BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Hi all. I've run across two skinks over the past few months and have fallen in love with them! More specifically the merauke ones. There is one that I've found who's owner is wanting to rehome but I'm not sure if I should go with this one or try to find a baby.
A couple of reasons why I'm hesitant with this one.

There is stuck shed on her head. Is this a hard thing to resolve. Can this lead to more serious problems.

She is two and he guessed around 12-18 inches. Aren't they normally bigger than this? Could this be a sign that she could have other problems?

I'm not sure the kind of care she has had during the past 2 years and am not an expert on what to look for.

These don't seem like huge problems but I want my first experience to be as positive as possible with my first skink!

Also, I have a question about the bedding. Should it be dry or damp? I do have a bearded dragon so the lighting and heating I understand. Dragons are the opposite on their humidity needs so this is a little hard for me to understand. I'm probably overthinking it.

Here is a pic of her. The only one I have. Does she look ok? Is she a merauke?

Sorry for all of the questions. I want to start off right and not have to fix problems as I go.

Hi and welcome to the world of BTS. They are amazing aren't they?

The skink your interested in definitely looks Merauke. She looks normal in size from what I can see in the picture. As for the stuck she's, that is usually a husbandry issue and can be resolved with proper care. Merauke's need higher humidity. There substrate has to be dry. You don't want them laying or borrowing in wet substrate. So what I use for mine is Jungle mix with Reptibark on top. Once a week a take a bottled water and wet the substrate down. This helps with the humidity and shedding issues. You can use other substrate choices, but I personally love the one I use. I spot clean it every day and then every 3 month I changed the entire enclosure and clean it.

Have you read through the care sheets? Did you check out the website for this group in regards to care?

I absolutely adore my Merauke. I hope this helps with your decision and answer your questions. I am by far no expert, but I can help with questions if you have them. If I don't know I will tell you I don't. Good luck with your decision.

Thanks for the reply! Sadly, I was too late to get this one so I'm keeping my eye out hopefully I'll be able to find one soon! In the mean time, I came across these! They were so cute so , after researching, I got them! There isn't much info on them but what I was able to find seemed easy enough to recreate. The only sad thing is that they are nocturnal so I probably won't see much of them. I did read that they learn to come out when fed so I'm going to feed them around the same time everyday and hopefully that'll be the case with these guys, too!

Well bummer on not being able to get the Merauke. What are those??? I do like the color pattern.

Ahhh, Peter's Banded Skinks, right? They're such lil cuties, congrats! I almost tended up with a trio of these little guys instead of my first BTS, seems we did things in the opposite order
Good luck with them! They're notoriously skittish but do supposedly tame down a little over time (and with plenty of food lol) :3

Maybe you can trade them for a bluey

I've always liked those but so little info out there...please keep us posted on how they are doing!

They are Peters banded. They were captive born but I don't know if they were captive bred. I got them from a well known reptile place but they mostly specialize in snakes so I don't think they breed these guys. In any case, they are super calm when handled. They had some kei island and indonesian babies but they were pretty feisty! Plus I have my heart set on a merauke. I am going to temporarily move these guys to a ten gallon in my room because I'm not sure if they are eating. So far, the plate of worms that I put in goes untouched and I'm not sure about the crickets. There are so many places they can hide. I'm ordering more roaches also.
There is a reptile expo coming up in May. I really hope I can find a merauke there!
In the mean time, I'm going to build an enclosure and get things set up. I have an extra tank so if I find a baby he can go there. If I end up with an adult, I'll have a place for him, too!