BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Hi guys. This is my first post on here. I just recently acquired a beautiful Blue tongue skink. I think he is an Indonesian(I will post photos later to get him ID'd. He was a bit of a surprise purchase as I had my eye on him for a while but was not comfortable paying the amount they wanted for him at the pet store,Even though he was very healthy active and tame(Nervous enough to know he was healthy but calm enough to know that with regular handling he will tame down). I know the manager and when he saw me handling the skink he came over and cut the price down dramatically since he knew we would give it a really good home(His passion is blue tongue skinks so he wanted to know the little guy went to a good home). So I ended up taking him home(After over six years of wanting a blue tongue skink but it never really being the right time) We have him in a smaller tank right now(He spent the night in a tub as we disinfected the tank that was in storage) But I'm not comfortable i having him in the footprint he is in once he or she gets much bigger.

I have an old dresser I have been wanting to modify into a cage for a long time now(Bought it back when I still lived with my mother about eight years ago) But never had the excuse. I'm thinking it would be great for him. Please let me know what you think.

Dresser dimensions are
4'7" long by 2'7" high by 1'4" wide. I was thinking of having a fake rock wall with long basking ledge for him to get access to his UV and heat and it would also make a much bigger temperature gradient for him. Suggestions welcome.

Welcome to the forum!! If you can construct it, an enclosure of that size would be great!

If you are using UVB, make sure you read the directions - some only have a limited range, so you would need to mount it lower or provide a platform so that the bluey is close enough to benefit from it.

Good luck, I'd love to see pics.

Thanks. Yes, Im planning on building a rock ledge on the top so they can get around 12-8 inches from the UVB and heat source(Around 100F heat), heat source would be in a box with a hole with screen covering. The bottom would be a burrowing area with lots of aspen to dig in. So nice big enclosure with lots of different temperature gradients and things to keep him busy and interested. Just got back from shopping and bought a pile of food for him(Might have gone overboard), canned snails and grasshoppers, a few different small cans of organic dog and cat food with different meat sources like rabbit, chicken, venison, beef, duck etc. Greens(Dandilion and collard) frozen veggies and fresh veggies and squash, eggs,extra lean ground turkey, raw beef, bananas for a treat(I was told he will be your best friend if you feed him bananas). We also breed superworms and have a few other bug sources on hand at all times.

Also here are some pictures of my new little skink
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=20246

This is also the dresser im planning on converting. Really doesent work very well as a dresser anymore. Cant wait to get started!



Ive had it for over ten years and it was a used dresser at that point. Im planning on sanding the whole thing down and giving it a coat of paint. The inside will have a fake rock background(Thin as I can as I dont want to take away as its not the widest. With a ledge and ramp