Are baby blueys afraid of noises? Noise acclimation

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mistyskinks
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Are baby blueys afraid of noises? Noise acclimation

Postby mistyskinks » Sat Jul 17, 2021 10:45 am

Hello! We just got our new baby blue tongue skink!

We're only on day 3, so I know it's normal for our bluey to hide a lot getting used to her/his new home the first few weeks. This is my question:

I've noticed that she will come out and explore, a little bit, but only after our four children (ages 4 through 12) have gone to bed. We currently have her enclosure in the living room (Enclosure: 36"x18"x18" - I know that a larger enclosure is preferable for when she's an adult, it has a warm hide and a cool hide plus folage, temp during day is 80 on the cool side, 95-99 on warm side, unused basking spot is 101-105, cypress mulch substrate). We wanted her enclosure in the living room so we could see her during the day, and so she could get used to all of us.

However, now that I've noticed she will only come out after the children are in bed and the house is at its quietest....I'm wondering if she needs more quiet? Which is a question that begets more questions.

Should we move her to a quieter room? Do we move her there for a set period of time (some weeks or months) and then move her back into the living room? Does moving her to another room temporarily help her adjust to living room noises in the long term, or does that ultimately work against helping her acclimate to noises eventually? Or do we just start the whole acclimation process over again every time she's moved to a new room, even if her enclosure is the same?

Should we keep her in the living room, but add some covering or sound proofing to or around her enclosure? We don't have carpet, so our living room, our whole home, can be prone to echoing.

Whether we move or cover the enclosure, she won't see us moving around a lot -- but if it helps her to acclimate in steps, first to the sounds of us, then the sight of us as we move in and out of the room, I don't mind.

She was calm when we got her out of her shipment box and bag, she has not hissed at us, she has not tried to bite. She took food, she even ate food we held out on a baby spoon for her, she's eaten and she's pooped, and she's explored a little bit, which are all good signs. All of the kids got to pet her for a minute before we put her in the enclosure the day we got her. And the kids have said to each other: "Shhh! We can't be too loud for the skink!" So they're ARE aware of watching their noise, but they're kids - even if they get great at being quiet on the first floor, it's only been a couple days for them too.

I'm not sure what is the best way to give the skink what s/he needs both now and in the long term concerning noise and bonding with us. Any thoughts and advice appreciated. I'm so glad to have found this site and that this community exists!
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IvanDanko
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Re: Are baby blueys afraid of noises? Noise acclimation

Postby IvanDanko » Sun Jul 18, 2021 5:45 am

Hi Misty and welcome, congrats on the new skink. To answer your question, ill try to divide it up into a few points:

- Skink personalities vary, but be prepared for potentially several months of hard work to get your skink comfortable with your presence. Expecting the longer period now means it will be a nice surprise if it adjusts earlier.

- Try not to handle it at all for a week or two and only change the water, food and clean any waste. When you feel the skink is up to being handled, start with very short sessions at a time. If you are going to handle your skink, follow through every time. This means no backing out if it hides or huffs etc. as backing off after this occurs reinforces your skink to harness that behaviour as an effective deterrent. TC Houston on YouTube did a great video on how to handle skittish/aggressive skinks that shows some techniques you can use: https://youtu.be/5qfY4laUwdo

- Your skink being in a busy area may mean it will adjust to noises sooner but it also may not.

- I had my skink Peanut since he was 7 days old. They have excellent hearing and eyesight - in the initial stages a creak in the floorboard would cause him to hide, now a vacuum doesn't phase him at almost 1.5 years. Try to slowly increment the adjustment to noises. When you initially talk to your skink, talk very softly at a low volume. This helps it get used to voices and also learn yours.

- You can assist to help your skink to feel safer from prying eyes by covering 3/4 of the enclosure with a towel where the basking spot is (do not cover air vents) That way it can bask in a relative feeling of safety. Slowly cover less of the enclosure as time goes on.

Hope this helps! Good luck.
1.0.0 Lowland Blotched (Tiliqua Nigrolutea) - Peanut


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mistyskinks
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Re: Are baby blueys afraid of noises? Noise acclimation

Postby mistyskinks » Sun Jul 18, 2021 11:17 am

Dear IvanDanko,

Thank you so much!

Thank you for the video link - I will watch it. And yes, no backing out if we decide to handle her.

