BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Hi everyone,
For a while Smudge had not been venturing out and I thought that it had just been because he was shy or something, but I took his hide in the middle away when I was cleaning his vivarium and he started basking, moving and everything! He came out 8 times in one hour! I was ver impressed. My dad says I should put the hide back in but then he doesn't come out at all and he just hides! He seemed in a better mood when I had him out but I don't know if it will stress him out. Any ideas?

You have to put the hide back.

A skink is a hiding animal, its what they do best and love to do. Its completely natural behaviour, and some skinks will hide more some periods of their life, for exampel before shedding or when the weather is bad. This doesnt mean you cant take them out of the tank, though i can remember he was just treated for pinworm too? or something like that?
id give him plenty of time to take it easy and get accustomed to everything.

Hiding for a week is completely normal.

make sure the temperatures are correct, if its not warm or if it is too warm, the skink may not feel the need to bask but instead waits for better opportunities.

If you clean the tank, make a lot of noise or pull away the hide, the skink will be out and about. if someone lifted the roof of your house off, youd want to see whats going on too, and to do that i figure they bask so they can be in top condition, should the giant decide to eat them.

Nail on the head, I was worried about my girl hiding all the time, but they are built for dogging and burrowing, like Linnea said as long as you have proper temps there is very little need for your bluey to come out and bask.

UroFreak13 wrote:Nail on the head, I was worried about my girl hiding all the time, but they are built for dogging and burrowing, like Linnea said as long as you have proper temps there is very little need for your bluey to come out and bask.

with proper temps there is plenty of reason to come out and bask, if he/she wants to

Wrong choice of words, there is no danger of not coming out to bask with proper temps.

Thank you for your advice! I have double checked the temperatures and Smudge has been coming out even with the hide there. Thanks again!

No problem sorry 4 the confusion haha