Mixtures of organic topsoil, Timothy hay, or alfalfa hay will also work for your skink but needs to be changed more readily because they are prone to mold.

WHAT NOT TO DO

Anything made from Walnut Shells, like Zilla’s Desert Blend is indeed toxic and should be avoided even if you have one of the two Blue Tongue desert species. I’m firmly against Aspen Snake bedding. Not the large shavings, but the Fine Excelsior products. It’s ill-advised because the smaller particles can get lodged in their nose and eyes when they burrow which can cause respiratory and vision health problems. It also dries out their skin. I can see a larger aspen cut working in very humid homes, but not so much in the north half of the country. Sand by itself is bad because it can get impacted in their eyes. Paper is bad because it tends to dry out their underbelly skin more readily.  Indoor/outdoor carpet does not allow them to burrow, which is a natural part of their life and should be encouraged. I may use paper towels for a brand new baby, injured, or quarantined skink for easy monitoring, but that wouldn’t be my choice for 20 years of comfortable skink living.

A reminder to everyone reading my care section – what I have listed are my personal endorsements; don’t think to yourself you’re doing things wrong if you care for your skink differently than the recommendations listed.

MORE ON HUMIDITY

We use these substrates as a means to create a more natural environment for skinks so they may rest and burrow comfortably while holding regular humidity levels in the 40 – 70% range. A tutorial video on adding water for humidity and tilling the substrate can be seen here:

What is demonstrated in the video is that routine I was doing every 3-5 days, which can now be accomplished every 6-9 days thanks to the addition of play sand. We are trying to create humidity that lasts but is deterred from mold growth. The solution is to add a few cups of water to the substrate on the hot side and mix it in really well. You want the substrate damp but not soupy. You’ll initially receive a humidity spike that may last a few hours or more depending on the airflow in your enclosure but then it will gradually go down until it exceeds the minimum threshold and your involvement is required again. This process keeps humidity levels up and mold levels down. Even though I am not adding moisture to the cool side I am still tilling it just in case hidden moisture had been sitting or feces went undiscovered. This helps keep the tank clean at all times. The water used for this doesn’t need to be filtered. Just regular tap water is fine. But the temperature of the water matters. Room temperature is best. Too hot grows bacteria, and too cold doesn’t generate the humidity you seek. Be cautious about how much water you are adding as well. You want the substrate damp but not soupy-wet. Too wet will lead to skin infections. They manifest under the chin and under the belly or hands and look like tiny cigarette burns. A little diluted Betadine and Neosporin, plus drying out the tank should resolve the issue in a few days. If it lingers any longer, veterinarian intervention will be required. With all that in mind, remember you can always add more water after mixing up the substrate. It’s hard to go backward.

The optimal humidity level for Northerns is 40 – 60%. I notice mine do best around 55%.

50 – 70% for Irian Jayas. I notice mine do best around 65%. Average humidity levels in West Papua are 80% but mine get too antsy if they are exposed at this level for more than a spike. I believe this issue arises from most meteorologists’ reviewed hygrometers being set at 5ft off the ground or even higher, closer to a weather vein. Not at ground level and certainly not an inch or two below ground level. Being ground dwellers, skinks experience different humidity readings than us.

Note, it is always okay to bump an additional 10% or more while they shed.

The hygrometer product I recommend can be bought on Amazon.com for $11: https://www.amazon.com/ThermoPro-TP50-Digital-Thermometer-Temperature. I know there is a temperature gauge, but I am really relying on this product for accurate humidity readings only. Let it sit in place for a few minutes before recording the reading.

HUMIDITY PITFALLS

Some of the common mistakes I see are:

1) Not knowing the proper humidity level for your skink. There are a lot of misconceptions about this and that’s because there are so many species and subspecies out there ranging from desert dwellers requiring 0% humidity to tropical blue tongues needing 100% humidity, and everything in between. Still don’t want to take my word for it? Review the climate from where your skink is native. This should be a good starting point.

2) Misting several times a day, every day to keep humidity levels up. Humidity evaporates from the surface first. And moisture from within the substrate is absorbed by their skin while they burrow. Allowing only moisture from the surface increases the chance of dehydration while also adding an unnecessary workload for you.

3) Using a mister/fogger, but not tilling the substrate. Misters or foggers are great for adding moisture to the tank but if the substrate is not routinely getting tossed up with opportunities for air and evaporation, mold and bacteria will grow.

4) Inaccurate hygrometers. The most widely used and least expensive hygrometers are simple dial meters that stick on the wall. These are notoriously inaccurate and take readings from a physically higher area than your skink spends its time.

5) Incorrect placement of the hygrometers. I move mine all over to take various readings. It can be on the surface, elevated on a brick, or buried halfway down into the substrate. I may put it directly under the basking spot, on the hot side, or cool side. I take all the data points available and decide if the skink has adequate access to the most appropriate humidity levels, and make adjustments accordingly.

6) Hubris. I’m sure we’re all guilty of this at times, myself included. If this weren’t so, this care guide would never see an update. Like people, everyone reacts differently and responds differently. Some people enter a room and they’re cold. Others enter the same room and they’re hot. Same for skinks. They have a personal preference that is up to you to identify. But please stay within the 20% range guidelines. Skinks have long lives and can withstand abuse for an extended period before showing visible symptoms. Like the human body, you can eat twinkies all the time when you’re a kid, but not notice anything’s wrong until you’re diagnosed with diabetes at age 35. Or smoke cigarettes for decades while still running an 8-minute mile. Then all of a sudden cancer is there. Your skink may withstand improper humidity levels, and you may not notice a negative impact for a year, two years, or even 10 years. But we aim to give the blue tongue its best life possible, and that may mean a life beyond 40 years. It will not live 50% of that expectancy if its skin and lungs are battling air conditions that contradict its evolution in the wild over tens of thousands of years.

