New Pink Tongues SOME QUESTIONS

[DianaBlueTongue]

Hey all!

Well my wonderful husband did it Yesterday was our anniversary and for my present he ordered me the ever elusive pink tongue! A pair actually! I'm so excited I can barely stop smiling. lol. I've read up considerably over the years on their husbandry, been wanting some for quite a while, but would like to hear some personal experience from the folks here on the forum.

Could you post some pics of your pink tongue setups?
What is the staple diet you feed?
What temps/humidity/UVB strength do you use?
Anything else you could share about their husbandry?
Show me yours! haha, I love seeing pics of peoples pink tongues

[Jeff]

Congrats, pink tongues are very cool. I can't help much other than to point you toward this thread: viewtopic.php?f=26&t=24734

[xxmonitorlizardxx]

Congrats, pink tongues are very cool. I can't help much other than to point you toward this thread: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=20838

[Ophidiophile]

I love my pink tongues. Their husbandry is pretty easy. Here's one of them:


and here's a link to an article by Michael Burger who is probably the largest producer of PTS in the US (dare I say the "Ray Gurgui of PTS" ). He's the guy I got mine from two years ago:

http://www.reptilesmagazine.com/Lizard-Care/Pink-Tongued-Skink-Care-Tips/

[DianaBlueTongue]

Micheal Burger is the guy I'm getting my pair of babies from too! SO HAPPY TO HEAR YOU SAY THAT ABOUT HIM!!! Aw, I'm even more excited about getting them now!!!! Thanks for the info, ill go check the article out now

[DianaBlueTongue]

Great article, thanks for posting the link!

Do you by any remote chance have some pics of your pts set ups? What do you feed yours? I keep reading that they truly prefer snails and just generally do better when fed them as a part of their staple diet but it's not completely necessary. Where do you get snails if you do feed them? How arboreal are yours and what size cage do you keep them in? Do you house them together?

Sorry for all the questions! There isn't a whole lot on info on them around, in fact, that article you posted is the best, most complete carsheet I've read yet. Thanks so much again, very very excited to be joining the pts keepers!

[Ophidiophile]

I housed them individually for about the first 18 mos of their lives. If you look at a thread below this one where I asked for opinions on their sexes, the predominant opinion was that I should be housing them together. Burger's article disagrees (which is why I housed them individually). Anyway, now that I'm 99.5% sure they are a pair, I am housing them together in a glass tank. I'm not sure what the gallon size is but it's the next size up from a 20 gallon high tank (maybe a 30 or 35?). It has a screen top but since we're really arid here in Colorado, about 4/5's of the screen is covered in plastic, so there's air flow but some ability to retain moisture and humidity. The substrate is my ever-popular cypress mulch to a depth of 3-4". I have a cork bark flat on the ground as a hide and one vertically oriented for climbing. There's also a semi-large piece of driftwood in there (which the skink is on in the photo above) and a smaller diameter branch as well. The decor is completed with a medium sized water container big enough for them to climb into but I have never actually seen them do that. Ambient temp is mid 80s daytime with a basking spot of around 90. I turn off their light/heat at night so it drops into the 70s. In winter it's a few degrees cooler.

Their staple foods are good ol' high quality dog and the Mazuri Omnivore biscuits (moistened til crumbly) that Burger mentions in the article. Sometimes I feed just one or the other and sometimes I mix them. I used to feed mealworms occasionally but haven't in a while. They LOVE pinkie mice and I give them each 1 or two just once or twice a month as a treat. The only snails I've fed is Zoomed's Can o'Snails - they like them though they don't go quite as crazy over them as my BTS do. I have mixed fruit and veggies into their food but unless cut really small and mixed in well they don't seem to eat them much. I supplement with Rep-Cal w Vit D.

I'd have to take a photo of the whole set-up though the photo I posted above gives you an idea of the branches I have. If you have any other questions, ask away!

[DianaBlueTongue]

Oh wow! Thanks for answering my questions! Im sure I can think of some more. lol. I like to pack as much knowledge into my noodle as humanly possible before taking on a new species like this, hence all the questions. :p

How docile are they? I expect the babes to be fairly skiddish like most baby lizards but a lot of what ive read points to them actually being calmer and more docile then bts as adults.
How readily do they drop their tails? A lot of the pictures/videos ive seen of adults have dropped or regrown tails, is this something I should be a bit more aware of then with bts?
Do they have UVB requirements? From what I understand they aren't completely diurnal or nocturnal, moreso a late afternoon/dusk lizard, is this correct and do you provide UVB and what strength if you do?
Pictures! haha, lemme see a few more shots of your pts! Love love seeing pics of them, as Im sure other do too!

Thanks so much for being so patient with me!

[Ophidiophile]

I don't use a UV bulb over my PTS, though I'm sure it wouldn't hurt. I just do Calcium with D3 supplementation. Mine are mostly crepuscular but I do see them climbing or roaming around around midday sometimes.

I wouldn't think they drop they tails readily but I'm not certain because mine haven't. As far as docility and calmness, I have to admit that I watched mine a ton for the first year I had them but I didn't handle them much (and still don't). As a result, I would say mine are a lot less docile than most of my BTS. That's not to say they're aggressive but their favorite pastime is crapping and smearing it on me. They have also attempted to bite me on occasion but it's comical because they bite (like most other things they do) almost in slow motion so it's not hard to avoid.

[Richard.C]

yeah not as docile as most blueys,they are heat sensitive to compsred to blueys so make sure plenty of room to escape from heat,they like a more humid set up to,probably similar to indos,like dave pointed out they are mostly active after sun starts buggering off,but do bask at times during the day,probably in cooler days in nature,captives often bite cage mates tails off,which probably explains the pics u saw,dianna

they do climb alot but arent a full on arboreal species,so best to make climbing areas easy to climb

[Ophidiophile]

they do climb alot but arent a full on arboreal species,so best to make climbing areas easy to climb

Very good point. Mine were a lot more arboreal as youngsters. They've become distinctly less so as they've gotten bigger. They also often burrow down into the cypress mulch or hide on the ground under the cork bark slab I provided as a hide.

[mark_w]

Hi,

Here a pic of one of my pink tongue vivs.



I keep mine fairly arboreal as you can see. This is a simpler set up for babies:



And a few babies from a few years ago...



Mark.

[DianaBlueTongue]

Wow! Nice set ups! Do the adults really utilize all the vertical space you provided? That's awesome, thanks so much for posting these pics, gave me some really great ideas for how to set up my babies viv's. Do you recommend housing the babies together or separate?

What do you feed you pts?

Thanks so much!

[mark_w]

Thanks!

Yes they use the vertical height. But notice the thick cork on the back and sides, they need something like this for climbing. I have always raised babies together. I feed a lot of slugs and snails, including cooked apple snail meat which I buy from a Chinese supermarket. I either feed just the slugs or snails or mix some chopped up defrost snail with some dog food, beef or turkey mince. Should have some more baby pics in the next few days...

Mark.

[DianaBlueTongue]

Where do you get your slugs and snails from? Id really like to feed those two if I can in addition to the more readily available dog foods, my bts all LOVE snails so have been planning on raising my own but can slugs be kept as easily and is the a specific species of slug/snail the can eat and any they shouldnt eat? Ive never seen slugs for sale