BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Does anyone use a rack for their skinks? Just watched this video on SnakeBytes and noticed they do:Snake Business : SnakeBytesTV : AnimalBytesTV: http://youtu.be/CUsYwiSUdoM

I have noticed some of the Australian breeders use a rack system and without UV. I was wondering the same thing myself. I would think that the skinks get a little more social interaction with being in a cage they can see out of. Also, I think a rack would be boring. I am not fond of the idea of losing UV light either.

Alot of folk whom use traditional caging dont use uv either,i havnt used racks per say but have used tubs and wooden cages with no glass fronts,most of my caging though is glass fronted as i like to sit and watch them,i dont use uv lighting nor any reptile shop bulbs,just standard hardware store reflector bulbs and spotlights

Ive noticed no difference in the animals weather they can see out of cage or not,if anything the timid ones stay out anf carry on normal behaviour if they cant see you moving about which is a bonus for them
Most important thing no matter what you use to house them in is offering them the right choices,thats choices for them to make,not things we expect them to do

Another thing I noticed in the video was the use of hay as a substrate. Is that common? It looked good and functional.

I used hay as a substrate for brumating skinks, but personally it was easier for me maintaining them with something smaller in particles than the hay was.

Racks can work, they were how new skinks were quarantined at the breeding center. I will say the stink when they poop was worse, and if the tubs were small, you had a lot of dookie tracked around in a short amount of time. For adult skinks, a CB70 vision rack is the smallest that could work long term (sized for adult ball pythons or small boas). For babies or small juveniles, colubrid racks were acceptable.

I still like cages better though, personally.

Thanks for your feedback, I'd never thought of the hay being long fibres so now I see why that might be awkward. I've changed the type of substrate I use numerous times, most of my animals are currently on beech chippings and my male blue tongue is on Repti Carpet as he's been unwell and I want to be able to monitor his motions easily. We don't seem to be able to get aspen shavings here in the UK, only the shredded stuff and it's really expensive (roughly £30 per 14kg bag delivered which I think is $45 or so).

When using the rack system did you just use a heat mat like you would a snake? Did you give dietary D3?
I really want some more blue tongues but there's not room for more than one or two glass fronted cages which is why I'm interested in racks.

Heat cable was what I used, as you can easily add loops to increase the size of the hot spot and spread out the heat, and it was safer than heat tape, which is the other affordable option for setting up rack systems.

Definitely dietary D3, that was a must. Without a source of UVB, they cannot make it themselves, so without extra provided in the diet, they develop metabolic problems very quickly.

IMO, racks are great for snakes. I think BT's are way to social for that sort of confinement, then there's the UV thing...
I use them for all my boas and pythons, but I just don't believe in that sort of housing for a lizard. Breeders are another story, they are not as likely to have long term captives and need the space and ease of care. Besides, I love to look at my BTs!

Theres a well known breeder on here with animals living in racks that are over 20 now and have had babies every season

Lots of keepers dont use uv in regular caging either,my self included and have animals housed this way fast approaching the 20 year range ,some of there babies born to parents housed this way are in mid teens bow and producing perfectly healthy litters to

Artificial uv lighting is a very poor choice over dietry supplementation,if u use uv lights and neglect diet and dietry intake there just as suspectable to mbd as non uv light exposed ones,that is fact


If racks are fine for snakes i dont get how you can label them so bad for lizards,esentially they have similar needs that need attending to,conditions offered to them and dietry intake,most of the rest is just peoples needs,not always whats best for the animals being housed

What do you use as a dietary d3 supplement? I know there are a few different products out there.

Pic of my rack.
Tubs are 1000mm X 450 mm X 180mm.

Substrate is sugar cane mulch.

Top is put on tub to go out in sun.

I use a dry cat food that comes in a pellet for but I grind it up into a powder. Tubs are heated by heat pad.

Sorry about heat pad pic is upside down. My back up if there is no sun is a 4ft enclosure with uv lamp.

They look pretty good scott

I supplement mine with what ever the dog food manufactures put in there wet dogfood,eg its already vitamin mineral supplemented and after many years of use havnt seen any need to add any so still dont

Richard.C wrote:They look pretty good scott

I supplement mine with what ever the dog food manufactures put in there wet dogfood,eg its already vitamin mineral supplemented and after many years of use havnt seen any need to add any so still dont

That's interesting, pretty much negates the business case for a lot of manufacturers out there. Sounds a lot easier too.

Out of the rack and into the Christmas Day sun.

Yes I mix the dry cat food powder with wet dog food.

freeloader wrote:Out of the rack and into the Christmas Day sun.

I wish I could let them outside here, if we're lucky it will get to maybe 25c for a weekend in the summer before going back to cold and rain.