GOING BIOACTIVE

Bioactive is the process of adding isopods so they can regulate and self-modulate the ecosystem of the enclosure. When this is done, we do not dump the substrate as described above. We also become less concerned with mold growth. I’ve been gradually upgrading my tanks to bioactive since February 2022, so let’s talk about that for a second. It has been proven very successful over the past few years with most blue tongue species, especially the higher-humidity Indo species. My tank naturally attracts springtails, just part of being in the Midwest, but I added in Powder Orange isopods, Powder Blue isopods, and Dward White isopods. After a year and a brumation, I can advise the Blues did not make it and the Dwarf Whites are in scarce supply. But the Powder Oranges are thriving! They keep the tank clean by eating bacteria, mold, and poop, and are adaptable to significant temperature swings from peak summers to cold, brumating winters. I have yet to do an outright change of the substrate, but as I gradually take handfuls out for the occasional spot-cleaning, I am left with less total substrate than say 6 months prior when I performed the last full cleaning and disinfectant. Handful by handful, I’ll replace the missing substrate with organic topsoil in an area that canvases the far edge of the water bowl in the center to the edge of the tank on the hot side. I also scatter in leaf litter and cork bark. When initially adding the isopods, I added colonies of 30+ per species. They were not added to a fresh tank though. I waited until the tank was established with some natural mold and bacteria growth after being in use for 6 months or so. Traditionally, I would conduct a complete takedown, disinfectant, and substrate replacement annually. Now I just leave it to the bugs to maintain. Because the bioactive scene is still fairly new to me, The Bio Dude is who I would refer you to for further bioactive questions.

Heat

TEMPERATURES

Your enclosure is a micro-ecosystem. Everything should be controlled by you and uniquely different than the rest of your house. But that doesn’t mean home conditions and conditions outside won’t affect conditions in your enclosure. Over the first year, it is important to be mindful of temperatures throughout the day, and over the entire year.

As said before, babies need more heat and lose heat more readily than adults. When they are in their baby racks as temporary housing before their sale to forever homes, I set the back of the tank to 100°F and that radiates temperatures to 78/79°F in the front. When they get to display enclosures with overhead heat, I aim for a basking spot of 115°F  – sometimes higher depending on the tank and heat element setup – and a cool side of 75°F. Temperatures will gradually range throughout the entire tank within the spectrum. And I keep those temperatures up year-round. That means adding additional, compensating heat during winter when outside temperatures drop substantially to keep them up and growing throughout winter. If the baby feels the cold and goes down, nothing bad should happen, you’re just more likely going to have maturity in the 20-30 month range instead of the 10-15 month range (while also missing them for 2+ months while they brumate).

My adult Blue Tongues on the other hand experience all 4 seasons. They have 9 months of Summer, 2 weeks of Fall, 2 months of Winter, and two weeks of Spring. These figures fluctuate as the skinks detect temperature changes in the air, in the home, and how you’re regulating their heat and light exposure. Jayas being so close to the equator experience less of the traditional four seasons but instead a two-season wet and dry period. I end up making the end of summer, fall and spring the wettest for my Jayas so they can experience wet and dry seasons.

Most Blue Tongue care temperatures mentioned elsewhere online refer to summer temps and are not species-specific. Be mindful of generic advice as the Centralian and Western need drastically hotter and dryer temperatures while other species like the Eastern and Blotched blue tongue tolerate fairly lower temperatures.

There are 4 main and distinctly different temperature zones:

1) A basking spot of 105-125°F (Higher end of the spectrum for babies after their first shed. You want babies warm to the touch.) If you are using slate under the basking light, monitor those temperatures as the stone/rock can get hotter than the spotlight alone. The highest temperature markers should be your threshold guide.

2) They need a hot side between 80-95°F

3) A cool side of 71-80°F during the day

4) Ambient nighttime temps between 70-74°F.

Because of this, I highly recommend the heat gun mentioned above, or a probe, to accurately gauge the temperature inside the habitat. Same with an accurate hygrometer.

During their cool-down season, “brumation”, which will be discussed later, rules change, and temperatures can drop significantly. Ambient temperatures, 24/7 during winter, I maintain in the 65-69°F range.

HEAT ELEMENTS

Because of the varying temperature zones, I find a powerful heat bulb that delivers UVA and UVB rays garners the most ideal results. If you use a heat lamp, my number one recommendation is either Mega-Ray brand or Zoo Med brand 100-watt Mercury Vapor UVA/UVB bulb. Alternative recommendations for heat include: Belly Heat by way of heat mats, heat tape, and heat wire, Ceramic Heat Emitters, floor lights, and other bulbs – reptile, agriculture grow, or just regular heat bulbs that get hot – and Radiant Heat Panels. If going with a Radiant Heat Panel, the only brand I trust is ProProducts. They have been around for decades, used internationally, and the only company with a perfect record of not catching fire. If you intend on underbelly heat or anything overhead as your exclusive heat source which does not output the proper UV lighting, it is recommended to add a UVA/UVB florescent light that does not generate heat. For tube-style, non-heat, UVA/UVB producing bulbs, Arcadia brand is best. Zoo Med Labratories is the second best. Measure the height from the top surface of your substrate to the bulb. 13″ and under, use the 5.0 or 6.0. For 13.5″ – 22″, use 10.0. For 22.5″ – 24″, use the 12.0. No reason your bulb should be more than two feet away from the floor surface for your blue tongue to access. A general rule of thumb for all reptile light products, is spiral bulbs are a complete waste. T5 is better than T8, but T8 isnt terrible – just old technology.

Getting your skink out in direct sunlight is phenomenal. I don’t have scientific facts to reference, but I’ve heard from a few breeders, the time a skink spends basking under an artificial UVA/UVB bulb is equilevant to 15 minutes of direct sunlight exposure. I try to get my skinks outside in the summer as much as possible, but taking them out one by one, on nice sunny days when I have the time, means everybody only gets this privlage perhaps once every two weeks. If you live in say Florida or Arizona, or another part of the US where it is reasonable to raise your skinks outside under direct sunlight, I highly highly recommend taking advantage of the climate that allows you to go a natural route. Ensuring your skink receives UV rays can be the difference between getting 35 vs 15 years out of your skink companion. If you’re using a rack, you’ve still got to find some way to get them light. It is definitely better for the health and wellness of your skink if they have light as a referrence point for their internal clock to determine when day and night are. Your skink should receive 11-16 hours of light a day during the active season, and 8 hours or less, all the way down to zero, during their cool down season.

