Blue tongue skink question

[KeyBlu422]

Ahead of time, sorry to whatever moderator has to move this post to another section, I was reading through the sections and I couldn't decide where it goes.

As the reptile show comes up in 2 weeks or so, I have to make the hard decision of if my second reptile will be a gargoyle gecko or blue tongue skink. I'll somehow decide that for myself but here's my question. I know the care requirements of both BTS and gargoyle geckos but need clarification for BTS. Sites suggest 40-60% of protein, how often would that be for all the different age groups of skinks?

 

[VenusAndSaturn]

May wanna check out this website,
http://www.bluetongueskinks.org/forum/index.php


http://bluetongueskinks.net/foodchart.html
Also this is a great link about some good foods and their diet.
from what it says veggies/greens should take up about 50% of an adults diet, 40% of a juveniles diet.
For fruit it says around 10% at most for both.
And the meat/protien is about 40% of the adult's diet and 50% of the juveniles diet.

My own Indonesian BTS gets quite the varied diet.

For insects she gets dubia roaches, turkish roaches, crickets, superworms, mealworms, BSFL, and occasionally silkworms or hornworms. Usually every two days for this.
She gets repashy omnivore mix every other day.
And then salad offered daily, usually collard greens, kale, mustard greens, turnip greens is what I usually give with the occasional squash like acorn.
For fruit she gets it mixed in once or twice a week with the salad, usually blue berries, blackberries, red raspberries, banana, and apples.

For supplements I usually dust her insects with calcium with no d3 twice a week and multivitamins once a week. Occasionally I put a small bit of both on her formulated food.
Of course if you went with no uvb you'd most likely have to dust with calcium d3.

The feeding amount probably differs between each skink, some skinks like my own need to eat every day and some only need to eat twice or so a week.

 

[KeyBlu422]

I've seen those sites, thank you for showing them just in case though. What I mean is how often to give protein a week(like how adult beardies need it 1-2 times a week). Sounds like you treat your animals like more than pets and instead kings and queens lol

 

[KeyBlu422]

Also, how is the temperament of your Indonesian? I've heard that good ones are northerners, merauke, Irian jaya and a few others but thought Indonesians were to be avoided as many are wild caught or act straight up mean

 

[kingofnobbys]

I have two wonderful and now quite old and mega lazy and tame eastern bluetongue skinks.

I essentially feed them the same food as I have for over 6 years given to my bearded dragons.

Be aware different species of BTS require different levels of UVB and different levels of humidity and a full grown BTS is quite a large lizard , even heavier than a full grown bearded dragon and they require a nice long and wide viv with plenty of places to burrow and generally explore, and contrary to common misceptions
>>> my two (brother and sister) were bought from a breeder at about 6 weeks old were pocket sized (loved curling up in the chest pocket of my polo shirt....)
>>> absolute minimum viv size is 4ft LONG x 2ft WIDE , an adult BTS can be over 24 inches long .
>>> dog food is a very poor food for a bluetongue , only OK as an occasional treat , if you follow this https://www.completecritter.com/blue-tongue-skink.html in setting up your BTS' diet you'll be fine ,note a baby and fast growing juvenile BTS require much more live insect protein than adults do, so you need to decide if you want an adult, a juvenile (under 18 months old) or baby (under 6 months old , all have different requirements..
>>> they do know how to climb and will climb despite their short arms and legs

My two are super sweet and love to explore the house and have snuggles and generally hang out with us and are both approaching 8 years old.

 

[KeyBlu422]

How many times a week have you provided your skinks with protein throughout their baby, juvenile, and now adult life?

 

[kingofnobbys]

How many times a week have you provided your skinks with protein throughout their baby, juvenile, and now adult life?

Feeding / diet - I would avoid buying anything that comes from Indonesia ,every one of them is likely wild caught and trafficked illegally under horrible conditions (hidden in luggage stuffed in socks , many die before arriving in the USA).
Don't encourage wild life trafficking, find a genuine breeder who can prove to you their breeders are also captive bred.
Best temperament will be found in eastern BTS, northern BTS and even pink tongue skinks. In their entire 8 years, my two easterns have never bitten me in anger , even hissed at me or threat displayed at anyone .... they follow us around the house like puppies and come when called and have never shown any aggression to my pet beardies or my water skinks or visitors.

