New Halmahera Skink and a few questions!

[Qtrhorse89]

Hi all,

New to the forum, but I wanted to say hi and show off my new Halmahera, Nihlus! He's a captive bred 1-year-old, not sure he's a male, but he's getting called a he until proven otherwise lol. Today was his first day with me after his trip from Maine. I was expecting him to be very grouchy when I unboxed him, but he let me pick him up with no problems and then proceeded to climb up my arm and snuggle into my neck (pretty sure he was cold). He let me take him out this afternoon with a little bit of huffing, but no mouth gaping, and he chowed down on some dogfood/veggie mix. I was really happy he was willing to eat his first day here and he was even willing to take a bit from my fingers so that bodes well for getting him to like me!

His enclosure is a 40 breeder glass tank. He's on 90% cypress/10% coconut bark substrate with sphagnum moss piled on top for humidity. I've managed to keep his cool side above 70% humidity all day with some misting. His warm side is proving more challenging. It dries out more quickly with the basking light. I'd like his humidity to sit around 75-85 throughout personally so I've ordered him a mistking system with a humidity controlled power center. That should help keep his tank air nice and humid throughout the day. The controller will sense when the humidity drops below a certain point and turn the system on until it rises to a set point, that way his humidity will stay in a constant range all day and I don't have to worry about it getting too dry. His hot side sits a little over 100F on top of his basking tile and the high 90's everywhere else. He has a 250watt basking light and his UVB florescent light on that side. His cool side has been sitting around the mid 70s. He has a ceramic heat emitter to keep his tank warm at night and temps are ranging from the mid 80s to the mid 70s. So far he has shown a preference for his log hide stuffed with sphagnum moss on the cool side, but he did hang out under his light for a bit after dinner. He curls up into a donut shape under his log and sleeps, it's super cute.

His future enclosure is going to be a DIY 4X2 melamine enclosure, but for right now I think he'll do okay in the 40 breeder. It will give him a bit more room and the humidity will keep better with it being enclosed. For right now there's a piece of glass sitting over top the screen top of his tank on the cool side. I was a bit hesitant to cover up the warm side where all his lighting is. I know that renders the UVB pretty much useless and I was worried about heating up the glass too much with that ceramic heater.

Okay so my questions. I've done a lot of reading on his care (I'm working on a PhD in Science Education and have a M.S. in Zoology already so researching is second nature lol) and I've kept reptiles before, but Nihlus is my first BTS and all the research in the world will not replace plain old experience.

Does his enclosure look okay and is his cool side too cool? I may need to get an undertank heat pad or something to boost the temps up. His ceramic heater is already a 150watt and that was the highest wattage I saw for sale. My room stays in the low 70's so keeping him warm is a priority. If there is anything I should change I will.

Is it okay that his warm side is lower humidity at least until his mistking gets here? I'm struggling to keep it at 50-60% right under his light. I've got his water bowl under it to evaporate water and I'm keeping the sphagnum moss sprayed down around it. He also has a log hide on this side stuffed with damp moss too. In general how wet is too wet? I've kept poison dart frogs before so the humidity game is nothing new, but having such a humid loving reptile is new for me. I spray my crested gecko tank at night and let it dry out during the day. Trying to maintain the high humidity all day is new for me. The tank substrate is damp, but definitely not soaked by any means. Is damp okay or should I let his hot side dry out a bit so it's not damp everywhere? Also, how sensitive are they as far as the humidity goes? It won't hurt him to hang out with me outside of his tank for a bit right? The humidity in my room is definitely below his range. I just don't want him to get a respiratory infection or sick. I think that is it for right now, sorry for the long read and TIA for any help with him. I'm already very fond of him, he won me over pretty much immediately when he snuggled up against my neck the first time I picked him up. I just want to make sure everything looks good and he's not going to get sick from bad husbandry because I missed something.

[alichamp]

Hi! Yes he can hang out with you outside of his humidity tank and it won't be a problem. You want the air to be humid but not for the entire tank substrate to be soggy. You could add a humid hide for him until you get the mistking set up to help him out. There's a good thread on that in the FAQs.

Temps sound good though. Congrats on your new guy.

Have you got more photos of him? He looks pretty lumpy and bumpy in that second photo but might just be the way he's sitting...

[aaronhouts]

We have a couple Halmaheras ourselves and, in all my experience keeping reptiles, these are the most sensitive to low humidity I've ever kept.
Keep in mind though we did boas mainly with pythons and a few colubrids early on-never dart frogs or anything. It sounds like you know what you're doing.
We get ours out all the time for long periods of time. The main tells they have when humidity gets low will be their eyes and toes.
Good luck with that little dude! He's a looker!

[Qtrhorse89]

Thanks for the replies! Happy to know that we are off to a good start and glad to know it will be okay for him to come out once he gets over hating everything because it's all new. I added a humid hide, put a humidifier next to the tank, and covered the screen top with tin foil (not covering lights and leaving some spaces open for circulation of course). The humidity is still going up and down over the day but it is not dropping below 60% in between sprayings and he has his humid hide if he needs it. I get it up to 95% with the spray bottle. I'll be happy when that mistking gets here though just to keep things more stable!

I also ended up taking his basking light off and replacing it with a UTH. I was concerned he was refusing to come out of his hide and checked with his old owner; she used a heat pad in lieu of a bright basking light for heat. So his only light is now the UVB fluorescent and his heat is the UTH under the basking tile and his ceramic overhead heater both hooked to a thermostat. Temp ranges are holding steady. It has seemed to help with his comfort level too, he still won't come out of his hide if I'm around, he'll come to the edge and look out but that's it. He is coming out when I'm not around though because he left me poop on his basking tile! Always happy to see healthy poop with a new animal. Overall I can't complain, he's eating, drinking, and pooping within three days of being here, I'm sure he'll get used to me eventually and quit going back into hiding when he sees me.

Alichamp, it's the photo that's making him look wonky. I had the brilliant idea to feed him on my bed the first day he got here, won't be doing that again, he's an enthusiastic but very messy eater lol! He threw his dog food everywhere and then had a go at wiping his mouth on the blanket he was sitting on. I have a heated mattress pad and thought he would appreciate the warmth, so he's sitting on bunched up blankets on top of a mattress, and he had a hip cocked to one side to boot. I'll try to take more pictures of him next time I get him out. I've been leaving him be since the first day hoping he'll settle into his enclosure better. That being said my crappy phone camera and room lighting don't do him any justice. His back coloring is a much darker vibrant orange than what shows up in the pictures. As far as health goes, he seems great: all toes present and accounted for, no retained shed, nice shiny, smooth scales all over, bright clear eyes, and clean nostrils. He was very well taken care of at his old home. He seems very sweet and tame as well, he was huffy when I first picked him up, but he settled right down with no hissing or aggressive posturing. I am definitely happy I chose to spend the extra cash and go with a well established, US captive bred animal over an imported juvenile.