BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Hi all,
We recently acquired a Blue Tongue off realities as they couldn't keep him anymore. I am new to this forum in search of answers to my questions.
I'm wondering what breed of Blue Tongue this is? I'm pretty sure he's a Northern, but not sure. His name is Wacky (I am a assuming Wacky's a he due to our information off relatives, but haven't been able to check properly yet, as he's mostly been hiding in his tunnel only coming out in the early mornings). As you can see in the picture the substrate of the reptile tank is shredded paper going to change that to this: https://www.mypetwarehouse.com.au/pisce ... lt-p-29572[/url]. Is that okay? His diet mainly consists of formulated lizard food, the occasional mealworm and fresh vegetables. Thanks in advance.

Posting this again as my other thread didn't answer my questions.

Hi there,

That definitely looks like a Northern to me but you can still see the eastern lineage with the faint remnants of the eye band. Someone may be able to clue you in on a specific locality.

As for the substrate, based off the website I am assuming you're also Australian like me? Do not buy substrate from the pet shop. Often its been sitting there for a long time and from my experience they carry a heap of dust and dirt and other nasties. Order a 50L bag of eucalyptus mulch from Bunnings and use that, its such a good quality substrate and can handle being dry or wet plus has anti- mould/ bacterial properties. It's also very cost effective (from memory 10 dollars a bag?) Only thing is you may need to dry it out a little (leave the bag in the sun for a day or so)

Eastern

And I'd add a good quality dog food to his diet.

Yes, I'm in Australia. Thanks for your advice on the substrate, will do. I have a dog, so we feed good quality dog food. I can give him some of that. Found out that he really is a he as he have been leaving semen 'droppings' around his enclosure.

Also isn't Eucalyptus mulch very oily?

No not at all, if you cut the bag open and air it 24 hours before putting it in it just has a really nice mild smell to it. Perfectly safe to use

Thank you!

IvanDanko wrote:Hi there,

That definitely looks like a Northern to me but you can still see the eastern lineage with the faint remnants of the eye band. Someone may be able to clue you in on a specific locality.

As for the substrate, based off the website I am assuming you're also Australian like me? Do not buy substrate from the pet shop. Often its been sitting there for a long time and from my experience they carry a heap of dust and dirt and other nasties. Order a 50L bag of eucalyptus mulch from Bunnings and use that, its such a good quality substrate and can handle being dry or wet plus has anti- mould/ bacterial properties. It's also very cost effective (from memory 10 dollars a bag?) Only thing is you may need to dry it out a little (leave the bag in the sun for a day or so)

I’m by no means an expert, but can’t eucalyptus be quite harmful? I’ll attach a link to a post on this forum about it, but I would chose cypress mulch over eucalyptus mulch especially since they are at such a similar price point and cypress mulch is just as common as eucalyptus mulch if not more.
viewtopic.php?t=24056

As posted above I can tell you it is 100% safe to use. I did a large amount of research into it before I settled on it as my substrate of choice. Many breeders and keepers use it here with great success.

Overseas Cypress Mulch I imagine would be alot more common but the poster was also from Australia - it is not that common here. Read the previous posts on this thread on how to air the mulch and dry it out to ensure it just has a mild smell before use.

Nice Eastern!!!