New owner

[Wade]

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A long time Friend of mine owns rental property, he has some renters move out. The lady that lived there and moved out left this poor thing to die and moved. My friend brought it to me because he knew I would take care of it. I've had it several months now. The guy who it belonged to said let me keep it since it went to a good home and he was working all the time anyway. It came with a big plastic aquarium, water rock, bedding, a light fixture with no bulb, and a half hollow circle off wood it grew out of a long time ago.

I bought it a bulb, a heat rock, and cut a rectangular box off which it sleeps in now. I placed a small antique coffee saucer in there to feed it from. It's doing pretty good, but it needs a mate. I have no idea how to sex this Skink, can someone help me with that?

I've grown fond of it, and it can see it's reflection in the left side of the tank sometimes, and it tries to figure out how to get to the other non existent Skink. It makes me a bit sad when it does this, and I think it needs a friend but I can't find one, and I am currently not working anyway, so no money. The lady at the pet store said if I do have a Northern Blue Tongued Skink, she has not saw any in over 3 years and they are not able to get anymore. I think none are being imported for some reason. I would like to name it, but I don't even know if it's a female are male, but for some reason I sense it is a female. I want to find it a mate and breed it.

I like the coloring, it looks like a Rattle Snake, and under side is orange in color. I would love to find another the same color. I am in East Tennessee, if you see this and you have one like it but the other sex, we can breed them and half the liter. If this sounds good to you PM me here or something.

I don't know how old it is, but it appears fully grown. Size has not changed in the few Months I have had it. I guess I will have it for years since it lives around 20 years as I understand. I'm 46, so it may just outlive me.

Thanks for reading, and as you can see it is very pretty. It sets over there and just watches me a good part of the day. It seems to prefer meat to fruit and veggies, but I give it all 3. About once a week, I give it a small bird egg to eat. It breaks the shell and takes out the liquid. I will give it an egg in the morning, it's been a good week or more since last time. It hasn't been eating much in over a week, I'm kind of worried if it's sick. I heard it sneeze several times. Tank temperature on hot side is 75.

[NickBrahz]

Hey Wade, i don't know how people can abandon animals for them to die.
Skinks in enclosures live on there own, it isn't trying to say hello to it's reflection they don't understand the concept of glass so they just keep trying to get past the invisible barrier, putting a background will help reduce this but they also scratch at the glass for other reasons (Looking for food, opposite sex to breed with, hotter/colder area, wants to explore or just for the sake of it).
If you put another skink in with it there is a chance that one might kill the other or they could seriously injure eachother, not worth the risk.
Is there any chance you could post the dimensions of the enclosure, just to make sure it is big enough for the bub.

Temps are a bit low they should have a nice area to bask on, a tile or paver works great or even a large flatish rock is good.
Some of us do this trick for the basking rock/area as it doubles as a little hide for them.

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The heat of the basking spot should be between 90-105F (I think, im used to Celsius).

Looks to be a healthy size, at his full grown age it is recommended to feed once a week of 1-2 tablespoons of food.
Eggs are more of a treat being full sized im not sure how often should feed them egg hope somebody else can weigh in on this.
It's common for them to not really like to eat veggies and green, what most of us do to get them to eat it is detailed here:
viewtopic.php?f=18&t=29005

Sneezing is nothing to worry about, they aren't able to blow its nose or anything so the only way for them to clear it out of dust or substrate is to sneeze, if there is really wet sneezes combined with discharge thats when you worry about sneezing.
It is very common for them to have little to no appetite this time of year so that is nothing to concern yourself to, that is in relation to Brumation/wanting a mate.

And as a final note just want to say that is cute looking Merauke(Im hopeless with non-Australian skinks so i could be incredibly wrong on it being a Merauke).
And good job on saving this beauty

[Wade]

I bought it a heat rock about 3 weeks ago, it's on the cold side of the tank and it uses it. From my understanding the heat rock should not be on the hot side of the tank, so it's in there, just not in pick. I will build it something safe to get closer to the light.

