How much is too much?

[Beyonder]

Hi there,

Just built Odin and Odin 2 (temp name..) a couple of cages.
Odins cage is 120cm x 60cm x 60cm (yea I know too high..) and its frikkin huge!

I filled it with alot(!) of aspen shavings, fake plants, wood pieces etc.
I guess there is about 10cm depth with aspen.

Odin loves it, but now I really dont see him anymore. He is hiding all the time. I think my Odin turned out to be really shy..?

I`ll post pics later so you`ll see what I mean.

I thought I`d lost him just now. There`s so much aspen in there I had to dig deep. Finally heard him go defensive on me so at least I know he is still alive..

Would you reduce the amount of aspen?

[zakkhogan]

10cm deep sounds a lot to me, i only have about 5cm..

But.... i wouldnt be to concerned about him hiding under the aspen as BTS are borrowers, in the wilde they will dig a lot deeper that 10cm,


BTS love their hides, some people on here simpley use a shoe box with one end open for them to hide in, other buy hide caves but i think the most of use buy half hollowed logs, again avaliable at petstores,

If you reduce the amount of subtrate you use and supply odin with plenty of places to hide above the surface you should see him more often..

[Helikaon]

depends if you ever want to see him my blues would probably envy him as they get newspaper. your enclosure sound cool though cant wait to see the pics. on another note though i'd probably reduce it jsut for the economic value as replacing that much aspen bedding weekly would become expensive

[Beyonder]

I threw it all in at once.. lol.
I will remove some later today. It really is too much..
I have three hides for him, plus the aspen so he shouldnt have any problems finding a place to hide.

[Tattoo]

If you are in a cold part of the world they would most likely be hiding regardless of the amount of aspen you have. I figure a good rule of thumb is enough aspen to cover the skink.

[Beyonder]

Didnt have time to take pics today as I actually got my car sold!
Superhappy about that

I have something to report now though; Odin Junior, the merauke, is really completely different than Odin Senior. I am amazed at this little guys personality. He is curious, brave, not shy at all and just incredibly charming. He is very active.

Odin never did any of this stuff. He mostly went defensive and wanted to hide.

I never understood what people on this board meant when their BTS "was begging to come out and play" or "watch TV with me" etc. Now I do.
This little guy had two cats looking into his cage today. Odin Jr just moaned and looked at them stupid then just continued climbing logs etc.
He is working on losing his old skin. He has now turned from dull brown to quite a bright yellow.

I really must take pix real soon.

Btw, is it dangerous to house one adult BTS with a younger one?

[zakkhogan]

i personaly dont know from experance, but it is advised in ther care sheet on this forum that you dont..

I think they can be very terrotorial, it can result in injurys to the young...


I have noticed that Lynyrds behavior has change since we moved him from the view of the tv, i think he liked watching.... alas he's new tank is almost complete and he will resume he's old spot infront of the big screen!

[SailleSkinklover]

Unless you have a really BIG and I mean Huge enclosure, I personally would not house them together at all. Just my opinion. They're pretty territorial by nature from what I understand.

[Blotch]

I have 2 4ft tanks that have 3 blueys in each one. No fights over here - however I have had to observe the behaviour of all my blueys to know which ones are capable of living together.

[Tattoo]

I'm with Saille. I wouldn't house together. Not worth the risk.

[Beyonder]

Hi,

Odin Sr and Odin Jr got their own cages so everything ok there. I was just curious if they would tolerate each other if I took them both out to let them explore the house someday.

I really need to find a better name for Jr than just calling him Jr.. I am always reminded of JR Ewing from the Dallas TV-show..lol.

[Funda]

I have 2 4ft tanks that have 3 blueys in each one. No fights over here - however I have had to observe the behaviour of all my blueys to know which ones are capable of living together.

I have one 3ft tank, with 2 blueys in there.
I want to get another enclosure though, so its one tank each.
Because there both nearly 1 year old! Tank is getting abit to small for them!

f.C

[Beyonder]

Finally had some time to take a few pictures.

First up is Odin Jr`s cage (It`s a work in progress. Is highly inconvinient with paper towels in this big cage. Will try newspaper instead. Will throw in many plants and other cool stuff to make it more comfortable for him):



Here is Odin Sr`s cage:



Here is Odin Sr hiding under the ceramic plates placed under the heatlight.



Odin Jr giving me a nice pose:



He has gone through a shed, but as you can see on the images below there are still some left on half his scull. Everything else is gone. Is there anything I can do to help him out?

[Funda]

Great pics of your skinkers!
Your enclosures are very high though. However, it looks VERY roomy, so thats a good thing!
The bigger the better!

f.C

[Beyonder]

Yea they`re high alright, as I mentioned in my first post.
However I got a really good price on them and couldnt resist.

[jasjmm27]

You know something I was thinking of doing if I had "high" cages like that...even with my 100 gallon tanks that I am using...is to try to maximize floor space by putting in "floors" using some sturdy woodwork or similar items.. That way you can have a terrace effect, or just plan old floors that would be angled so the bluey could walk around as he/she pleased...

Just a thought I was having this week...

[mom22wins]

I haven't read the other posts but I just wanted to point out how low your lights look in the enclosure. Is there a way to enclose them to keep your bluey from getting burned?

By the way, great enclosures! And pretty blueys! Especially Jr. since I could see him better than Sr. lol

[Beyonder]

I have thought about doing floors too. Would have been nice.
The lights may look low, but really arent.
I dont want my blueys to get hurt. Im going for a higher wattage bulb for Jr so that I can raise the height of it even more.

[Leigh]

I like tall cages like yours and mine, it makes getting in for cleaning sooo much easier, most people would agree that the paper towels would be better than newspaper,coz of the ink problem. I would suggest swapping the sawdust substrate for something with bigger bits though. nice job indeed mate.