BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

I live in Virginia, US. I picked up a indo bluey at a reptile show in Dec. The family decided on Chakka for his/her name. The breeder went off while my wife and i were talking so i only got basic info from other person at table. I had already done enough research and had a running tropical tank with no inhabitants so i got him anyway. He (i dont know sex im just simplifying, my daughter swears we have a female) looked so miserable i couldnt leave him. He is eating, exploring his enclosure, fine with handling, shed at least once fully. I think hes about 6-9 months old. Anywho have a great day

Lol im not sure why the pic is upside down. He doesnt usually hang out like that. Hopefully this one is rightside up

Welcome - Chakka looks like a very cute bluey! Haha the first picture shows up the right way when clicking on it, no idea why the preview is upside down.

Any idea what subspecies you have? Curious by the more red colouration on the back Ooo, have you managed to get real plants in your setup? Hope they won't get chomped or stomped on too much xD

kayla990 wrote:Welcome - Chakka looks like a very cute bluey! Haha the first picture shows up the right way when clicking on it, no idea why the preview is upside down.

Any idea what subspecies you have? Curious by the more red colouration on the back Ooo, have you managed to get real plants in your setup? Hope they won't get chomped or stomped on too much xD

I have no idea on subspecies, i think gigas gigas but thats from me compairing pics from the web. It was something i was going to ask here after saying hi. I have several plants in there, the palm is the roof of a hidey hole. He has stomped a few but i picked things that are a little hardy. Im an animal behavior geek so i setup several appealing paths that have been mostly successful, thus far lol. The pic mostly shows plants, some items from right half have moved but left side is unchanged

Lol the palm and cork flat are switched...ill take a new pic later

Looking like a good setup!

I'm not the best at ID'ing indonesian species.. but maybe this can help as the pattern on the back is looking sort of similar to ours - who is a Halmahera, one way to see if it's likey the same subspecies is comparing belly scales. If it's in dark patches like below, good chance you've got a Halmahera (which needs the higher humidity of 80-90%).


Sorry the quality isn't great, but perhaps it can give an idea to start with!

Ahh cool you've got the live plants! Thought I'd add it's good to double check the safety. I see what I believe is a Pothos in the right corner, which could be a hit or miss species for toxicity (for species like gecko's it's not much of an issue - but Bluey's are likely to try chewing them at one point!). Some types of ferns can be fine, but if you're unsure of the subspecies be on the side of caution. For example, a type of plant we looked into was a Cordyline - which is fine if it's the fruiticosa variant; but considered very toxic if it's terminalis variant..so it can be a fine line between safe plants for omnivores!

Thank you for pointing out his potential nibbling, im going over the plants to id and looks like ill remove atleast the pothos. Im building another enclosure so ill trade plants around and most likely will get new plants for this viv and the new tank is basically good on plants now.

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on Chakka. What an awesome set up you have. If you can get some better photos of your skink (side views, above view, head shots) we may be able to help you identify your skink better.

Janella wrote:Welcome to the forum and congratulations on Chakka. What an awesome set up you have. If you can get some better photos of your skink (side views, above view, head shots) we may be able to help you identify your skink better.

Hope these work my day was slammed and i only really got to say hi shortly before lights out. I misted and fed this morning, hes usually not out when i do initially. I think he enjoys waking to a morning rain, or i do o well.