BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Hi, I'm looking into purchasing a new reptile. I feel in love with blueys and knew I had to have one. I have a couple of questions before i purchase a baby. First off i have a hamster and he uses aspen bedding. Is it okay to use the same bedding for a bts? It is a generic brand of PetSmart bedding and it seems very similar to reptile aspen. Lastly, I am looking into buying a baby from Bonita Galas. I haven't heard much about her but she does have some really nice northern bts. I was just asking if you guys have any experience with her.

Thanks in advance!

I can only share my opinion with the bedding, i know a lot of people that use aspen bedding for blue tongues. some say its annoying with cleaning, others swear by it. so best bet is to get it and see how you feel about it perhaps? but yes it is safe to use for blue tongues

Aspen shavings are great. You already use them, so you know they can seem to get on everything. The only thing is to watch for a dry-belly or shedding issues, since aspen is a moderately dry substrate. You can remedy that with a humid hide.

There are many members here with Bonita babies from this year. They all appear to be healthy babies and the owners seem very happy. I haven't dealt with her, so that is all I know. Good luck!

Thanks so much for the help. Yes I do know how aspen tends to get on everything. Also, thanks for the help with Bonita.

There is also another kind of bedding. It's kinda like scrunched up paper. They sell it at petsmart and it comes in lots of different colors. My bts loves it because he can bury in it. It's also really easy to clean, absorbent, and a little bit goes a long way.

If you use aspen, I always recommend the small animal "shavings" like you have for your hamster over the "shredded" type for reptiles. It doesn't have the sharp pieces in it that could poke eyes etc.

I have never dealt with Bonita either, but I have never heard anything negative about her, and if she was a bad person to deal with, I probably would have.

Jeff: Yeah, thanks for the reply. I do have the shaving type because I heard that they were better than the shredded type.

Casaquwa: I may look into that bedding. For now I'm going to use aspen but thanks for the recommendation.

just going to add, even though it looks like you have decided against it anyway, but I would be very wary with anything that is dyed or coloured. even though it says its safe for reptiles etc, there have been a lot of instances where coloured reptile bedding has leaked colour when wet. And just in my opinion, anything that leaks a dye or colouring shouldn't be around animals. It might be harmless, I wouldn't know but better safe than sorry

Thanks Rani-May, the aspen is just regular shaving I don't really know much about colored aspen so I just got the original version instead.

cant go wrong then You wont regret getting a bluey, they are fantastic pets

Thank you for all your help!

sorry to get in late on this thread as I have been out of town for the holidays!

I recently purchased one of Bonita's BTS and I am extremely pleased, after a couple of days of settling down he's eating and walking about just fine. Her shipping is well put together (from what I can compare to) She does offer a live arrival guarantee and has been more than happy to talk with me and answer all my questions! Buy with confidence!


On an unrelated note, that means that Toby has a sibling on this website now! : ) looking forward to pictures!

Thank you discojaguar, This is my first reptile I may be purchasing over the internet. Also, I was wondering is he a good size for his age?

Funny thing is that I was looking into naming my bts Toby also.

lol! That is too funny.

I wouldn't know about size as he is my first NBTS ever (he's about as long as the tip of my middle finger, to the base of my palm), and all of my assumptions on health were based on what I know makes a healthy snake. However, the lovely people on the forum said he had good proportions when I posted his picture (from Bonitia) and so far he's been extremely energetic, and has been eating with no problem. Aside from some huffing and a couple bites, he's been exactly as tame as she said and I relate the former to the stress of shipping.

Also, having received both my snakes in the mail, Bontia does an awesome job of packing, she uses deli containers surrounded by shredded newspaper in a Styrofoam box (with it's own shipping label) inside of another cardboard box. She also sent along a 40 hour heat pack.


Sorry to prattle on, I'm a big believer after seeing what can go wrong with online sales (BOI) that sellers that do a great job should be commended.