For the mercury vapor heat bulbs, a specialty ceramic socket or Deep Sun Dome Reptile Lamp will be required. Standard sockets and even ceramic ones too small are fire hazards. Zoo Med, ExoTerra, and Flunkers make a deep dome. Be 1000% sure you are getting the deep dome. The mini and standard often look the same on a product internet picture but will ultimately be a fire hazard for a 100W Mercury Vapor bulb. If the socket says its rated for 100W, that’s 100W of standard power of 50W less of mercury vapor power. So if you have a 100W Mercury Vapor bulb, you need a socket that can handle up to 150W of tradational power. Zoo Med recently came out with an 80W version of the mercury vapor bulb shown below and Mega-Ray has a 70W version. I have been using it in my more squat habitats and find it works better than the 100W ones I had been using previously, but my largest enclosures still take the 100W bulb. You should evaluate the height from your basking bulb to substrate and determine how much power is necessary. Some enclosures position the socket on the sidewall. Be wary of this because many bulbs need to be positioned perfectly vertical for safety and function. For the florescent bulbs a T5 output will be better than the T8 but both are good.

If you are using underbelly heat AND a mercury vapor bulb or another heat-producing bulb, please monitor humidity and temperature levels regularly. Too hot and dry of an environment is worse than too cool and moist.

If you are keeping your skink in the basement or in a home that is traditionally kept below 70- 74°F room temperature, a 75-watt nocturnal bulb or low-watt ceramic heat emitter must also be added at night. Letting the ambient temperature inside the enclosure dip below 70°F can cause them to start the brumation cycle. The constant back and forth is risky to their health, especially for a gravid female. An even bigger risk is their digestive organs cease to function below 70°F. Food sitting in their belly will start to rot and your skink may never recover. Otherwise, if your home stays at least 70°F, no additional heat is necessary and just room temperature will be fine at night.

I WANT THE MOST CLEAN CUT ANSWER: WHAT’S THE BEST?

This isn’t one-size-fits-all. There is no one and only one answer. There never will be. To be blunt, it’s a bad question. Every situation is different. Your home is kept at a different temperature than your neighbor’s. Your windows seal better than your buddy across town. You live in a ranch home. Somebody else keeps their skink on the second floor. You are using a 24″ tall tank. I’m using a 15″ tall tank. Mine are PVC, yours are all glass. Placing an enclosure on the floor of the basement has a noticeably different environment than one placed on a stand upstairs. One bulb is mounted in a dome socket, on a mesh screen above the tank. Somebody else is doing a standalone bulb mounted inside the tank. There are so many minute details and settings that will give everyone a different reading and make your outcomes different in Minnesota than your buddy in Miami, even if you do everything the very exact same. It’s why you see so many different setups around the world. Aim for end results. How you get there will be different than another blue tongue keeper for the many reasons listed above. Go with what you think will work. Run the tank for a few weeks before your skink arrives. Take reading throughout the day. You may return products; change things up. You may even find favorable results just by moving the tank to a different part of the house, changing the amount of airflow, etc. Focus on the end results and note there are many paths to success for a Blue Tongue.

WHAT NOT TO DO

Do not use heat rocks for BTS or any reptile, really. They tend to fall asleep on them and end up burning their belly, frequently. Lizards in general have slow sensory reflexes. They’ll get comfortable and nap on the rock completely unaware it’s singing a hole through their belly skin.

Red Lights

Initially, it was believed reptiles and skinks could not see red light. So red lights were produced and used regularly. That theory is obsolete. Long-term exposure to red lights can damage the eyes of your skink. I believe they can be of value in instances only used at night and only used temporarily. Mindful, the only homes needing any night heat are ones kept in the 60s°F. But if your main bulb suddenly dies on you and shipping for a new one will be a few days, and this is all your local pet shop has, I’d still go for it. In the interim time, I’ve used red lights and found the skinks volunteering to come out and sleep under them. So that is my two cents. But if you need the additional heat and are still concerned, a ceramic heat emitter is great too – honestly a safer option. Again, the advice on red lights is to shy away from them as the main daytime heat source.

Food

The Food Section has been periodically updated since the pandemic times. New experiences, new conversations, new research, and some credit goes directly to Tiliqua-Time who specialize in all Indonesian species, allowing us to offer more scientifically proven aspects of previously understood dietary practices.

I tend to use lots of ingredients with each meal. I mix it up really well so they have little choice what individual foods go down their gullet with each bite. A tutorial on one of my feedings can be seen here:

Food should always be washed and chopped to proportions that are appropriate for the size of your BTS. Babies tend to eat every day to every other day. Adults eat every 3-5 days or even one big meal once a week. While their menu items tend to be the same, babies need 90-70% protein and adults follow a 60/30/10 or 50/40/10 rule of 50-60% protein, 30-40% greens & veggies, and 10% fruit. Because of this, babies, 6 months and under, should receive wet cat food as their staple for its higher protein and fat content. But at 6 months switch over to a wet dog food staple for the rest of their lives because you don’t want that extra fat content anymore. A general rule with BTS is: variety is best. You will also find that each skink has their own personality, preferences, and favorite foods. I recommend staying away from salt, frozen foods, “meal” (like chicken meal or beef meal), and anything rotten. There’s also a list of food items to absolutely AVOID.

GREENS

Best To Use Anytime: Arugula, Beet Greens, Collard Greens, Dandelion Greens, Endive, Escarole, and Mustard Greens are best.

Okay Secondary Options: Basil, Butter Lettuce, Bok Choy, Green Cabbage, all types of Kale, Red Cabbage, Red Leaf Lettuce, and Romaine Lettuce are fine but will cause health problems down the line if this is the bulk staple of their diet all the time.

