Basking

[Reptile- mad]

Hi all,
Smudge never basks. I have two hides, one on the cool end, one in the middle (but that gets really hot) and a basking rock. Smudge always seems to stay in the one that gets hot but never basks and never goes into the one on the cool end. The temperatures on the hot end are around 35 and on the cool end around 28.

[Richard.C]

your cage is pretty hot,id say ,being a temperate form eastern bluey that he can control his body temp with out needing to go bask,those temps are hotter than i keep northerns at,particularily your cold end temp,not really a cold end at all for a remperate occuring species,id say pretty hot still even for a northern,try making cool end more in the low 20,s,increase the temp gradient so to speak

[Lea]

If you recognise it's too hot to bask in the middle, you are kind of answering your own question, aren't you?

Cool your temps down and he'll probably come out and bask. As Richard says, you need a good gradient for them to move about and be active in. Your skink is most likely very uncomfortable at the moment and thinks he's being cooked.

Is your rock heated, too, or is it just an ordinary rock at the hot end? Surface temperatures can be quite different to ambient temps, too, so a temp gun might be useful, as what you perceive to be good temperatures could actually far exceed on the surface for basking, hence his avoidance. It's also dangerous for your blue tongue.