New skink cage for Jasmin

[ewstokes]

My landlord says I can only have 4 heat tanks in my apartment. Something about fire code issues. I guess it was getting kind of crazy. So I am moving both of my blue tongues in a 4 x 2 x 2. They are male and female. I know its not recommended to house them together but I dont really have any other option. They are actually really good together when I put them together. And I am adding plenty of places for both to hide. I currently have 4 hiding places and 1 large basking area incorporated in this design. This cage will be for below my skink cage, which I will also picture.
I have already started building, and will include pictures of the build once completed.

Heres the first design draft.


Heres the frilled cage:


And heres a breakout of the first draft furniture. Its actually changed a little bit.

[sheslikeheroin]

ewstokes it think if your going to have any sucess with co habiting your going to need two basking spots. so they can get away from eachother and still both be warm. from my experience with smaller species of reptile if you have only one basking spot than the dominant one will rule it and may not allow the others to bask, this can be dangerous because the subordinate ones will not get enough heat resulting in improper digestion. as well as possible wounds from the dominant one attacking the subordinate to defend its territory. you may want to add another couple of feet lengthwise so you can incorporate a second basking spot on the opposite end on the tank and still have the proper thermal gradient. using a tight beam focused light will also help restrict the heat to only the area directly below and for about 8-10 inches of either side, thats the hottest point. with the two basking light setup the middle of your tank would be your cool zone.


BTW your frilled cage looks sweet!

Stu

[ewstokes]

ewstokes it think if your going to have any sucess with co habiting your going to need two basking spots. so they can get away from eachother and still both be warm. from my experience with smaller species of reptile if you have only one basking spot than the dominant one will rule it and may not allow the others to bask, this can be dangerous because the subordinate ones will not get enough heat resulting in improper digestion. as well as possible wounds from the dominant one attacking the subordinate to defend its territory. you may want to add another couple of feet lengthwise so you can incorporate a second basking spot on the opposite end on the tank and still have the proper thermal gradient. using a tight beam focused light will also help restrict the heat to only the area directly below and for about 8-10 inches of either side, thats the hottest point. with the two basking light setup the middle of your tank would be your cool zone.


BTW your frilled cage looks sweet!

Stu

Thats a good idea. I will add a smaller basking spot on the right side next to the pool. Its already built so I just have to add another heat bulb on the other side. It should keep the middle as cool because it is very big, and I dont need large wattage for heat.

[ewstokes]

Also I will keep an eye on them and if there is any overly aggressiveness going on, I will incorporate a cage divider or set up one of my extra 40 gallons for one of them. I dont plan on doing this unless its breeding season, I can see where that might come in handy. But that doesnt come for awhile now.

[Funda]

Great plans and idea's!
The cages look awesome!!

And yeah if you do see a sign of aggreession a divider is a very good idea.

Keep the good work!


f.C

[KyleWeiss]

A disclaimer:

Due to the possibility of inter-reptile injury, BTS.net does not condone nor support the keeping of more than one blue-tongue skink per enclosure with the exception of outdoor pits, pens and yards specifically for that purpose, usually encompassing large areas, and under the supervision of a skilled keeper or breeder.

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ewstokes, you seem to be very handy at building, engineering and conceiving good ideas. Sadly, in my opinion, they seemed to stop when keeping two animals in one enclosure on a permanent basis came into the equation. I wish you and your animals well in your efforts.

KW

[Katrina]

Yeah, please be careful. My little rescues lost most of their toes due to being housed with a larger bully skink when they were young, and Nemo walks funny due to a broken arm from a bite that didn't heal properly and almost died from the consequent blood infection. While these guys get along fine when they are in a room together with lots of space, 2 feet by 4 feet is not very large for these guys.... Monitor them closely.

The cage design looks great - lots of nice shelves and fun stuff for them to explore!

[ewstokes]

A disclaimer:

Due to the possibility of inter-reptile injury, BTS.net does not condone nor support the keeping of more than one blue-tongue skink per enclosure with the exception of outdoor pits, pens and yards specifically for that purpose, usually encompassing large areas, and under the supervision of a skilled keeper or breeder.