AVOID: Iceberg Lettuce should be avoided since it is low in nutrition and difficult for skinks to digest. Spinach should be avoided because it may give your skink an upset stomach – small amounts can be tolerated – like a few leaves in a large batch of food to feed a dozen hungry skinkerdoodles.

FLOWERS

Dandelions and Hibiscus flowers are good for your skink to eat. Be sure to know where you are getting your flowers from. Nothing is worse than serving them food sprayed down with invisible and odorless pesticides. With that said, I have yet to get any of my skinks to eat flowers after multiple attempts.

VEGETABLES

Best To Use Anytime: Acorn Squash, Butternut Squash, Cactus pad/leaf, Green String Beans, Spaghetti Squash, and Winter Squash are best. Fibrous vegetables are most ideal for them.

Okay Secondary Options: Asparagus, Beets, Bell Peppers, Brussels Sprouts, Carrots, Cauliflower, Celery, Corn, Cucumber, Green Peas, Okra, Opo Squash, Parsley, Sweet Potato, Radish, Yellow Squash, and Zucchini are fine but will cause health problems down the line if this is the bulk staple of their diet all the time.

AVOID: Onion and Rhubarb should be avoided as they are Toxic to your BTS. I tend to stay away from Tomatoes, Broccoli, and especially Mushrooms as those upset the stomach of your BTS as well.

FRUITS

Apple, Apricot, Banana, Blackberry, Blueberry, Cactus Prickly Pear, Cantaloupe, Cherry, Cranberry, Fig, Grape, Guava, Honeydew, Kiwi, Mango, Papaya, Peach, Pear, Pineapple, Plum, Raspberry, Strawberry, and Watermelon are all okay options. Blueberry is probably best.

AVOID: Citrus and acidic fruit can upset the stomach of your BTS.

Avocados MUST be avoided as they are toxic to your skink.

PROTEINS

Best To Use Anytime: Cockroaches, Dubia Roaches, Earthworms, Horn Worms/Goliath Worms, Moths, Silkworms, Snails, Organ Meat – like Chicken Hearts and Turkey Liver, Reptile Eggs, Repashy brand products, and of course, Wet or Dry Dog or Cat Food

Okay Secondary Options: Raw or Boiled Beef, Raw or Boiled Chicken, Raw or Boiled Turkey, Raw or Boiled Chicken Egg, Mealworms, Rabbit, and Waxworms are all fine but will cause health problems down the line if these are the bulk staple of their diet all the time. Raw meats are easier for them to digest than cooked meats. Cooking is just to minimize the risk of salmonella or other food born bacteria.

Occasional Protein Treats: Ham, Phoenix Worms, Pinky Mice or Rats, Shrimp, Calamari, Fluker’s brand products, and Superworms. These treats should be used just occasionally – like a few times a year each. Most of these are high fat. We don’t want our scaled friend dying prematurely from a heart attack with clogged arteries.

AVOID: Bugs from outside or ones you find around the house. There’s no quality control and you never know what unusual parasites they’re carrying. Avoid most fish. They have high mercury content, and would rarely if ever be a part of their natural diet.

DOG AND CAT FOOD

For babies 6 months and under, I stick to just wet cat food. It’s typically 1% higher in protein content and 1-2% higher in fat content. Dry kibble is ever so slightly more taxing on the kidneys to process so I wait until they are more developed before introducing dry kibble into their diet. After 6 months, I make the switch to dog food and add in a bowl of dry kibble they can self-moderate and pick at, once a week. The kibble is put through a food processor until it is a grainy powder to ensure they don’t get a dog-sized kernel lodged in their intestines.

With Dog Food or Cat Food, both wet or dry, the rules are the same: grain-free, meal-free, high quality, and minimal salt are the best options. And the most ideal Calcium ratio is 2% accompanied by the most ideal Phosphorus ratio at 1%. With each product, you’ll need to read each label, but some brands I trust include: Dave’s Pet Food, Fromm, Fussie Cat, Koha, Merrick, Nature’s Variety Instinct, Nutro – just the ones that meet the above criteria (their company has issues on the other spectrum end of supply), PureVita, Taste of the Wild, Tiki Cat, Wellness, Weruva, and Zignature. None of these products are specifically designed for Blue Tongues so there’s almost never going to be an absolutely perfect fit. On your search, you may also find some local or regional brands I’ve never seen but are perfectly okay, just read the ingredients label and use the guidelines mentioned above. For the wet options, gravy or no gravy doesn’t concern me as much as the other ingredients and criteria.

Why not Blue Buffalo brand?  In 2018, allegedly, a dog died prematurely due to kidney failure. The owners concluded it was their dog’s food and tested it for elevated lead levels contaminated in the food.  The class-action lawsuit was recently dismissed but Blue Buffalo openly admitted they do not test their products for lead and have not made any changes to food production or inspection since the lawsuit came about.

Why grain-free? Skinks are natural foragers. We want to try and stick to foods that they may practically encounter. Even though they will never come across fully cooked spaghetti squash in Australia or canned dog food, the nutrients in anything listed in this care guide are in line with the metabolic requirements for easy blue tongue digestion.  Grains are even less likely to be a part of their natural diet so we avoid them when making choices for diet in captivity.

REPASHY AND FLUKER’S PRODUCTS

Repashy brand has a few products that are great for BTS like Grub Pie and Bluey Buffet. They come in powder form. You’re supposed to cook it in water, let it cool and solidify into a servable gel. I find better results just dusting the tops of meals with it. Fluker’s makes two products I’m a fan of using as treats or add-ons to a larger meal. They are canned grasshoppers and Dragon Diet.

ANTI-CRICKET BANDWAGON

Crickets are the most common live insect at any pet shop. Why should one not use them regularly?

1) They can carry undetected parasites and diseases.  In 2008 I can personally attest to a batch of PetCo crickets killing off several of my Leopard Geckos in a single feeding.

2)  They are actually high fat/low protein compared to the favored live-insect protein, Dubai Roaches.

3) They have a high phosphorus ratio that can cause a health imbalance, putting extra strain on the skink’s kidneys. You want phosphorus to be at a 1:2 ratio with calcium, favoring calcium. Crickets are more like 3:1 favoring phosphorus.

