Acclimation

[normalisamyth]

Hi all! I just got a blue tongue skink last Tuesday (from Fatal, she's 'ebony' btw) and am extremely excited! This is sort of a question, sort of an observation. I've resisted handling (admirably) except two times when I was making sure she was warm enough (my light didn't have a high enough wattage, i'm a little paranoid, so i had to check). On both occasions she seemed OK. Today, while I was taking out her food dish, she saw my hand and started 'exploring' it. I didn't want to scare her so i kept still. She ended up climbing up my arm and out of her tank (albeit it with some help out of the tank, lol). The only time she huffed was when i tried to put her back into her cage! so my question is if the one week acclimation period applies to all skinks equally. She didn't seem stressed ( she was the one who tried to get out in the first place!) and doesn't seem to intimidated by me. Is the one week thing more of a generalization than a rule. I was just wondering. Thanks!

[Jeff]

In my opinion, if your skink doesn't seem to be freaking out, it's fine to handle it. I wouldn't worry about the time as much as how your skink is acting. It's hard to know what is normal when you have never had others though, so it is still probably a good idea to take it slow.

[AnnaMonroe]

To be honest, I didn't oblige to the one week rule and handled Spyro a bit here and there during his first week home.
He never huffed and didn't seem to be intimidated either. All skinks have their own personalities and temperaments.