New blue tongue skink owner **WITH PICS/ VIDEO**

[rioepdc]

Hello everyone my name is Mario everyone calls me rio. I'm 22 and just purchased my first blue tongue skink. Haven't officially recieved him/her yet but will recieve tuesday! Its a c.b baby Irian Jaya bts purchased from underground reptiles.

Will be in a nice size in encloser 36x18x16 so there will be plenty of room to roam around. This is not my first reptile just my first skink although i've wanted a bts since I was a kid. I've had garder snakes, python, iguana, veiled chameleons, lepeorad gechos, tokay gecho's and a few more

Currently I have two little turtles and a 35lb snapping turtle.

I do however have one question. i'm in a trance on which bedding to get. im leaning more towards the aspen shavings or the reptile bark. with baby skinks is it best not to use the bark since they may attempt to eat it? also do I need to put in a seperate feeding tank to eat?

has anyone had problems with there skink swallowing aspen shavings or bark?

thank you and pictures will be up soon!

[Katrina]

Welcome to the forums!! Can't wait to see pics!

As for the substrate - either will be fine. You don't need to feed in a separate tank, although some people do feed outside the enclosure (helps the bluey associate being handled with food and good stuff!). I just feed on large tupperware lids so that they aren't eating off the substrate.

You can try both the aspen and reptibark and see which you prefer. Either will work fine.

[rioepdc]

Thank you for the warm welcome and fast response. I think i'll be going with the shavings, I think I'll be able to sleep better at night and he/she will be a little bit more comfy.

With baby bts do they also go thru the brumination period?

[Katrina]

They can, but don't need to brumate. Are you in North America? If so, I don't think you will to worry about that until next fall/winter. If you aren't planning to breed or if you have a baby, most just leave the heat and lights on the same cycle and let them decide if they want to brumate or not.

He will likely be scared and hiding for the first little while though, until he gets used to his new home.

[Jeff]

Hi Rio, welcome to the forum! I agree that aspen is a great substrate. I would recommend using the "shavings" that are usually found in the small animal deptartment, rather than the reptile type. Either will work fine, but I don't like the sharp needle like pieces in the reptile aspen.

The one thing to watch with the aspen is your skinks belly. If you live in a dry climate like I do, a dry substrate like aspen can really dry out the underside of your skink. It will feel dry and crackly if there is a problem. Almost any substrate can dry out and cause this problem, but aspen starts out dry.

I think that aspen is one of the best substrates out there as long as you keep that in mind. If you do notice it dries out your skink, it's not a serious problem. You will just want to switch to something else that you can keep a little moisture in.

[rioepdc]

Alright thanks for the help and yes im in minneapolis. I seriously cant wait im losing so much sleep its a shame

[Krippschick]

I have a merauke and an IJ. I use coco fiber mulch, because like Jeff said it holds moisture better. Mine seem to enjoy burrowing in this type of substrate, and there are a few keepers of these type who like to have a higher humidity with them. I feed outside the enclosure, but that is just my choice. Welcome and I cant wait to see pictures.

[Roheryn]

Welcome! As for substrate. I first used the aspen snake bedding for my Merauke, but I didn't like it at all. As Jeff said (and as I found out the hard way) it had needle-like small stuff. It kept getting stuck in his eyes. I use repti bark now. Much better

Hope to see pics of your little bugger soon

[Chase]

Repti-bark is more expensive than aspen shavings, but more natural looking. It also has the added benefit of keeping the skinks nails short. I used aspen when my skink was young and now I have been using repti-bark for the past few years. I prefer repti-bark, but mostly because of the reasons I mentioned above (minus the cost). Both substrates work fine. I'm most likely going to try bed-a-beast or something similar soon though and see how that goes. It's really personal preference; I don't think there's much cause for worry as far as the skink ingesting either substrate.

[rioepdc]

Thank you guys so much. I may end up doing the repti bark and and coco fiber for the area that my skink will rest/sleep in. really dont want shavings in his/her eyes.

burrowing with repti bark pretty easy for them?