RULING ON PINKIES

Pinkies are the delicacy to be most wary about because while the baby mice and rats were/are alive, their diet was exclusively high-fat milk. High fat is bad for the skink heart, and dairy has no place in the skink diet. Once or twice a year will be appreciated. More might be the equivalent of deep-fried pork belly for us. If you’re a breeder who has pinky mice or rats on hand who can be so fresh they never taste milk, note the pinky itself is still high in fat content even if there’s no dairy present.

SUPPLEMENTATION

Supplementation is most critical for developing babies but critically important to all blue tongues, regardless of age. Please take note of everything below.

There are three main supplements that are very important to blue tongue health and they all interact with each other. Calcium, Phosphorus, and Vitamin D3. Too much phosphorus and the kidneys do not process calcium properly causing calcification of the organs. Too much D3 and excess calcium gets stored as calcium deposits often in the joints of the tail causing a kinked tail effect. Not enough D3 and calcium does not get absorbed. Not enough calcium and the skeleton weakens and grows in a deformed manner.

BLUE-TONGUED SKINKS Contributions to Tiliqua and Cyclodomorphus is the most regarded scientific reading specific for Blue Tongues. It was also last updated in 2004 utilizing data collected for the book years earlier. They state a blue tongue diet should consist of 1% calcium and 2% phosphorus. When I took the Centralians to my reptile-specialists veterinarian in 2019, he consulted his vet book on blue tongues which stated blue tongue diet should consist of 2% calcium and 1% phosphorus. Neither sources were species-specific but my vet’s book was last updated in 2018. So that is the general guideline I tend to go by.

I was always taught it’s important to sprinkle on some calcium + D3 powder, known as “dusting”, to every meal or keep a bowl of available powder in the habitat at all times. There was never a specified amount to provide. It’s hard to recommend a very exact amount to use. Every skink is of different weight, may decide to eat only part of the meal, or is receiving calcium from other facets like their lights or natural sunlight. And every brand of product offers different quality and concentrate. Yet, as I look back, my initial research into blue tongue care was in the 2002 – 2004 period. At that time, the pet trade was small. Information was limited and backed by observers in the wild and big-time collectors who were not providing UV in their husbandry standards. I’ve noticed over the years, as I do provide UV throughout their entire life, less supplementation is needed after their major growth period concludes. They just don’t process calcium at the same rate they did when they were growing a half inch a month. At this time I am hardly using any supplementation in my feedings for established adults. If you’re not providing any UV or caring for growing babies, I recommend rotating brands with each feeding and include an occasional meal that skips all supplementation dusting altogether. The brands I trust include: Rep-Cal Phosphorus-Free Calcium with D3 Ultrafine Powder, Rep-Cal Calcium Phosphorus and D3-Free, Exo Terra Calcium + D3, Exo Terra Calcium, and Wombaroo Reptile Supplement Calcium + Protein.

If you are using a varied diet with plenty of fresh foods, a multivitamin is not required and can be counterintuitive. If the diet is very basic, like just canned dog food, then a small amount of multi-vitamin is required.

A Soloarmter is a very expensive device, I don’t even own one, but it’s really the only way to know with certainty how much UV your skink is absorbing. If you have the device, you want a proper reading between 1.1 – 4.0 UVI, aiming for a result close to 3.0.

I tend to judge based on outcomes. There are things to look out for from your skink. In early development, if the tail or spine starts to kink or dip, typically increase the supplement. If at any age, the urates are excessively hard immediately after they are expelled, that can mean too much calcium. If there are gold flakes or crystals in the urate, that is caused by too much D3, and means it’s time to decrease the ratio. Because it is much easier to overdose D3 intake, it can be worthwhile having a “just” Calcium product in rotation. A lot of people seem to enjoy the use of bee pollen. And reading the nutritional components, I can see why. In my experience, it just causes my skinks’ kidneys to calcify. There are few flowers grown in the Northern part of Australia and my Northerns reacted the worst to it. After 6 months of attempted use, it took two full years for my skinks to make a full recovery. Now I recommend bee pollen for the insects in a gut-loading approach prior to their feeding to the lizards, but not the actual skinks themselves.

Cool Down/Brumation

Brumation is a natural part of the adult blue tongue’s annual cycle where they go into a multi-week, wakeful, hibernation state. There are a few ways to help them settle into winter I’ll go over, but a few things to keep in mind right off the bat:

1) Babies should keep regular summer hours and feeding schedules during their first year. Occasionally a baby just might brumate and that’s okay. It was likely their biology taking over by detecting slight ambient temperature changes in the home and outside. Maintaining their light hours alone won’t stop their biology. As cool air invades the outside and your home in winter, you may need to add additional heat inside the tank just to break even. But if they do go down that is still healthy. They will still grow and shed.

2) Northerns naturally go through more of an “official” brumation than the Irian Jayas will.

3) With any blue tongue, any age, after their core temperature dips below 70°F, food rots in their stomach.  If their enclosure gets below 70°F, NO FEEDING. They will be okay not eating for 90s days.  Skinny at the end, but alive and well.

4) Brumation should be more extreme if your goal is to activate their reproductive organs. Brumation should be less extreme if you have no intentions of breeding but you still want to promote its biological clock.

The Less Extreme and easiest method to adopt is going with the flow of your skink. You may live in a part of the country that never gets cold outside. You may live in a part that gets cold early. You may like your house warm when you’re home, but cool when you’re out. Your skink will feel these changes and burrow for days on end when they’re ready to start. When you notice this behavior, spend a couple of weeks gradually reducing light hours and additional heat sources. End with all active hours cut in half. You can still feed, even though it will likely go to waste. Your skink may appear briefly now and then and want to eat. It’s hard to predict these moments but you want to provide for them. However, if your home is kept in the 60s°F, even just part of the day, then there should be no food offered. When the skink starts to get active again, spend another two weeks gradually bringing everything back up to summer hours.

