Silly New Owner Worries

[EvenMoreStress]

Hi, I hope this is the right place and right way to post things since this is my first time doing it! Sorry about the oncoming word wall.


I have a captive bred Halmahera named Ringpop, Ringo for short, and he is my first lizard ever. He’s about 2 years old by this point and I’ve had him for about 3/4 of that time. He’s a very sweet boy. Well, I don’t know if a boy for sure and don’t care about his sex enough to find out.

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He’s a sweet (and tolerant) lizard but kind of prickly. He loves to do things like stare out of his cage and look at you as you do stuff or watch TV sitting on the edge of his water bowl. Just now my alarm went off, I went “oops”, and his little head popped up over the rim of the enclosure to see what was going on.

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Yet if I take him out he tends to complain or low key spazz out a bit, refusing to stay still or be content getting to be outside- usually he ends up scrambling up my chest to sit on my shoulders. Never hissing or biting though. Despite heavy huffing and complaining he never acts aggressive, just his under chin/neck tends to go red from stress.

The biggest aggression i’ve seen from him on the regular is taking a piece of lettuce from his bowl and tossing it onto the ground like a disgusted teenager. You know, like a brat.

I really don’t think he’s afraid of me, if it helps. Earlier I hand fed him some grape, he didn’t run away when I opened his cage and once he realized I wasn’t dragging him out but offering him delicious snacks he was happy to politely take it and look expectant for more. He doesn’t always hide too. I can often find him sitting out in the open during his day cycle, basking under his lamp or on top of his humid box.

My big worry, as per the topic subject, is I wonder if this is just me being really bad at bonding with my skink over admittedly somewhat sporadic outside time, if its just his personality to be like that, or if there is maybe something that’s changed that I haven’t noticed?

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As for his general care in case its relevant:
He lives on a rotating flavor variety of grain free dog food and repashy with a sprinkling of vitamin and calcium supplement to make sure his bones stays nice and strong. Every few days when I feel its getting dried I will dampen his substrate by dumping some warm water into it and mixing it all around so its humid again. I think his humidity is probably alright with this method and his damp moss filled humid box since he sheds very well and I don’t usually have to help him get shed off his toes but in the case he does I will help him get it off after a few days of the rest of his shed being done with and its clear he can’t get it on his own. (he still has all his toes! So at least I’m probably doing something right!)

Speaking of substrate, right now he has a mixture of cypress mulch and coconut husk as his bedding, but its normally reptibark. Ever since I got him the new stuff he hasn’t been burrowing, though, so I am going to try and switch out his heat bulb to see if the temperature just isn’t high enough for him to burrow comfortably.

He is on a day/night cycle as of a few weeks ago with a UV bulb that runs on an outlet timer and a red heat lamp that is on 24/7.

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[Janella]

Sounds like you are doing everything well except I would ditch the red heat lamp. I would use a regular basking bulb instead. It has been known in the reptile world that to much exposure to red light can cause eye issues (this is a very controversial subject by the way-some will tell you it doesn't matter). I personally rather see you without it. As for your handling, it sounds like a typical skink. My skink is sweet as sugar. But every now and then he will Huff or make noises too when handled. Some times I think it depends on their moods as well. Keep talking and handling your skink gently. Keep offering the tasty treats. You will win him over in no time. Halmahera are known to have a little bit more of a spicy temperament than the Northern or Meraukes.

[EvenMoreStress]

Sounds like you are doing everything well except I would ditch the red heat lamp. I would use a regular basking bulb instead. It has been known in the reptile world that to much exposure to red light can cause eye issues (this is a very controversial subject by the way-some will tell you it doesn't matter). I personally rather see you without it. As for your handling, it sounds like a typical skink. My skink is sweet as sugar. But every now and then he will Huff or make noises too when handled. Some times I think it depends on their moods as well. Keep talking and handling your skink gently. Keep offering the tasty treats. You will win him over in no time. Halmahera are known to have a little bit more of a spicy temperament than the Northern or Meraukes.

Good to know he may just be a brat then

But on a more serious note I'll have to see about potentially changing out his red bulb then, for now I think he might be ok. While it is on all the time, for almost 12 hours a day I also have a bright white UV bulb on that lights nearly 2/3 of his cage, he can see the lights from outside his enclosure, and there is a window right near him. So he's not going around solely with red light to risk hurting his eyes. I'll keep an eye on it though and maybe start turning it off for periods during the day so he's not exposed to it as much.

I'll be sure to take him out for decent spans of time too so while I bribe his affection he can have regular light instead of the red lamp.

Thank you for the response!

[Seethe]

That's funny, I just got a a skink myself and I also named him Ringo