The tank is 3 feet long, 18 inches deep, and 17 inches tall. I would like to get the light down more, but I am concerned about it getting burnt, and then there is the problem of the mesh that the light is currently sitting on. Merauke, can you tell me more about it? It does look like this link shows: http://bluetongueskinks.net/bmera.htm

That lady was getting a divorce, and to get back at her Husband or what ever, who did own it, she left it with no water, light or anything. I have no idea how long it suffered before my friend went in and found it. He called me and asked if I wanted it, sight unseen, and had no clue what it was. I said sure, bring it by. He brought it by, I gave it water and put light bulb in, then searched the internet till I found some pictures of a Northern Blue Tongues skink that looked like it, this is a Northern Blue tongued skink right? From Australia?

I think I read 80 degrees, or maybe that was what pet store lady told me. Light is on top of tank. I can move it in more if need be, that will increase heat in tank. I have been misting hot side of tank about every 3 days.

Came back to add, currently 80 degrees on tank thermometer, but during that cold spell we just had, it was 75. During cold spell heat was running wide open for like two weeks. I heat with a propane fireplace, same room he is in. I been sleeping in here too for 3 weeks on the couch. I have it at 76 in this room right now, fireplace barely even running on low, it's raining outside tonight.

Also, I know they could kill each other, but I still want to breed it. I will sit right in here with them as long as it takes and make sure they play nice. The reason the glass thing concerned me, was he hadn't been doing that before. He did see his reflection, reason I know his he was bobbing his head left to right looking at it, and not just trying to go through it. Then he tried to get out on top of his box.

[Susann]

OK.
Welcome and congrats on your beautiful Merauke BTS!

First things first:
If by "heat rock" you mean one that pluggs in, take it out and get rid of it. They are notorious for causing burns on skinks.

I recommend starting by following the links HERE and doing some reading.
Then read my contribution in the Caresheet Additions on how I keep my Meraukes, just to give you an idea of what to shoot for.
And, no, Meraukes are not Australian, they come from Indonesia/Papua New Guinea.

Let us know what else we can help answer for you after you've done some catching up on BTS care , it can be a fair chunk to get through though, so don't hesitate to pipe up if you need help or suggestions.

Good to have you here, and happy you've taken on your new handsome or pretty critter

[Susann]

Since we are talking about your new skink and giving you suggestions, rather than just showing off our skinks, I decided to split these posts off into your own thread; I hope you don't mind?

[Wade]

Susann, that's fine. I was concerned with derailing this thread anyway. I updated my post before I saw this to that Gent from Australia, so you can go back and look at it. The rock is not hot, it's just warm. I just put my hand on it and pet the skink right before posting. He only gets on it for a minute or two, then goes back to the other side of the tank. So do you still think I should remove it?

Well at least now I know what it is.

[Susann]

Yes, if it's a plug-in type heat rock, I would remove it as soon as you can get some additional heat to him from a different source; like a stronger bulb from above or some type of safe under-tank heat.
It does sound to me like you need some additional heat anyway since 75°F is the recommended temperature for the cool side of the tank for a Merauke; you may want to look into a Ceramic Heat Emitter (CHE) on a dimmer in addition to your light bulb, that way you can supply him (I don't have any idea on sex, I just tend to call all unknowns "he") some additional nighttime heat through it as well unless your home stays above 70 during the night.

[Wade]

Except for cold spell that came through, which it got down to 66 in my house, it stays 72 or better in here. I can't buy him anything else right now. I spent money I didn't really have to even get that rock and thermometer. I'm signed up on Disability over here due to health, and haven't worked in 3 years, and no income till it goes through. I'm doing the best I can with what I got to work with but that isn't much. Been growing my own food and everything. I will get more heat to him. All I can do right now is unplug rock and build a platform to get him closer to bulb. Thanks for the help.