If you do not like the idea of brumating, a blue tongue may not be the right pet for you. Or you want to stick with a high-humidity Indonesian species. They deal with humidity fluctuations instead of temp/light changes. But since I don’t like endorsing the removal of blue tongues from the wild and having them shipped overseas when there are plenty of established breeeders for the other species, I recommend looking into a monitor lizard.

Trying to wake up your skink while they’re down, or especially keeping them from receiving that cool season, will stress them out. You want your skink up year-round when you’re up year-round. I get it. But it’s not what’s good for the animal. Increasing heat and light year-round is a negative form of anthropomorphism; the attribution of human characteristics or behaviors to animals – in this case, a negative way. Remember the brumation is for them, not for you, though I do admit to liking the break once a year personally. A further video on anthropomorphism is properly explained by Reptilian Garden, here.

Now if you plan on breeding, or just really want to experience the change boys go through during puberty, brumation practices need to be a little more calculated. The total time is an elected 60-120 days between October – March. In this period, you lower the temperature gradually each day, while decreasing the light hours. The idea behind this is to keep with the reptile’s natural cycle of inactivity in winter and get them ready for the breeding season in spring. I also use this opportunity to boost humidity levels more for the Irian Jayas. Start over a two-week period by gradually decreasing the basking light hours down to 4 hours a day or less – even zero. If your heat source is on a thermostat, aim for a hot side of 80-85°F and the cool side can be as low as 60°F and even slightly lower at night. Then you can shut it off entirely.

I personally bring Northerns down to zero light hours and 2-4 light hours for Jayas, but both enclosure setups have ambient temperatures in the 67-69°F range. And with temperatures that low – no food, just fresh water.

A number of people have been successful in transferring their adult blue tongue into a large Tupperware with air ventilation and water, and sticking them in a dark crawl space or corner of the basement for winter. The two-week cooldown and two-week warm-up are still encouraged not to shock their system.

When you are all done with their winter season, spend another two weeks gradually increasing the temperature and light time to their usual routine. If you are trying to breed, this warm-up process can be dragged out an additional few weeks. With the four weeks total spent decreasing and increasing their temperature, the entire process can be between 60-120 days. I usually choose Mid November to start, and early January to begin increasing the temperature and light again. If you live in a warmer climate (not Chicago), the cool-down period may start and end earlier in a calendar year.

Yes, they do shed during brumation.

No, you don’t want to “check up on them to make sure they are okay” while they’re burrowed in silence for weeks on end.  It’s like poking a bear in their den during hibernation – you just don’t do it.  Let them be animals.

A rapid way to turn on their breeding cycle is a 2-week decrease in light hours. 3 consecutive weeks of no light and no food.  The hot side gets up to 69°F during the day and the cool side gets down to 49°F at night. And then an extended, gradual light increase while you attempt to pair as many as you can get before the males tap out. Once the males decide it should be summer they switch over to food and stop paying attention to the ladies.

A warning about brumation. When the skinks core temperature drops, their immune system becomes susceptible to bacteria and illnesses their body would otherwise be fighting off without notice. When your skink gets into their third decade, this is usually what takes them. The lower temps go, the higher risk it can be.

Indonesian subspecies experience less of a temperature/light swing than their Australian counterparts living so close to the equator. They experience more of a dry/wet season shift.  When I decrease light and temperature for everyone, I keep more light hours on with the IJ than the Northerns, and add additional moisture to the habitat. When I do this while decreasing the temperature, I have to till the soil more regularly to keep mold and other harmful bacteria conditions from forming. A trick to getting Indo species to cooperate during breeding season is to simultaneously boost humidity levels while dropping the temperature and decreasing light hours leading to their cool down cycle. It’s a tricky process doing this while avoiding a breeding ground for mold. It’s also why it’s so tricky to breed the most extreme Indonesian species, the Halmahera, in captivity.

Sexing And Breeding

SEXING

A general rule is: All BTS are boys until you see babies squirt out the rear.

Sexing is incredibly difficult for the blue tongue skink species. Because they give live birth and do not have a vent, there is no great way to determine their gender by blatant visual cues, especially before adulthood. There are however some general guidelines for determination, accompanied by a fair share of anomalies to take into account. If I am to “sex” a baby, it’s an educated guess backed by years of experience and a compare and contrast to all siblings. Perhaps I can offer an estimated guess on a third of the litter, with boys easier to spot than girls. I boast a 75-80% success rate.

Adult females tend to be slightly larger and less aggressive than males, but just like in humans where you can have a tall, angry lady, or a small, submissive man, that generic rule can be fairly useless. That same mentality is to be applied to the rest of their physical characteristics. Males tend to have larger more robust heads and females tend to have smaller, more slender sculls. Females tend to have wider hips to accommodate the birthing canal and the males tend to have a larger tail base (that’s the end near their butt) to accommodate the hemipenes. Going by visual cues alone is accurate perhaps 70% of the time for adults and 51% of the time for babies.

It is hard to catch sometimes, but males will drop sperm plugs during the mating season if they do not have a female present, especially just after coming out from a more extremely cool cycle. If you have an adult male, it is physically possible to pop out their hemipenes to see them. There is nothing to pop out in a female. If this is done wrong it will damage your skink. I do not recommend it, have never done it myself, nor plan on doing it. But if you feel you are up to the task, there is a video is on Youtube by Zooman Adventures.

Below is a video Joe Ball made, going in-depth about ways to sex your adult blue tongue by both physical and behavioral cues from interactions with other adult blue tongues.  If you’re unaware of, Joe Ball, he’s The Man out of Australia breeding some of the best blue tongues available on the planet.

If you have multiple skinks at your disposal and want to see how they interact with each other, please supervise at all times. If both skinks are sexually mature and recently coming out of brumation, their behavior should indicate their sex. Generally, two females will mostly ignore one another, but aggression is possible. Two males will definitely be aggressive with one another unless you luck out with the most amazingly docile skinks out there – which is possible, as is homosexual copulation. Even if they do not pair off, engagement and arousal from one will usually indicate the gender of one or both participants.

