BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Hi folks, for some time I've been concerned about people particularly in cold climes keeping tropical species and then having mysterious health problems appear, or in some cases their bluey just die.

The fact of the matter is that blueys immune responses are linked to their ability to maintain their own wellbeing - sounds simple enough. A blueys ability to launch an effective immune response is linked to firstly the animals initial health, and its temperature environment. The confines of an enclosure they are locked up with their own faeces, often with added humidity, excessive egg build up from the inevitable worm load and a vast array of bacteria that your blueys immune system is perfectly capable of dealing with while it is healthy but can be harmful if given a chance to cause a respiratory infection or other ailment.

While clearly the biggest issue in all of this is cleanliness (read don't get lazy with keeping the enclosure clean), I believe a big part in the wellbeing of tropical species is preventing large swings in temperature that inevitably cause the animal stress. Invariably in the wild blueys from tropical areas find refuges with a suitable microclimate, that is, in a rock crevice, in a tree stump, down a hole etc, with one feature in common. They are protected from the surrounding environment, by buffering of soil temperature or other solid mass. The point is if temperatures get too low, even if your bluey does not die outright from exposure to cold but whether the bluey may be suffering from the effects of exposure, similarly to a human stuck out in the forest for several days. The scenario of Eastern blueys getting sick in Spring in an outdoor enclosure is a classic scenario of emerging when nutritionally deprived, in a weakened immune state at a time of year of significant temperature fluctuation. In the wild they can choose microclimates that suit their temperature regulation needs but these are more difficult to simulate in captivity in an outdoor environment.

Even in the case of keeping temperate species such as blotched blueys, or shinglebacks there are reasons to pay attention to temperature fluctuation. In my case to prevent animals from going through brumation in their first year of life. But also in some cases to aid treatment for infections (particularly an RI). In the case of housing these species together - you may want to prevent them going through their sexual cycling, hence avoiding aggression.

This is not to say that temperatures shouldn't fluctuate from day to night, or seasonally, if you are trying to brumate tropical species. However the answer to achieving proper temperature managing temperatures in these circumstances is not as simple as turning on a high powered heat lamp during the day for a number of reasons.

There are a number of potential solutions to the problem, including use of a dedicated heated room (makes regulating the needs of different species difficult), keeping a light on all of the time (interferes with daylength recognition, generally increases stress), use of undertank heaters, heatwire, or heat rocks - each of these may be useful options but - make sure the bluey can't get access directly to them.

A solution that I have found useful in dealing with the needs of temperate species, mainly blotched blueys is to use a simple and cheap on/off probe thermostat in conjunction with a low wattage (40-60 W) ceramic heat emitter (CHE). As long as you maintain a separately switchable light you can run them in series off the thermostat itself, the light on a separate timer, or simply switch it on or off as needed. As long as the CHE runs through the thermostat and the light is not too powerful (again 40-60W) there is no need to worry about overheating, or underheating. In a 4 ft enclosure min temp will ever fall to (assuming the power doesn't go out) is about 20C, even when the ambient temp is about 0 C in my shed. This setup keeps my baby Alpine blotchies eating and growing well through their first year. They grow from about 15cm to 45 cm from January-Feb to September, ready to face the world.

Very basic - not setup for aesthetics but can be setup like any other enclosure. The use of a low wattage che means it can also be setup in a bedroom without creating light pollution. See the position of the probe about mid way in the enclosure so not affected by draughts. Note that I have read critiscm of on/off type thermostats as they tend to lead to low globe life when used with globes but in 5 years of using them with CHEs I've never blown one.




Of course there is nothing groundbreaking in any of this - just that I don't believe that the right way to go about keeping tropical species is to not pay attention to this matter. Some simple advice for setting up to deal with it I think will help less experienced bluey owners.

This is a great post!! Thanks for writing up. Thank you. If you don't mind, I'd like to save / sticky / add this somewhere although I'm not sure the best spot yet. Would you mind, and any idea where you want it?

