New BTS & new to the forum

[VampyricAngelX]

Hi! I figured I'd finally join the forum after lurking it for the past few months XD After my fire skink passed away I've been looking up info on blue tongues and finally picked one up today at Repticon. I also have 6 leopard geckos and a crested gecko.

I didn't have a whole lot of options, there were lots of snakes, other lizards, spiders, scorpions, frogs, axolotls, etc. but only two people selling BTS. I ended up buying one from a guy that has a shop right near me. I'm not exactly sure what subspecies it is, he called them northerns but it doesn't look like any pictures of northerns I've seen. I'm thinking its an Indonesian? I could be wrong since I'm just looking at the pictures on this site and trying to compare, me being a BTS newbie. Also not sure of the gender, though the guy I bought it from say female and that's what I'm going to refer to it as for now. He had one really large one, which he said was a male, and two slightly smaller ones he called females. I really liked the larger one and the color/pattern on the other smaller one but this one was nice and mellow but still active. Anyway, the tank is my fire skink's old 30 gallon breeder tank. Which is the same as a 40 gallon breeder, except I think it's missing 4 inches in height or so. The length and width is the same as a 40 gal breeder.



On the left I have a flat piece of slate as a basking spot. The 100 watt mercury vapor heat/uv light goes above that. Under the fake plants I have my fire skink's old exo terra XL hide, next is a piece of cork bark that forms a hide on the right side. The right side also has the water dish (oh and random humidity gauge in the middle there). The bedding is shredded aspen. Does this set up look alright? I might get a lamp stand for the light fixture. I tested the temperatures this week and they reached from 97F to 104F but today is a pretty warm day and I haven't put in the ac yet so I'm getting 111F at the moment :/










Here she is eating a mix of canned dog food, a few canned snails (which she hasn't touched, oddly enough. I read they love snails), chopped up mustard greens (I'll have to chop them up a lot more and hide them in meat since she didn't want them), a raspberry (not pictured since it was gone by then), and two superworms (also gone) with calcium sprinkled on top.

I'm going to have to work on getting her on a decent diet. The guy said they were being fed superworms, crickets, and pinkie mice here and there. No greens or veggies. I'm going to let her settle in and hopefully she'll peek out later.

[xxmonitorlizardxx]

Indonesian

[Fatal_S]

Yup, that's an Indo Welcome to the addiction. Beautiful skink.

Keep in mind your Indo is WC, so you should consider getting a fecal check for internal parasites. Also, you'll probably need lots of patience as your skink realized you're not a threat. It can take a long time for a WC skink to become a calm, happy housepet.

[VampyricAngelX]

Will do as soon as I spot any poo to take in. I had a feeling she was WC when the guy said he got them as adults. She's actually pretty calm, I was handling her a bit at the expo and she was the calmest of the 3. She's a little timid right now but she just got here so that's to be expected. She has taken food from some feeding tongs I have as well. I'm hoping she'll follow the pattern all my other reptiles have so far over the years: "Oh hey, when you come around food appears!"

[Richard.C]

yep definatly an indo,nice example to,good that its feeding from the get go to,commonly they can show a lack of interest in food till they settle in,so good chance shes been in captivity for a while and is half used to people,she looks in good shape to

welcome to the forum

[Spindown]

DEFINITELY not a Northern. Cant believe that guy was so blind or scummy to try and pass off an Indo for a Northern!
Gorgeous Indo though, gotta love those yellows! WoW! <3's

[shingleback aus]

what a beauty! nice indo mate! and welcome to the forum!!

[VampyricAngelX]

I'm not really sure he was trying to pass them off as anything, he did look pretty confused when I asked him what kind they were. He and his wife own a pet store somewhere around here and since he said he got them as adults I'm guessing someone came into the shop and sold them to him. I think he just took northern when I explained what I meant by the what kind are they question as I named off a few of them. Either way, I had seen enough pictures by that point to know they weren't northerns.

She's been out and exploring the tank. She has also decided that the front entrance to the cork bark hide is not good enough and just burrows under the sides XD

[Katrina]

Welcome!! She looks beautiful.

[skeetersmom]

Such a cutie! I was wondering while looking at the pics if she was eating the greens without being hidden in the dog food. No worries about the snails - Skeeter didn't know about the till he came home with me - now he can't get enough of them. Just remember to put the can-o-snails in the frig - they start smelling bad pretty fast otherwise

Once your cutie starts eating the veggies you can start putting more to the dog food - they learn pretty fast that veggies are yummie, especially the squashes.

[VampyricAngelX]

Sometime she takes a few bites of the greens by themselves, sometimes she doesn't. Of course, I only bought two different kinds to start with (escarole & mustard greens) so maybe she'll like others more. She seems to only eat the snails when I hold them with feeding tongs and wave them in front of her face XD The can is most definitely in the fridge, I'd hate to have smelly snails stinking up my room. I have two kinds and squashes and I'm going to see if she'll eat those the next time I feed her.

[skeetersmom]

If I remember Baltimore right - the dandilions are in full bloom. Skeeter's first green w/o coverup was dandilion leaves. They say BTS love the flowers also, but Skeeter treats them like they are vicious intruders. He snatches them up, shakes them like a tomato worm (hook worm) and bashes them on a rock before dropping them with a huff

Of course, you have to be careful where you get them.

I assume you read the caresheet - if not may I suggest picking up a small chopper by blackndecker - they are around $10 and makes preparing their veggies a lot easier...for me at least

Will have to say - Indo was my first guess - but definately not an ID expert (yet )

I have an I.J. - but was told by his/her owner she was a Northern - I think that is what everyone is told their skink is unless purchased from an educated petstore (which are few and far between in reguards to skinks - at least in my area).

[VampyricAngelX]

Yes, lots of dandelions right now but none I'd want to pick at the moment. I'll have to see if any more pop up in the backyard, since we don't spray anything out that way. We had some but they went when the grass was cut and I'm a little too paranoid about grabbing any off the path behind us. Skink vs dandelion sounds pretty amusing though

Definitely read the care sheet too. Like I said, I lurked around here for a few months just browsing through posts and such. I do have a chopper, used that once to help chop up greens to mix in with the juice from the can of dog food.

[KellyandLindsey]

Indonesian

ya that and that is a vary cool cage! and the skink is VERY pretty to

[RosiePosie06]

Even I can tell she's not a Northern... Haha, that's saying something from my lack of experience! But I got my skink at an expo as well. You got lucky with three to choose from, I only saw two at the HUGE Reptile Super Show. Well she's beautiful and looks like she has a nice home! Welcome and enjoy:)

[KellyandLindsey]

also

[Edward]

[VampyricAngelX]

Even I can tell she's not a Northern... Haha, that's saying something from my lack of experience! But I got my skink at an expo as well. You got lucky with three to choose from, I only saw two at the HUGE Reptile Super Show. Well she's beautiful and looks like she has a nice home! Welcome and enjoy:)

There was actually 5 BTS I could have chosen from, just 3 from the guy I bought from and 2 others that didn't look as nice from someone else. Not too many skinks of any kind, really. I went there looking for one of these guys in particular so when I walked around most of the place without seeing any I thought I wouldn't be coming home with a skink but there she was

She's settled in pretty well. She likes to watch me at the computer a lot. Haven't tried handling her again quite yet but I think I might get some gloves first, just in case. She doesn't seem aggressive when I put my hand in the tank but I don't want to spook her and have her bite my bare hand. I also think I might name her Magnus. (I have been re-watching a tv series called Sanctuary A LOT lately, so there's my excuse XD)