New Skink owner and question about feeding. (Pictures)

[Ruvik]

I have always wanted a Blue tongue skink, so this past Saturday I got a New Guinea Blue tongue skink at my local reptile show. I have her in a 40 gallon breeder with a hot side of about 95 degrees, the cool side of 78 degrees, and a hot hide of about 98-102 degrees. She has a half aspen half repticarpet cage at the moment. with a large rock under the head lamp and a small little climbing thing that she likes to crawl up on, and no worries about her falling it is very low to the grown. From what I can tell after watching her poop a few times I think she is female, but due to being new to blue tongue skinks I gave her a genderless name, that being Genesis. Right now she is about 34 grams and about 8 and 1/3 inches from the tip of her nose to the tip of her tail. What i was wondering is what would be her age just about and how often should I be feeding her? I try to feed her about once a day, but lately she cut back on feeding. I have own reptiles before and I have three leopard geckos at the moment as well, but from what I research, it's not often that the blue tongues go off feedings. I was thinking she may be about to shed but I see no signs of that either. So then i thought, maybe she is older than I am think and I shouldn't feed her as often. With all my excitement in getting a blue tongue skink I forgot to ask her breeder how old she was, and how often he fed. I'll post a picture of her so that you guys can maybe help me. Also I always see people say youngers ones shed more often, but about how often do they shed? My geckos shed about every month or so and when they were smaller they would shed every two weeks.

[Susann]

Your skink is very young, maybe a month old. It is also a Halmahera form of the species called Indonesian, so a Tiliqua gigas gigas. Calling it a New Guinea blue tongue skink is a sign of not being aware of what kind of skink they have, and I highly doubt they bred it themselves, but that's beside the point.

Feed it daily for now, but if he refuses to eat some days, no need to worry, and if he refuses often then just cut offering food back to every other day.

Shedding is pretty individual at this age, but I would expect it once to twice a month.

The absence of hemipenes at defecating is not a sign of it being a female, especially not when this young, not all males pop them when defecating, and at this young an age there are no real clues to look for in determining sex.

Keep his humidity up (around 60-80%), or give him access to a humid hide at all times.

Good luck, and have fun with your little guy!

[Dakota]

Your skink isn't even found on New Guinea. More like North Maluku province. She's a very nice little Halmahera. Looks like she may grow into an orange/red one, maybe.

I highly, highly, HIGHLY recommend switching your skink from Aspen. Aspen has been proven to make Halmaheras very sickly. They require very high humidity, and Aspen does just opposite. I have not seen one Halmahera being kept on Aspen that grew up without major eye issues, toe issues, respiratory issues, etc. Look into a substrate such as Reptibark, orchid bark, cypress mulch, etc. that holds humidity.

[Ruvik]

Thank you both. Would Eco-earth be alright? I keep my geckos on it at the moment and I did put some eco-earth on the cool side of the tank for Genesis. I think I may switch to every other day feeding cause she doesn't seem to want to eat every day.

[Dakota]

Never really liked how easily it got dusty, but it is certainly a lot better choice than Aspen if you keep it hydrated.

[Ruvik]

Yeah. I am looking into a mister for her tank and some better substrate choices. I really want something she can dig and hide under. Do you know any that would be good for that?

[Dakota]

Reptibark is comprised of small "nugget" chips from Fir trees. Shouldn't be too hard for her to bury in it. However, these are not burrowers in the wild - they are leaf litter dwellers. Although they will, given the opportunity, it is not something mandatory. Add some sphagnum moss on top - my guys love tangling themselves up in it. It holds humidity well, too.

[Ruvik]

Ah! I have sphagnum moss on hand! :3 I was gonna use it for a humid hide for my geckos when I first got them, but i researched and they said it wasn't good cause the geckos would eat some and become impacted.