BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Hello Everyone,

I have an Indonesian blue tongue skink who I adopted four months ago. He (I've been calling him a he but have no idea really) was shy at first though has warmed up quickly and is the sweetest little lizard! I was told he was about three years old and his previous owner purchased him from a pet store and claimed he was captive bred though I don't know for certain (and have heard that Indonesians are often wild-caught ). Snickers (as I've named him) has been a joy so far, I've joined this forum mainly just to learn more about skink care and tips however I did have one question: how often are they supposed to shed? Snickers seems to shed every 4-6 weeks, is this normal? I've also attached some pictures of him, as you can see the toes on his left front foot are a little mangled. He was like this when I got him and I think it may be from scales restricting blood loss when he sheds because the scales on his toes don't seem to come off that well and so far I've had to assist him with their removal whenever he sheds.

welcome to the forum,

is it just me or is there an influx of new zealand and canadian members

most of the indo blueys are imported wild caughts,yours is a nice looking specimen,sex wise from what i can see looks girly in the head,but a full birds eye view picture may help to sex it.

retained shed on the toes does lead to that to,in the pic it looks like a couple of toes may still have old shed on it,but i could be wrong,your doing the right thing helping remove it,i find if u can dampen it it makes it come off easier,shedding varies,they shed more when they are growing

Welcome! More Canadians
You skink is very pretty, I really like the last picture of him sleeping. I don't have a bluey, but from reaserching I believe that shedding every 4-6 weeks is normal.

Welcome!! Gorgeous Indo.

Always great to see more Canadians on here. Shedding 4-6 weeks is very normal.

Thanks for all the welcoming everyone It looks like there's shed on his toes because he's shedding again really soon, thanks for the tip on dampening the scales to help get them off, I'll definitely try that. I've attached a couple birds eye view pics. Let me know if this helps you identify the gender. Also what characteristics do you use to sex them?

Very cute little Indo

swxing varies for each species,some are very tricky,i believe your type,males show buldges at base of tail,out the sides not underneath tail

other things to look for are build,females often look solider,though daintier in head width,males look long and lean and in older ones often have big heads,look like a shovel,lol,but not always consistant,sometimes its quite subtle,your first lot of pics i was thinking female off the pics,second lot im leaning either way,lol,cant see buldges,but head body looks maybe male,maybe someone else can give a better judgement,ive never seen indos in person

I'm leaning toward male based on the body to tail ratio. Hard to tell though, if the body and tail are straight it is easier but I don't think this one is a particularly obvious one (at least not for me!). He looks similar body-wise to one of mine, Simon, who I'm 80% sure is male but still not certain. Simon is a Meruake, but they have similar body shapes.

When he is pooping watch for sperm plugs or to see if you get a glimpse of hemipenis.

Ewww, Canadians are weird.

Welcome to the addiction anyways You have a very pretty skink.

Is it just me or does that skink seem a lot younger looking than 3 years old? My Merauke is the same size and he's only 4 months old.

Very cute by the way!
Oh and shedding is about every 4-6 weeks, yes. :]

LarissaLurid wrote:Is it just me or does that skink seem a lot younger looking than 3 years old? My Merauke is the same size and he's only 4 months old. ]

He could be, that was just the age quoted by the kid I adopted him from. I wouldn't mind if he was younger though, that'd just mean I'd have more time with him

Richard.C wrote:i find if u can dampen it it makes it come off easier,shedding varies,they shed more when they are growing

Thanks for the tip! Snickers is shedding again so I gave him a bath last night (only 1/3 deep of water). We had a scale-removing session afterwards and by the end of it I'm not sure which of us was more covered in them. They came off so easily!

Meraukes are a much larger subspecies than Indos, so it is tough to compare. Indos generally don't get a lot larger than 18-20", so that one could be full grown, or close to.

Welcome. I would not worry about the size. I had a male Indo that was several years old who was full grown and only around 150-200 grams. He was VERY small. Dont know if previous care stunted his growth or if he was just a small skink.