your beardie if you wish.
Posting Photos on this forum is the law!

f.C

[Floddermousie]

wel, if its the law...

here are some pics
my little beardie just hanging around


you looking at me?


here you can see one of the platforms
the plant underneath is golliwoog, which is suitable for eating by all kinds of animals including beardies
i suppose skinks too?


here he is basking on a log, with a belly full of crickets


basking


and in case you think wow what a big dragon, here he is on my hand, he's still tiny

[Lucifer_Spades]

aww what a cute little beardie! Very lovely colouration.

As far as a bluey climbing they can lift themselves with just their muscular tails and reach just about any where they want to go.
Fair warning, they are MUCH stronger than beardies so any enclosure needs to be tightly closed. When I got Quigly I was amazed at his strength.

Also a varied diet of good greens (kale, collards, mustard, dandilion), Supplimented with a high quality cat food and fruit, should be excelent for a bluey and not be dangerous for your cats health. That is mostly what my Quigs gets, and I think most people on here would agree he's a happy healthy skink.

Good Luck and welcome to the wonderful world of blue tongue skinks.

~*Serenity*~

[russman]

As far as 'cooked' chicken goes, I think whatever way you cook it is ok, just as long as there aren't any additives like spices, etc. in it.

[Floddermousie]

thanks for the info! and the welcome

if skinks are much stronger, do you think they would be able to slide the glass doors open? at the moment, I don't have a lock on it

how much does a baby skink weigh?
and an adult?
I think the babies are a lot chunkier than a baby beardie, looking at these beautful babies which are for sale
so they are probably a lot stronger to

[Lucifer_Spades]

As far as 'cooked' chicken goes, I think whatever way you cook it is ok, just as long as there aren't any additives like spices, etc. in it.

I think one disscusion decided boiling or steaming was by far the best method as frying adds fat, and grilling chars parts which contain carbons that may not be good for blueys.
Adding spices or flavorings a definate no no, they could make a bluey very sick depending on what you used.

thanks for the info! and the welcome

if skinks are much stronger, do you think they would be able to slide the glass doors open? at the moment, I don't have a lock on it

how much does a baby skink weigh?
and an adult?
I think the babies are a lot chunkier than a baby beardie, looking at these beautful babies which are for sale
so they are probably a lot stronger to

I would say getting a lock would be a good idea.

As far as weight, I know Quigs who is about 9 months old is over 1 pound (I don't do conversions if you need that sorry) and he's not done growing by far, if that gives you any frame of reference.

[Floddermousie]

ok thanks for the info! boiling it is
might have been a silly question, but better safe then sorry I always say

[Lucifer_Spades]

ok thanks for the info! boiling it is
might have been a silly question, but better safe then sorry I always say

No such thing as a silly question.

If you don't know always, always, ask it's what this site is for.

Everyone here loves blueys, and most are quite knowladgeable. I'm sure it won't be long before the real brains of the operation come to weigh in and then you will have more help than you know what to do with.

~*Serenity*~

[Floddermousie]

ok, you can expect a lot of questions from me
very few people here now anything about blue tongue skinks