BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Hello all, being a new BTS owner I am interested in knowing when they are about to shed and how often they do it. I have read all about how to remove remaining shed and all of that, but I cant seem to find any information on knowing when. I understand that I will know as soon as mine begins to, but knowing beforehand if there is any signs would be amazing. Just also being concerned that she is not getting enough humidity to help her shed, I had read somewhere that spraying the enclosure and her lightly twice a week is perfect, anybody say otherwise? Thanks!

How often depends on the age of it and if it is still growing, they change colour when they are close to shedding, go darker and duller.
I spray my enclosure down now and then to simulate if it had rained recently like they would be used to in the wild.

What species of bts do you have?

alichamp wrote:What species of bts do you have?

Merauke

Duller colours are the clearest sign. But some individuals may not change colour much before a shed, mine doesn't really because he's already quite dark brown. And shedding could go really fast and be done in a few hours, after which the skink may eat its own shed so you'll never know it even happened. One thing I have noticed is lowered appetite starting 2-3 days before a shed, followed by a huge appetite right after. As long as her scales and toes remain looking smooth and healthy, you'll know she's shedding well even if you're not around to see it.

Meraukes do require high-ish humidity, not too sure if misting the enclosure is enough, but I'm not a Merauke owner so I'll let the real experts answer that.

wermy wrote:Duller colours are the clearest sign. But some individuals may not change colour much before a shed, mine doesn't really because he's already quite dark brown. And shedding could go really fast and be done in a few hours, after which the skink may eat its own shed so you'll never know it even happened. One thing I have noticed is lowered appetite starting 2-3 days before a shed, followed by a huge appetite right after. As long as her scales and toes remain looking smooth and healthy, you'll know she's shedding well even if you're not around to see it.

Meraukes do require high-ish humidity, not too sure if misting the enclosure is enough, but I'm not a Merauke owner so I'll let the real experts answer that.

Good stuff! Thanks

Hi. Oh yeah, I found your other thread that covers species and humidity viewtopic.php?f=4&t=28396&p=471344#p471344

Some people also find their BTS can go a bit "off" before a shed, like hiding more, going off their food a bit, being a bit grumpy, that sort of thing. Young bts shed fairly often cos they grow so quickly - could shed every few weeks or several months.

We had our first shed a month or so ago, it is really cool! I posted some cool pics in my other threads here
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=28128&p=469481#p469481

and helping a head shed here viewtopic.php?f=4&t=28163&p=469748&hilit=incomplete#p469748

I have a blotched bluey which don't require humidity but this can mean help with shed.

Ali,you would be suprised with blotchies,outdoors they prefer to rest in wetter substrates,mine ignore largely they nice big dry hide i have in there ,in 15 years of its use,the first ever blotchy has decided to over winter in it,the rest just curl up outside in wet dirt and grass for winter and even year round

I thought with Alpines they would prefer the dry because it would be cold as to go through the cold winter mountain temps if you are part wet, to me it would be like going for a swim fully clothe then immediately going to sleep in a walk in fridge.

Interesting. Thanks Richard, good to know.

I meant (and should have specified) that I don't need to provide any special humidity care for my blotchy; but now I'm wondering whether I should do something different for this, especially to help with frequent shedding when young....? Maybe I'll try Nick's indoor rain trick too.

Sorry Mophisto if this is distracting your thread a bit, but all good to know about shedding and humidity right, for species that need high humidity like Indonesian as well as those Aussie ones that cope with drier environments