Stop burrowing

[BluetongueMan]

My blue tongue skink is always burrowing I know it is what they do but he does it all day on the cold side of his cage and when I go to get him he hisses at me what should I do I ps the substrait I use is Aspen he is in a 40 gallon breeders tank he has 2 hides and right now it is 99.1 dergrees F in his warm side hide and around 80 something on the outside of his hide

[Linnea]

if he hides, let him do so for now.

when winter comes skinks brumate. it doesnt matter if all the temps are still as warm as in summer, they brumate anyway. dont worry about him not eating or drinking as often, its just their metabolism slowing down. you just have to bear with it.

im not sure how long youve had your bluey, im sorry, but it can also indicate he is about to shed. best to leave him be then too.

if he continues this throughout summer months, then you can start working on making him more used to being approached and handled. i think, in this case its just winter brumation instinct kicking in.

if you however see signs of disease, contact a veterinarian.

your temps, i think you should make it a liiittle warmer on the basking side when winter ends and your skink is yet again more active.

[Kbell31]

How long have you had him? Is this his normal behavior or did he just start doing it? When he comes out to eat do you notice any red flags with his appearance? Skinks like to burrow and hide, some more than others. Is he using his hides or just burrowing in the apsen? If so, the aspen may be too deep and you could try taking some out. I would just try to to calmy interact with him a little each day. There is a good thread on here about how to best tame your skink you should do a search on it or maybe someone can post the link.

[Bird_Brain]

My blue tongue skink is always burrowing I know it is what they do

You answered your own question. If you didnt want an animal that could burrow for days on end, maybe a bluey wasn't the right choice of animal?

[Spindown]

if you get tired of him always burrowing, you can send him my way!

[RosiePosie06]

I don't think you guys should be telling him to get rid of his bluey or that he got the wrong pet. I worried about the same thing until I heard about brumation. The thing is when you're new to your BTS and they burrow so much that they seem inactive, it seems like it might be a problem.

[Jeff]

Did someone say he should get rid of his bluey?

[RosiePosie06]

I saw "send him my way" and thought it said "send him away". Sorry about that! And thanks for pointing that out

[Bird_Brain]

I don't think you guys should be telling him to get rid of his bluey or that he got the wrong pet.

Maybe I didnt say with a lot of fluff, but I didnt mean it in a mean way. Just confused as to why the OP was questioning it if he already knew they are a burrowing animal? It would be no different than if I got a Cockatoo and wondering how to get it to stop screaching, even though I know that is what they do. Research is a very important aspect to animal husbandry.

[Alioop]

When I got my first bts (seems like AGES ago lol) I gave him like 4" of substrate. He burrowed right down into it and stayed there. On the recommendation of others on the forum here, I gave him less substrate (about an 1"-2") while making sure that he also had plenty of hides (I have three hides total in my 40 breeder). Once the option to "go under ground" was taken away, he spent much more time out and about.