[Zach]

Repti-bark is more expensive than aspen shavings, but more natural looking. It also has the added benefit of keeping the skinks nails short. I used aspen when my skink was young and now I have been using repti-bark for the past few years. I prefer repti-bark, but mostly because of the reasons I mentioned above (minus the cost). Both substrates work fine. I'm most likely going to try bed-a-beast or something similar soon though and see how that goes. It's really personal preference; I don't think there's much cause for worry as far as the skink ingesting either substrate.

I prefer the Reptibark as well. My top favorite is the coconut husk, but definitely Reptibark above aspen. We bought some aspen recently just because it's so darned afforable -- the smells! This is probably just because we have 10 units though so it's a lot of aspen. It's also really slippery and when it gets wet....smells even worse. To each their own! Let us know what you decide...

[rioepdc]

Thanks everybody!!! I'll be checking out/studying different types tomorrow.

[Edward]

:btsnet:

I'm a die-hard bark man.

[rioepdc]

Is this TOO MUCH or unsafe for baby bts?? I think its fine but my gf has a few worries. I'm also gonna put in another water bowl most likely so he can put his body thru

Anyways I found one of my old water fountains that i've used with previous reptiles and was lucky enough to find the pump for it! it was all dirty so I took the time to clean it up with toothpaste and a toothbrush. scrubbed off all the nasty gunk and washed off everything, also cleaned the pump/ water tube.

This leads to the question. Is this too deep for my skink? its about 3 inches deep. I think it'll be a great source of water and addition to the tank.

Sorry for the huge pictures I took them with my cellphone and they come out huge lol ( I <3 my phones cam quality)

[Edward]

You'd have to make sure the water level is high enough that your skink can climb out easily. (Remember they have very short legs.)
How far is it across? The water part of it, I mean.

[rioepdc]

yea I can definitely keep the water high enough. Its about 4 1\2- 5inches wide. Ill get actual measurements today

[rioepdc]

Today was the big day! I couldn't sleep at all and checked my delivery progress progress about 50 times. I ordered my Irian Jaya BTS thru kingsnake.com and went thru underground reptiles. Guys were pretty legit/nice they even called me to make sure I wanted my bts shipped to my house even with it being a little chilly at 30 degrees here in mn. I asked for a specific BTS that was in the advertisement and they took the liberty in fulfilling my wish. He's extremely healthy and so far the skink i've always wanted

Delivery was today at 10:21 am which matches my bday 10-21. I was a little upset/worried because the fedex guy was flipping the box all around even though the box says fragile THIS SIDE UP. Another thing is that my skink barely had any room/ little packaging. He was in a small plastic container that you put small amounts of food from the deli. I honestly thought he was dead until he moved just a tiny bit. so thats the only downfall for underground reptiles. I immediately put him in the enclosure to warm up a bit and for him to get a good look at us for not being a threat to him.

Zeus is freakin awesome, he was a little nervous of me at first, he hissed once but after that we've been smooth sailing. Zeus seems to love his enclosure, I ended up with the repti bark. he's so tame and calm picked him up numerous times, never peed on us, also he ate a little bit of apple sauce and later on about 6-7 mealworms. he literally just chills out and adapted to us immediately.

Below are some pics, videos are taking a while to upload so i'll probably upload the rest tomorrow. SORRY FOR THE HUGE PICS I'M GONNA HAVE TO PUT MY PHONE CAMERA ON A LOWER SETTING









Roaming around on the bed a bit


Caught him yawning










http://s256.photobucket.com/albums/hh17 ... esauce.mp4

[rioepdc]

Also the tank isn't done. I wanna get some ramps and another basking area

[Fatal_S]

Congrats on the new addition.

Quick tips:

Give him time to settle in now without being handled. Moving is a huge stress, so try to make it as easy as possible so he feels very secure.

Get a fecal check done when you can. Internal parasites are an annoyance I really hate, so I always recommend this.

You can download and use IrfanView to resize pictures before uploading (my preferred method), or use the resize function when uploading to BTS.net or resize in photobucket.

[rioepdc]

I resized them thru photobucket but their still showing up the same. I'll resize on my pc 2moro and he's been getting plenty of time to roam around and giving him respect to his new enviorment, but I understand what ya mean thanks for the tips!