HELP: Fire Skink Hatchlings!!!

I know this may not be the appropriate forum, but I didn't know where else to turn. I have relied on these forums for years for info on caring for my beardies.

I have a pair of fire skinks. Have had them since September. Tonight my SO spotted a baby in the terrarium! I had no idea what to do. A quick Google search informed me that adults often cannibalize their young, so I immediately scrambled to come up with temporary housing for them. That consists of a gladware container with a bunch of holes drilled in the top, some eco earth and moss as substrate, and some water in the bottom for moisture.

We found two hatchlings. I don't know if there are more. We are very worried about stressing out the adults. Some may have hatched and already been eaten? More may hatch? We will certainly keep a close eye out.

So my question is, what do I need to do to care for these little guys? My adult pair were almost fully grown when we got them. How large a viv do they need? What kind of lighting? And most importantly, what do we need to feed them? They are teeny tiny!

Separate the parents and move the parents into a tub or two tubs set up like this : viewtopic.php?f=34&t=233480 if the adults (the male ?) is likely cannibalise the babies.

Will be easier I think to move the adults than the babies who will be very skittish and delicate , best to leave the babies where they are and their current tank becomes the rearing tank for them. You'll need to order in some mealworms, or very small roaches / crickets / locusts , small BSL , blowfly gents , fruitfly maggots or very small silkworms for the babies to eat.
I suggest providing multiple small hides for them too.

BTW : photos are mandatory.

Too bad they aren't water skinks, the mums protect their babies and those of other females in the same colony.

Okay, so this morning we took everything out of the viv and dug to find any additional babies or eggs. We found the two hatched egg shells and three unhatched eggs. Right next to that, there was a whole other clutch of four unhatched eggs! I could tell they were two separate clutches, because the set of eggs with the two hatched egg shells were "older" looking... soft and yellow-ish brown. The clutch of four eggs was white and shiny and new. We transferred the three ready-to-hatch eggs into the gladware container with the two hatchlings, but left the four newer eggs where they were for now, since we do not have a incubator for them and have no idea how far they are from hatching.

We spent the morning running all over town to get supplies for a new viv for the babies. Finally got them set up in an 18"x18"x18" Zoomed terrarium. They have a 100w Powersun MVB, which seems to have the temp about perfect right now. Substrate is Zilla Jungle Mix, on bottom (about 2 inches), Eco Earth on top of that, and moss on top of that. We got them a half log hide and a low fake plant for cover.

Here are some pics! Still only the two hatchings. Burried the other three unhatched eggs below the moss. Hopefully they will still hatch in the next day or two. I will feel very bad if moving them harmed them.

Such little cuties, huh ? Have you gotten any food for them ? If they tend to hide a lot it would be best to keep the tank more simply, just an inch or two of eco earth, a log or some rocks and a large wide bowl to drop the food in.

AHBD":1imht4q6 said:

Such little cuties, huh ? Have you gotten any food for them ? If they tend to hide a lot it would be best to keep the tank more simply, just an inch or two of eco earth, a log or some rocks and a large wide bowl to drop the food in.

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We got the tiniest crickets we could find, dusted a few, and put them in the viv. One of the two little guys went nuts for them and gobbled up three of them right away. The other seemed less interested so far.

We have a new worry now, though. My SO was doing some online reading and read that the yellow/brown older looking eggs might be "bad" and those bright white ones we left in the the adults might be "good", in which case any new babies to hatch from those would still be at risk? Does that seem like the case or do you think that it's more likely two separate clutches like we originally thought? The two hatched egg shells we found were definitely with the yellow/brown ones and the bright white ones where in their own little grouping about 3 inches away. None of the other yellow/brown ones have hatched since this morning. No real indication that they are close to hatching, though I have no idea how I would be able to tell that short of little noses poking out of them.

It could be they all from the same clutch, they usually lay more than 3-4 in one clutch. Post pics of the " bad " looking ones. And move the good ones in to a small plastic container like I mentioned in my p.m. but keep them in the exact position that they are laying.

Here is a pic of the eggs brown-ish eggs we already moved into the babies' viv.

Well the pic doesn't show if they're bad because they're covered in dirt that obstructs the real view of them. Since you're unsure , just let them be in case they are actually good. Did you move the good white ones ?

They are tiny ! about the same size as baby delicate brown garden skinks (local species we get here).

They likely wont show a lot of interest in hunting food until they have fully absorbed their yoke sacks (which can take a few days).

Leave a little bit of sloppy cat food (beef or chicken type out in the sun for a couple of days and let the blow flies find it and deposit maggots in the meat) then bring the maggot blown meat in and leave in the rearing tank .... the little skink hatchlings will really enjoy the maggots which will be perfect size for them.

You might have a nasty smell and attract unwanted critters to your yard with putrefying meat around your house. Better to just find some baby earthworms.

If you are in the springtime season or wet season in general you'll find little earthworms under any rock, bits of logs, or just put an old small kitchen carpet outside + pour a bucket of water under + over it, as long as it's damp + cool the worms will congregate in places like that.

Here's a video of one of them eating his very first crickets:

https://youtu.be/FI83Pd_8H18

Aw, sweet ! I love those little dudes. Isn't it a blast to have these shiny miniature skinks ? And the good thing is they don't eat anywhere near what baby beardies eat, so no worries about sending a lot of money. I don't think my babies were eating crix that large, they can probably handle it but just be careful.

AHBD":509nkk2n said:

Aw, sweet ! I love those little dudes. Isn't it a blast to have these shiny miniature skinks ? And the good thing is they don't eat anywhere near what baby beardies eat, so no worries about sending a lot of money. I don't think my babies were eating crix that large, they can probably handle it but just be careful.

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I was worried too, but those were the smallest ones I could find. And then I figured, in the wild the babies probably have access to all different sized prey and they figure out what they can handle on their own. So he probably wouldn't eat something if it was too large. He did take his time chewing it all up at least. Not like my baby beardies in the past that will just swallow everything whole!

How are they doing ? Any more hatching ?

The two babies still seem to be doing great. The second one ate at least one small cricket yesterday and the one who ate crickets in the video I posted ate three more yesterday!

No new hatchlings. The eggs are looking pretty sad at this point, kind of caving in? I don't think they are going to hatch at this point. But at least we have to two healthy babies! I also moved the "second" clutch into a container and placed it in the viv with the babies to incubate. Since I have no idea how old those eggs are, I don't know when/if to expect them to hatch, but I will keep checking on them and checking temps and making sure everything looks okay with them.

Mommy and daddy seem to have recovered from all the excitement of me digging around in their viv a few days straight (Saturday to catch the babies, Sunday to dig up the first clutch, and yesterday to dig up the second clutch). Both came out to eat some mealworms, which I dusted heavily to make sure Fred (who we think is actually the mommy) gets plenty of calcium. Fred had actually eaten several nightcrawlers since Saturday as well. Millie (the daddy) had been hiding in one corner for three days, but finally came out today to eat.