I would have to consult my records .... for details

As babies and juveniles : I gave live insects (crickets and some mealworms) daily + VetaFarm Lizard Pellets (softened) and mixed with veg and some hardboiled egg.

My adults get some live insects each day : a mix of silkworms and crickets and the occasional superworm or occasionally some mealworms, and for special treats I buy in culinary snails (live still in the shell which they love !!).

Same salad mix as the beardies.

Fresh water EVERY day .... skinks LOVE a good long drink !!! this is when you'll see their glorious big blue tongues.

 

[KeyBlu422]

Good to know, id love to see your records. So you said that babies, juveniles and adults receive insects each day? Do you feed it more times a feeding day as a baby or juvenile compared to them in adulthood(like how beardy babies would receive crickets 3x a day)?

 

[kingofnobbys]

Good to know, id love to see your records. So you said that babies, juveniles and adults receive insects each day? Do you feed it more times a feeding day as a baby or juvenile compared to them in adulthood(like how beardy babies would receive crickets 3x a day)?

Yep I remember giving 2 or 3 meals of live protein as babies and juveniles ... and handfeeding them some too

Like my beardies, I cut back on the insects and protein, but it's still given daily as adults as per the food pyramid.

 

[KeyBlu422]

First I would like to thank you. I definitely have vocalized my disagreements with you before but I admire your devotion and thank you for providing me extra info if I am to get a BTS.

Now onto the question. I've looked into halmahera blue tongue skinks. I've seen them in Craigslist and a handful of websites yet I've found no care guide on the specific subspecie nor on its temperament compared to other BTS. Do you know anything about them and if they are fine or if I should get an Irian jaya or something like that. Also, apparently halmaheras live in a variety of places including Indonesia, is it as big a risk as getting an actual Indonesian.

 

[KeyBlu422]

Another question. On bluetongueskinks.org I've heard that they may poop on you at first, did that happen to you?

 

[KeyBlu422]

I thought why Indonesians were caught is because it wasn't illegal to do so. While Australia on the other hand it is illegal and that's why the BTS that originate there are almost always CB

 

[VenusAndSaturn]

My animals mean more than anything to me.

As for her temperament shes very shy towards humans and defensive. She was tons worse when she was 3 months old, she would bite, she was a lot more shy, even more defensive than now, but this is because when I got her she was terrified, almost starved to death, had stuck shed, a missing toe, and a ruptured rib cage along with parasites.
She's gotten better for her weight compared to how she was before, still skinny but we're getting there.

If you go for an indo i'd 100% recommend asking for videos of the mating, proof that it is that, etc.

I have had Turtle poop on me multiple times, at first I thought it was because of her already existing problems but after talking with some other people I learned it's more of a defense type of thing.

 

[kingofnobbys]

First I would like to thank you. I definitely have vocalized my disagreements with you before but I admire your devotion and thank you for providing me extra info if I am to get a BTS.

Now onto the question. I've looked into halmahera blue tongue skinks. I've seen them in Craigslist and a handful of websites yet I've found no care guide on the specific subspecie nor on its temperament compared to other BTS. Do you know anything about them and if they are fine or if I should get an Irian jaya or something like that. Also, apparently halmaheras live in a variety of places including Indonesia, is it as big a risk as getting an actual Indonesian.

halmaheras and other Indonesians are illegal to import into Australia , no doubt there are some here ( but they are very rare here and not legal to be kept on any wild keepers' license in any state of Australia ) , is also illegal to export Australian native reptiles unless you have a special very hard to get permit .
The Australian native reptiles kept overseas nearly all originated in wild caught specimens that were illegally exported , some come from collections of captive bred reptiles that were exported before the 1960s when the government and national parks and wildlife cracked down.

So can't tell you much about their temperament .... likely to be standoffish if wild caught.

If you buying off Craigs' List .... BE CAREFUL .... you need to see how they have been bred and raised . ie visit the keeper and see the set up .

 

[kingofnobbys]

I thought why Indonesians were caught is because it wasn't illegal to do so. While Australia on the other hand it is illegal and that's why the BTS that originate there are almost always CB

Is my understanding it's illegal in Indonesia too .... very hard to enforce there though , partly because a lot of the enforcers (police, customs, NP rangers, etc) are corrupt and in on it for the bribes to look the other direction and even help get them through.