Right now the enclosure is in a corner of the room, so two of the sides face walls (without actually touching the wall). The other two face out into the room, where s/he can see the entire room. One of those "walls" being, of course, the doors to the enclosure.

I guess I'm wondering if I should move her/his enclosure to a quieter room, until she's adjusted to us and her enclosure, before moving her back into the living room.

She IS coming out when it's quiet and she thinks everyone is gone. I know now it's not just at night -- all the kids went outside, and when I came in, I saw that she was out of her hide, but she started to duck back in as soon as she saw me. She has come out in the evening when it's just my husband and I. I'm worried that if she hides until the kids are in bed that she won't get enough UVB/UVA/basking time.

When the kids are in school in the fall (assuming everything returns to a normal school year), they'll be gone most of the day, and there will only be 4-5 hours of potential noisiness at night. I can't figure out if we should just stick it out with her in the living room for the summer, or move her to a quieter room until September at least.

What are your thoughts?
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IvanDanko
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Re: Are baby blueys afraid of noises? Noise acclimation

Postby IvanDanko » Sun Jul 18, 2021 4:53 pm

I think stay the course for now and give it some time, and use the towel to help screen some of the enclosure off to help her adjust. Remember she will be likely watching you constantly even whilst hidden, and that will help her to learn a) you aren't a threat and b) noise doesn't equal danger. I would reassess at around a month and see if you've noticed some improvements. I would bet even if they are small they will be evident i.e you can get closer to the enclosure without her hiding, more basking time etc.

I forgot to add a transitional hide is a must and massively helps your skink feel safe when moving between either side of the enclosure. You can use a PVC pipe or something similar placed against the rear wall which connects the hot side to the cool side of the enclosure.
1.0.0 Lowland Blotched (Tiliqua Nigrolutea) - Peanut


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Re: Are baby blueys afraid of noises? Noise acclimation

Postby splashy07 » Mon Jul 19, 2021 6:03 am

Hi Misty. I have a beautiful northern that shares your name. As I am a breeder, I have dealt with hundreds of babies and find some are fine with chaos and others prefer quiet. At first though, babies are terrified of everything. They usually get used to things after a few days, but for the most part do prefer a quieter environment, as do most reptiles. Even some of my adults that are 10 years old bolt for cover occasionally when I come in from work. With the exception of my bearded dragon, I find most of my reptiles prefer quiet.
mistyskinks
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Re: Are baby blueys afraid of noises? Noise acclimation

Postby mistyskinks » Sun Aug 01, 2021 4:10 pm

Thank you all again so much for the feedback. I thought I would post an update.

When we first got her, I wasn't sure what size hide s/he would need based on the photos. I got several different-sized hides, and I kept swapping them out the first day until we had the right size, which I realize now was a no-no. I think that delayed the whole let-them-alone-and-get-used-to-you.

We made a concerted effort to let her alone in her enclosure (I keep saying "she," we don't know for sure, which I realize is common). I was surprised that after 3-4 days, she really seemed to calm down, and be more acclimated to us! I never did get a cover up; once she started coming out, I wasn't sure if I should still go ahead and do that, or let it be.

She started coming out of her enclosure throughout the day, definitely when it's more quiet, but even when she knew people were still in the room.

My one son spends a lot of time talking to her quietly throughout the day (this is the child who started befriending one of the suburban bunnies outside, and I realized getting a pet would be a good for him), and she's definitely the most comfortable with him and me. Third in line is my husband, who, while he doesn't spend much time talking to our skink, is the quietest person in our family in general, which I think helps! :lol:

This same son is typically my noisiest child. Now, because he's concerned for the skink, he's constantly reminding everyone not to be too loud in the living room -- which makes me think I should have gotten a skink yeeears ago!! lol

I've started taking her out at night after the kids are in bed once it was about 10 days after she arrived, and she's done well with this. I got a critter sling to use when handling her, and she really seems to like it. She constantly wants to lay across my shoulders, or try to hide in my hair!

I've let the kids have her once with the sling, and this went okay too. She gets a small piece of fruit as a treat every time she's out.

She's shed successfully once - I drove an hour one way to the only place in our area that had any spaghum moss left to make a humid hide! Wow, do humid hides really work!

But all in all, she's doing well. Thank you all again.

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