This is really good!
Maybe it could go in the Advanced Discussion Forum because it is so detailed ????
Thanks for the helpful post

i think with easterns,its more the winter and lead up to winter that causes the issue outdoors,well in my neck of the woods,they definatly need access to more warmth,especially compared to blotcheds

i dont think they handle cold damp as well,prone to respitory infections,but it seems to go deeper than that,for the last 5 years ive had the pleasure of watching what the wild ones do here,year round and its quite interesting and a great example of what they do,also explains why they thrive in built up areas more than blotcheds down here

we get both types,but they have different areas where one types more common,theres a stretch of road around the corner from where i lived and funnily enough certain sections have majority one type,other sections the other,its a 5 odd km stretch.
easterns at the start,blotches in the middle then easterns at the end,theres swampland in the middle though,so cold damp may keep easterns from there,either side of that is open disturbed area

swampy area or not though,down here seems the same,one type always predominates,but you often still find a few of the other in the predominate ones area

with the brumating easterns,the wild ones typically find somewhere that warms them considerably higher than air temp/soil temps,on the folks property they love the grass clipping compost heap,even in winter,the heat build up in there is amazing,posibly to warm,as they often come out and lay away from it till sun drops abit,they are quite lethargic to,also had the pleasure of watching one elsewhere spend the winter under a glass window dumped on vacant land at another place i lived,it did the exact same thing,sun came out it sat out next to window,sun dropped it went back in,watched it for near on 5 months do this

come spring,as soon as the warmth gets a little steadier they move away,at the folks they move to a near by rockpile or move off entirely,but come march/april they start heading back to the compost
blotchies in comparison curl up anywhere most of my captives curl up in the open to winter in wet dirt and grass,yet thrive,easterns would perish trying that.

pretty amazing animals and use of whats available

thats how ive seen myself go wrong with easterns outdoors,not giving them enough options,especially for wintering,dont think having them with the blotchies helps either though

Great post Scott! I'll add my technique for maintaining nighttime temps...

I have 3" wide flexwatt heat tape on the bottom of my enclosures. Each enclosure has a piece that is roughly 6-8" long, and runs diagonally across the basking area. I have not been able to afford a thermostat so my flexwatt is wired to dimmer switches. I keep the flexwatt at about 80-85 degrees F, 24 hrs/day. For a daytime increase I use 60 watt halogen spot lights over the basking area, attached to a timer. These come on for about 10 hours a day and, combined with the heat tape, give me basking spots of around 100 degrees F.

When I am able to, I will definitely invest in a thermostat. But for now, this system has worked well for me.

i think to,with tropical species,to cool day temps over winter can be an issue,alot of folk try hibernating them at a set temp,eg say 20 degrees celcius day and night,i had that suggested to me and read elsewhere to,ended up with respitory infections in northerns and centralians

looking where they are from its understandable ,they have day heat pretty much year round,but nights get cooler over winter,so i kept day heat going year round,and never used any night heat and cycled them that way,over winter nite temps in my shed get quite cool,generally not below 6 degrees celcius probably average around 12 degrees.

i sold a female kimberley back to original owner as i didnt have a male and she was cooled this way,she was successfully mated and had babies,and this season both my females did to under these conditions to,over summer the back ground temps stay warmer at night so its more natural for me to have zero nite heat

hopefully the centralians do likewise next season

great post scott,particualy in regards to keeping them active year round,when i used to do that with blotchies i just did day heat,cages were 4 foot long open top aquariums,some would try to brumate down the cold end but lost condition and lost a few to infection because of that.

its not as cold at night where i am compared to you,frosts not being common,i used smaller cages and larger basking spots which works better,keeping them active,or i just shut them off and let them brumate,some i even just kept outdoors in a screen cage to over winter to,still cant believe yours grow so fast,obviously conditions are great for them