Can BTS eat grasses?

[Silver]

Hi all,

I am a soon to be first time owner of a northern blue tongue skink! I have been doing research for years now but finally felt it was a good time... so I'll be getting my lil guy around the 16th or so.

I already grow a few greens for my pet rabbits - mostly dandelion and plantain but I am hoping to add more to that soon. But I also grow some grasses for my rabbits, I wondered if these might be suitable as an ocassional addition to a BTS's diet?

I can't find much info on this while googling so I am leaning towards a "no". I've been trying to read up on their wild diet but am having a bit of a hard time finding any actual studies into it... so if anyone has any links to anything like that, I'd be super interested.

I do feel fairly "prepared" as far as a good diet goes from all the info I have read here + some other places. I also own rabbits, ferrets, and other herps so I almost always have plenty of greens, veg, insect feeders, and meat bits (incl organ meats).

[Janella]

Hi there, these guys mostly need a protein source to eat. Then, about 40% of their diet needs to be dark leafy greens and vegetables. You can feed dandelion greens. Grasses not really. I like to use collard, mustard, dandelion, bok choy, and endive for mine. I miss up what they get so they don't get picky. I hope that helps.

[Silver]

Hi there, these guys mostly need a protein source to eat. Then, about 40% of their diet needs to be dark leafy greens and vegetables. You can feed dandelion greens. Grasses not really. I like to use collard, mustard, dandelion, bok choy, and endive for mine. I miss up what they get so they don't get picky. I hope that helps.

Hiya, thanks for the reply!

Don't worry, I have lots of protein options sorted (like a large variety of insect feeders, organ meats, minces, other bits), and like I said always have a lot of greens to hand! My rabbits get a large variety that I change up too, though their staples are very similar - spring/collard greens, dandelion, pak choi, sometimes kale and other bits. I'm getting some seeds for growing mustard greens and alfalfa too. Butternut squash is a staple in my diet so adding some bits of squash in too will be easy, lol.

Just wasn't sure if grasses were an option, since that's good for rabbits, but obviously blueys aren't herbivores like them! I am trying to grow more of their foods myself, so the more I can offer my eventual BTS of the things that I grow myself, the better. I'll give the grass a miss for them though - I was leaning towards "probably not" since I couldn't find any info on it.

I had read this page that had some info on the wild diet of some other species of blue tongues, but nothing on northerns. Which is why I was sort of hoping to find something similar on northerns, but obviously there is a wealth of information here on what to feed them in captivity... I just get curious!

Thanks again though!

[Janella]

Sounds wonderful. Welcome to the forum and feel free to ask any questions any time.

[Silver]

Sounds wonderful. Welcome to the forum and feel free to ask any questions any time.

Thanks very much!! I have certainly found the forum to be a fantastic source of information so far, and most of my questions have already been answered by just searching.