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ewstokes, you seem to be very handy at building, engineering and conceiving good ideas. Sadly, in my opinion, they seemed to stop when keeping two animals in one enclosure on a permanent basis came into the equation. I wish you and your animals well in your efforts.

KW

Like I said before, keeping the two skinks together wasn't my choice. I live in a 1 bedroom apt and my landlord insisted I lose one heat cage due to "fire codes". If you ask me it's all a bunch of bull crap and hes just trying to get my goat. I dont have the space or resources to create a larger cage and this cage design fits well with the completion of my frilled dragon unit into a full skink/dragon unit itself.
I am not dead set on making the landlord happy. If I see one ounce of aggression, (which I most likely will), I am putting the male in his own 40 gallon and finding a place for him somewhere else in the apartment. Some may say another option is finding a new home for the guy, but that isn't an option for me. This guy has gone through enough and through so many different homes it's not funny. And he's still pretty young. He was at a petstore for about a year and then some kid bought him and I found out who he was and he wasnt taking good care of him at all (he came and showed me him and to transport him he placed him in his backpack!!). Also he was young and didnt know how to care properly for a skink, so I insisted on purchasing him from the kid.
So like I said, if I see my skinks show one ounce of aggression, they will be seperated. Even if I don't they will be seperated anyways during mating season. I will just have to put them back in when and if my landlord decides to visit or fix something.

[ewstokes]

Actually come to think of it I will just put the male into the front access cage I have meshed with my bearded dragon unit. My landlord should only see that as 2 cages. If I have 2 units and no seperate cages I might get away with it. So lets just call this Jasmin's cage, and nobody else's

[ewstokes]

oh and the frilled dragon cage is an old big screen tv FYI

[Chase]

If I see one ounce of aggression, (which I most likely will), I am putting the male in his own 40 gallon and finding a place for him somewhere else in the apartment.

Why are you going through the effort of putting them together in the first place if the chance of seeing aggression is high? To me that seems like going through more trouble for no reason and if you plan on housing them separately if you see aggression why can't you just do that to begin with?

[Tattoo]

I will not house my animals together. I would find a new place to live first. I would also be researching this "fire code" for myself. Good luck to you whatever you choose to do.

[KyleWeiss]

My only point for posting what I did is for people that are looking for reasons to refer to your situation and say, "Look, that person did it, that means it's okay." Since people tend to scan forums rather than read them, it's something I feel more comfortable adding to any situation where people are attempting to house multiple skinks.

It's a service to skinks present and future.

I hope your situation works out for the best of all involved.

KW

[ewstokes]

If I see one ounce of aggression, (which I most likely will), I am putting the male in his own 40 gallon and finding a place for him somewhere else in the apartment.

Why are you going through the effort of putting them together in the first place if the chance of seeing aggression is high? To me that seems like going through more trouble for no reason and if you plan on housing them separately if you see aggression why can't you just do that to begin with?

You guys should really read every reply I write lol. Here's what I said:

Actually come to think of it I will just put the male into the front access cage I have meshed with my bearded dragon unit. My landlord should only see that as 2 cages. If I have 2 units and no seperate cages I might get away with it. So lets just call this Jasmin's cage, and nobody else's


Anyway heres the update:

Heres some pictures of the cage so far. All I need to do is add the outside vents, doors, and substrate.

Let me know what you think.

[Leigh]

It might be different over there but I reckon the landlords full of :bs: :liar: the set ups look good to me, all I'd say is you might like to put a UV and basker in each side.

[Funda]

Looking good, keep it up!


f.C

[Scotts1au]

Great enclosure, looks like an amusement park for blueys.

[ewstokes]

It might be different over there but I reckon the landlords full of :bs: :liar: the set ups look good to me, all I'd say is you might like to put a UV and basker in each side.

There is a UVB already on both sides. You can see the black flourescent on the left side in one of the pictures and the other UVB is the spirally bulb.

Thanks for all your comments! I appreciate it! I am very happy with the turnout and Im very comfortable in my decision to just keep Jasmin in there. She is going to LOVE the extra space!

[ewstokes]

heres jasmin posing after the doors were put in. almost done!

[Funda]

She looks happy, i dont think any bluey would get bored in a enclosure as big and amusing as that..

yay blue tongue skink enclosure park


great work, cant wait to see how it look with the decor!


f.C