[Wade]

Also, since you didn't see my update to that Gent from Australia, his tank is at 80 right now on hot side. 75 was when cold spell came through for 2 weeks.

[NickBrahz]

Hey mate, there are cheaper ways to set up some better heating.
Ceramic Heat Emitters (CHE) go for roughly $3-8 on ebay i would wager a 100-200Watt one is needed but im not familiar with the ambient temperatures over there in the US somebody else will hopefully be able to help on the wattage.
What temperature does the surface of the rock go? while not best to use a long term permanent i would still use it short term so the bub has enough warmth and monitor closely the temperature/feel of how hot it is.
Looks healthy and doesn't seem to have any visible humidity issues so the misting every 3 days is enough.

[Wade]

I'm not sure what temperature, but I just put my hand on it for 30 seconds, it just feels warm. I honestly don't see how it can burn him. I will look into the ceramic heat emitters. As to that rock, when I bought it the lady at the Pet Store helped me pick it out. I told her I had a Blue Tongued Skink and that I thought it was a Northern from Australia. She doesn't just work there, I think she owns it too. She has been there for as long as I can remember, at least 20 years. I don't think she would give me a rock she thought was too hot for it. She deals in everything from cat's Dog's, Reptiles, Arachnid's, Pig's, Hamsters, Rabbits, Fish you name it pretty much.

I wished you wouldn't have asked me that though. I picked up the rock and dropped it, now it's cracked. It's 7AM here, I never went to bed.

[NickBrahz]

I've never used a heat rock personally i think people have had issues with it overheating or something like that im not to sure but i would imagine regularly feeling the rock to make sure its a normal temp would make it fine to use.
Now i feel terrible for asking about it, sorry.

[Wade]

No don't worry about it Nick, you were just trying to help. I dropped it because I was tired, am tired.

[Lazworth]

Hi Wade,

When I was on a budget, I used regular floodlight bulbs from Walmart and a flat rock under it to store/hold the heat as a basking spot(a stone tile of some sort works too). The bulbs can be from $4-$10ish and range from 50-125w at the Walmart near me. Home Depot/Lowes are great too, and they generally have cheap floodlights below $20 and have more options than a Walmart.

I also encourage you to try to get your hands on an Infrared Temperature Gun from a friend or a hardware store if you can(they usually go around from $10-20) so you can measure the specific surface temperature of the basking spot and the ambient temperatures in the tank-- it beats the use of a thermometer and you don't have to bother testing the heat by hand.

Good luck on the Merauke!

[Wade]

Thanks, I have CFL Flood light bulbs already. The thermometer is the kind you stick onto the tank, I can read it from the outside, that's what it's made for.

[Susann]

Not very accurate though; I personally consider a temp gun a must, especially if you have any kind of under-tank heater. I know it can be a tough purchase on a budget, but I highly recommend trying to get one.

[Wade]

I will if I ever get the money, totaled a car a few weeks ago, my most reliable one. Trying to fix an Audi and it's eating me up, cash and body wise, cut my hand all up. Why can't they just make cars people can work on? Took me all day just to get an AC fan out. Voltage regulator bad, it's in the alternator, that's under the car, who does that? O' best part, fan has to be special ordered $103, Voltage Regulator around 80 plus more. Just spent 74 on rotors for the front. Fan can't be rebuilt, it's one piece sealed plastic, Armature is burnt up.

As for the heat pad, yea go to get one of those too it looks like.

[NickBrahz]

No you don't need to get a heat pad as well Wade, its a either situation you either heat by using a CHE/bulb or via a heat pad you don't need both, never used heat pads so not sure of the cost but i know CHE/bulbs are under $10
Seeing the temps are on the low end i think having the heat rock on the hot side would be best to boost up that nice basking spot of his to a slightly higher temp, at least until you are able to get a CHE/hotter bulb.