BREEDING

First, let’s go over some of the risks and pitfalls.

1) You can do everything right and the male or female still isn’t interested in breeding.

2) Minor cuts and bites lead to scaring post-mating. In 2019 George took a bite to the face from Big Mamma and had a black eye for about 6 months.  I feared he may have lost it.

3) Loss of limbs.  If someone goes for a death roll, expect an arm or leg to tear off. The same goes for a tail. Then its time for an emergency vet visit.

4) The female dies during childbirth or during pregnancy.  Not only that, but all her babies die too.

5) The male is unable to get his hemipenes back inside leading to costly surgery.

6) Babies are born with severe deformities and it’s up to you to cull them and dispose of the bodies. Cull means to humanely kill, FYI.

About half of these complications require a vet visit with a bill encroaching on a grand each time. Still feeling like breeding is your thing? Please continue below.

Blue tongues are choosy with their mates and creatures of habit. If they are to mate, the female will remain still but start to wag her tail in a come-hither motion. This only happens though if she’s interested in mating and likes the bloke. Peeing and running away indicate she is apprehensive towards the male and not ready to breed. The male will become highly alert and wait for the indication that he is in the presence of a willing female. If he receives an invitation from the female, he will likely race towards her and aggressively nibble at her. Their copulation tends to be a bit aggressive as the male tries to have his way with the female in an attempt to gain position. Their copulation may be as short as one minute and potentially longer than 25 minutes.

Here is a sample video I made of the copulation: Dave’s Skinks Instagram

Remember when I said all BTS are males until you see babies squirt out the rear??? That is because an aggressive male may have his way with a more submissive male. Yes, homosexual copulation does take place within BTS society. If you are waiting around for months for babies to appear, you may be in for a rude awakening. Submissive males will even have a spike in hormone imbalance that triggers a false-appearing pregnancy. Submissive males make up 20-30% of all males.

I recommend matching up your mating pair at least 3 times to ensure she is gravid if you hope to have babies. And you may want to encounter your BTS with a handful of other adult Blue-Tongued adults to ensure you indeed have the sex you suspect.

If you get a gravid female, she will give live birth to anywhere between 0 and 24 babies… Yupp. Gestation may be as short as 85 days and potentially longer than 165 days, especially for the Indonesian species. Keep in mind, the female can maintain viable sperm for months before interacting them with her reproductive system. Frankly, breeding is a little like playing darts in the dark. You never know what you’re going to get.

The term “Slugging Out” refers to the delivery of 100% unfertilized ovum. This happens when the copulation triggered fetal development in the female, but no male swimmers made it to the eggs, resulting in this type of pregnancy. Healthy delivered litters can also be accompanied by some “slugs”.

If you can monitor the birth, I recommend it. Blue-Tongued Lizards are ovoviviparous, meaning the mother’s internal body acts as an incubator for her developing eggs, but a live animal is born directly from her. The babies are born in a thin membrane that needs to be removed for them to breathe. It usually breaks at the moment of birth or even earlier in the birthing process. Sometimes they are born with it intact. If they do not figure it out on their own after a moment or two, you can gently rub it off of them, otherwise, the membrane may suffocate them. It is also important that the babies eat their own placenta as a first meal and may need help getting it into their mouth. Mom will usually be a good mom for the first 24-36 hours after the babies are born. But after that she may get territorial and think of them as food. I have yet to encounter anything but a loving maternal instinct from these intelligent and emotional lizards. I’ve been keeping mom and babies together longer and longer each year, even up to a month. I’m not going to lie, with every extra day or week, the risk goes up. I’m against separating the babies instantly if Mama is behaving relatively normal. There is family bonding going on and you don’t want your adult female thinking she is simply being used as a breeding farm piece and her babies will be taken at a moment’s notice. If Mama is apprehensive or aggressive towards her babies, separate immediately, but in my experience, they really enjoy being a mother for a few days. I’m finding the best success in separating babies one by one, gradually. I have yet to experience aggression so I tend to pluck the smaller ones who need extra attention and end up with just one baby left after anywhere from 7-30 days depending on the size of the litter.

The babies will be active immediately and looking to eat. That placenta meal is perfect for them and will suffice for about 3 hours. Then the babies are hungry again. Once mama is done, she’ll be hungry as well. Be sure to have food on hand ready to go. Hard-boiled egg and wet cat food is my go-to post-birth/birthday meal for the mom and babies. I use a plate to make it easier for the babies to access.

Birthing a litter can be quite hard on mom. If she struggles, consider breeding her every other year. She may also give birth to a hardened yellow ball. These are the unfertilized eggs we discussed. It is normal, they are edible to your adult skinks, regardless of who produced them. Babies may also be delivered over a few hours, a few days, or a few weeks. In 2021 we got to experience such an occasion for the first time with Jellybean delivering 9 babies on the 4th of July, 2 babies a week later, and one more baby a week after that, and a similar instance with Hermione Granger in 2022.

Problems You May Encounter

This section will point out health and care issues everyone should be aware of, along with first-hand accounts of my own misfortunes. Let my shared experiences lead to a better life for your skinks.

BABIES

– You always want to be mindful of skeletal development. If the spine starts to dip or get all wonky, usually means to increase calcium-related supplements. But if you’re getting crystals in the urate, you’ve gone too far and should cut back.

– If a baby starts in a tall tank and wall rides, that can cause skeletal development issues and needs to be addressed either by a change or adjustment to the enclosure, reevaluation of temperatures and humidity, or an increase in enrichment.

– Everyone will grow at a different rate, but if you think yours isn’t growing fast enough, consider reevaluating temperatures and humidity. If they’re too hot and dry, they’ll burrow in the cooler parts for comfort. If the tank is too cold, they’ll burrow down once and get stuck in a cool cycle. Either scenario results in decreased eating and decreased efficiency in processing nutrients. They will also not be out as frequently as you’d like. This is why I prefer a smaller enclosure for babies – it’s easier to raise and control ambient temperature and control humidity.

– If you get a picky eater, try two approaches. 1) Introduce several foods for them individually so you can determine their likes and dislikes. 2) Mix everything together so they can’t selectively pick from the meal.

