New NBTS owner. Intro and a question.

[saisaac]

Our first Northern Blue Tongue Skink arrived today from Captive Bred Excellence. We have called him (sex unknown, he seems nicer than calling the skink an it) Chewy and he has been exploring his 4Lx2W tank all day and have been spending a lot of time hiding. When we go near the cage he tends to go hide.

I am using a mix of aspen and Eco-Earth for the substrate and two halogen flood bulbs for heat. Temperatures are stable at 100 at the basking spot down to the mid-70s in other areas of the tank. I was wondering how deep the substrate should be. If you have any advice for a new owner that would be greatly appreciated. Prior to purchasing our skink I read through multiple care sheets, including the detailed one on this site, so I have a good understanding of their care requirements, but am absolutely open to any suggestions or advice.



(This picture was taken before the skink arrived while I was still getting the heating right. We are no longer using the CHE)

[Rani-May]

Chewy is beautiful, lovely name too haha.
Nice set up. The depth of substrate is different for everyone most the time. As long as there is enough for your bluey to burrow himself under. they love burrowing. I don't think you will find a bluey that doesnt want to burrow themselves now and then. My substrate varies in depth. some spots its only 2 inches deep, some areas are 5ish inches

[Fatal_S]

My substrate tends to be 1-2 inches deep at most. If it's too deep you'll never find them

[Rani-May]

oh mine loves the deep substrate or digging, not burrowing. they tend to borrow on the hot end which in mine is usually 2-3 inches tops. But i love watching them run up and down the mini mounds they seem to LOVE it. Plus most of my deep sections is actually snake/reptile bedding. so it doesnt take much to be quite high and they just poop in that part

[Rani-May]

arent your skinks thicker than 1-2 inches? how do they burrow much in substrate thinner than themselves? Just curious, might be the substrate you use. I use bark, reptile bedding and coco peat. mostly bark. which has big chunks in it, so if its a thin layer, its impossible to bury under

[Fatal_S]

My skinks can fit into a 1/2 inch gap, they are not more than an inch off the ground in height. And they don't need to be completely submerged to feel secure, they just need to be mostly-covered. I tend to have the substrate very thin at the front of the tank (where water/food go, and where extra substrate would end up falling from the tank if I open the doors) and thick in the back of the tank (where they go to sleep/hide and feel secure). So the front might only have a 1/2 inch of substrate (just enough to cover the ground a bit) but the back corners could have 3+ inches of substrate.

I use aspen, which is a loose substrate that's easy for them to push around and disappear in. But same deal for coco-bark substrate when used. Lots of substrate is a waste of $ to me, and I hate taking 10 minutes of digging just to find a skink when I need to (I rarely dig them out though, just for cleaning or events).

[Rani-May]

Im lucky, i get my substrate discounted, sometimes even free because Im good friends with the pet store manager i go to so i dont worry too much on cost of it. But mine love digging right in there and running up and down the mounds. i have bedding piled in one corner of each tank at about 4-5 inches, but only about that in width and length too, so they are still very findable, and its basically see through stuff once its dug into. and another corner i pile it up because that where they go to the bathroom. they dig under, poop then pop back out LOL. so they never stayed burried in the deep patches completely. So i have no problem with varied width of substrate. I can always see a slight "mound" where they bury

[Richard.C]

I keep some of mine on 1 mm of substrate,others on fake grass,u dont need depth if u offer tightish fitting hides they can feel secure in

But offering it does give them more options,eg hides everywhere in the substrate mainly,with lots of different temps,they can even bask whilst hiding

Becomes tedious though when u have more than a skink or 2,main point is theres lots of successful ways to do things,i have some on sand to,which is apparently a no no

[Rani-May]

sand doesnt digest properly. CAN, and im only saying CAN cause ingesting issues. so every herper and herp vet ive ever spoken to about it has said anyway. I definitely wouldnt put food or water bowls near sand. but each to their own. Ive used it before. but id never sand and only sand in an entire enclosure.

This is also why i said depth of substrate is different for everyone. owner preferences, skink preferences, substrate type. there is no right or wrong with depth of it really. unless you have no hides for it what so ever obviously XD

[Richard.C]

Iver never had issues with sand,alot of blueys actually live in the stuff in nature,id be more concerned about ingestion of larger substrates

Shavings bark ect ect

Sands tedious at clean up time,an old vacume is handy getting rid of the last bit

I think sand issues are alot like the dogfood debate,alot of people just going off the words of others

Just an opinion though,and fact ive never had any negatives with using it,even having them mate on it and have babies on it that eat there placenta even with sand attatched

Point being would it be harder to digest small grains of sand or big chunks of bark,by big i mean compared to grains of sand

[Rani-May]

well this is why i emphasized the CAN. is just what ive been told. I dont even feed my skinks in their enclosures, so i dont need to worry about them eating the bark i use. so in my situation its safer coarser substrate. Unless of course i end up with a BTS that happens to eat substrate which has been known lol, but i havent had that issue yet. So in my case, sand is not the better option. and as i already mentioned, its different per person and per skink sometimes. And as yousaid Richard, lots of successful ways to do things.

[El Lobo]

This solves any problem for me.

DSCF2043CR.jpg

[Rani-May]

wow, he/she is solid looking. i have a very skink proof lounge. i feed them on the floor on plates. or by hand. Whats the yellow stuff there? is it squash?

[El Lobo]

The strips are butternut and the chunks are papaya.

[Rani-May]

mine go crazy over soft butternut pumpkin. never tried papaya.

[saisaac]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I took out some of the substrate this morning and put some inside the hide log to promote hiding in there, but I left plenty of spots deep enough for him to hide wherever he likes. His favorite spot to hide seems to be between the two rocks on the basking end of the tank. I hand fed him this morning. Lured him to eat with a little Repashy Crested Gecko Diet and then he went to town on some boiled turkey, endive, and escarole.

[critterguy]

El Lobo: Guess yours are neater eaters than mine! They like to take the food off the paper plates. I usually either use stuff that is bigger(used cardboard takout containers, plastic yogurt tubs, paper bags) etc. for feeding or else move them to a seperate cage. I figure a shaving or two on the occasion is probably ok but better safe than sorry.

[Richard.C]

Blotchies are reasonably well mannered eaters,especially if fed singley or in small groups,when others try pinching food off cage mates they then start grabbing chunks and moving off spreading food every where

Disposable plates are a great idea norm