BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Just wanted to ask a few questions (Like always )

1. Are his nails too long that need a trim? I managed to get a film of him: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdReLtyz ... e=youtu.be If so, what's the best/fastest way to cut them?

2. Is Hand-Feeding good? I heard from several people that they just associate your fingers with the food, I heard another few people say the opposite, Sometimes I give him food and he sometimes does bite me. (Funny thing is in the video, there's a part where he bit me )

3. What age do they deliver sperm plugs? (Just wanna be prepared to see if he may be a male )

4. Is it okay to have deep substrate? When I get his new big tank, I want to give him maybe 4 inch deep substrate to dig under. (I use Beginner Repti-Bark)

1. His nails look good.

2. I would recommend against hand-feeding, while they do that, and it babies them.. and they learn that you will feed them, and will refuse to eat on their own. Talking from experience, man.

3. Ema starting dropping at 8 months, but some go earlier.

4. Deep substrate is great! They are burial animals.

1. His nails look fine to me.
If you ever need to trim them you can use human nail clippers (Be careful of cutting the quick) or try putting something rough in their terrarium (like a rock) so they can keep them trim on their own.

2. Depends who you ask. I hand feed my skinks and one is really gentle and the other is still pretty rough. They both like to inspect my hand when I reach in the terrarium but they have never mistaken my fingers for food (Unless I was actually holding food) and bitten them. I think it helps my shy Merauke come out of his shell, he used to run away whenever he saw people but now he hangs around in hope of treats.

3. I have heard of sperm plugs showing up as early as 6 months old, but my Northern was around a year old before I saw the first one. I think either is fairly normal.

4. Deep substrate is good. The only thing is that you will end up throwing more out each time you replace your substrate. I don't think it is necessary, but it definitely won't harm your skinks and some will definitely appreciate it.