EVERYBODY

– If fingernails get too long, they will actually continue to grow, curl underneath the hands of your skink, or out to the sides and make it very uncomfortable for your skink to walk. This is a sign it is definitely time to trim their nails, manually. Be wary of their quick. Cutting into their toenail vein is painful and may result in loss of the toe. Natural filing is the best way to go. I probably have to trim one or two toes per skink each year, and a whole hand once every few years for each, some never.

– With each shed, you want to do a thorough inspection of their toes as well. This is the most challenging place for a skink to relinquish 100% of their old skin. It tends to blend in too, especially when covered with dirt. The littlest ring of shed skin can cut off circulation in days. This can lead to the loss of a toe or a growing infection. Good light, a firm grip, tweezers, and perhaps a second set of hands are tips for success. You can also do a light warm soak for 15 minutes prior to attempting if you see stuck shed around the toes and nails.

– Skeletal health is difficult to get absolutely 100% perfect. You may notice kinks on the tail of blue tongues for a variety of reasons. It may be a birth defect, poor genetics, not enough calcium during development, or too much calcium at any stage in life. When there is excessive calcium in the system, it tends to get stored as calcium deposits. And the first place these deposits get lodged is the joints in the tail vertebrae. If it happens as a baby or is caught early it is correctable but once the calcium depots harden to bone, it will be cosmetic for life. With that said, unless these skeletal issues happen on the spine and organs, there is nothing to fear regarding overall health and quality of life. I’ve noticed the gene pool for various Red and White Northern morph lines results in a higher prevalence of underbite compared to other Northern morphs, even with the most impeccable calcium regime administered by the most experienced breeders. The more inbred your skink is the more increased chance of this and other skeletal anomalies appearing.

– There are other various health problems associated with these species. Some include: mouth rot, metabolic bone disease, worms, eye infections, and ticks. I have never dealt with any of these personally so, therefore, do not feel comfortable best advising you how to handle it. I would encourage your own Internet research and seek a professional veterinarian if the condition looks serious or persists whatsoever. You can find a qualified veterinarian near you by using the Association of Reptile and Amphibian Veterinarians (ARAV) search tool. An additional resource on Blue Tongue Skink Diseases can be found here.

In recent years, especially with the Northerns, prized pattern morphs have come out due to bloodline lead traits being expressed via inbreeding. The inbreeding of genetics may result in a cool pattern but can cause a kinked spine, kinked tail, or over and underbite jaws, and a naturally weaker immune system. No matter the appropriate calcium levels and other demonstrations of superb husbandry, not much can be done about shallow genetics. They also tend to be smaller in size and if they never reach 500 grams, it is ill-advised to breed such a small female.

PERSONAL STORIES

– I recollect receiving what would not be constituted as “bad advice” in the early 2000s regarding nail maintenance. Was never educated or informed about the importance of “natural nail maintenance”. Instead, always go manual. If they bleed a little, that’s okay. Eyes should be rolling. I was 15. I didn’t know better. Part of my learning curve has sadly been at the cost of a few toes from Dinobot. So please, do not let his frightful experiences be in vain.

– On one occasion, Gladys, one of my Irian Jayas had a bulge in the corner of her eye. It was likely a poke from the woodchip substrate. I put her in a quarantine tank on paper towels for a few days and the problem naturally corrected itself. Had it gotten worse or persisted for more than a week, a vet visit would have been required.

– Before I was going bioactive, I was 17, immature, and lazy. Dinobot had a habit of burring her poops. I didn’t think much of it. Well, because I stopped spot cleaning, a new bug appeared in the tank. White. Tiny. Perfectly round. It crawls on my skink and makes her run rapidly. I had a mite infestation. Threw away the substrate and all wood and cork bark products. Bleached the tank and rinsed it well. Dinobot went to the quarantine tank on paper towels and had an anti-mite chemical liquid rubbed into her skink until no more mites… Well, I spoke too soon. Reestablished the tank. Kept it clean. But two months later I noted the mites were back. Redid everything again. Longer use of the quarantine situation and mite spray.

– Carl, one of my Classic Northerns, originally produced by reputable breeder, James Wilson, started getting swollen back legs.  He dropped some weight and started getting aggressive.  If I tried to touch his back legs, it appeared to be painful for him.  This led to my very first vet visit for a Blue Tongue Skink.  I used the Association for Reptile and Amphibian Veterinarians FIND A VET tool to search for local, approved veterinarians.  I called around and scheduled an appointment with the office I felt most comfortable with. Something to keep in mind with these specialists vets:

1) They have a for profit-business to run.

2) They don’t get as many customers as other veterinarian offices do.

3) They likely know a hell of a lot more about animals than you or me, but not specifically as much about Blue Tongue Skinks, especially the particular sub-species you bring to them.

Think logically about the services they are offering to you.  If you bring in your skink with a skin issue on a limited budget, consider what I mentioned above as they propose x-rays be taken. Don’t be afraid to take charge in the office when managing your skinks’ health care. In my case, I cut out roughly $1000 in suggested testing, and they were still able to sufficiently determine Carl’s kidneys were not functioning properly.  He had too much phosphorus in his diet.  Skinks need a diet of 2% calcium and 1% phosphorus. After reviewing the Merrick wet dog food and Acana dry dog food I was using, I noticed these ratios were closer to 1.2%-1.6 calcium and 1% phosphorus.  That little difference was all it took to throw Carls’s system out of whack. Even though I was sprinkling on calcium powder with every meal and Carls’s brother from the same litter was perfectly healthy along with all of my other skinks, for this one of my 10 adult skinks (at the time), a diet change and some temporary medications were in order.  I proceeded to test different dry dog foods, but Carls’s issue persisted. After speaking with a knowledgeable associate at a trusted specialty pet food store I frequent, I was informed when cats have kidney issues, the common recommendation is to cut out dry foods entirely.  Overall, they are harder for kidneys to filter. Another round of Alternagel Susp. and Baytril medications and Carl’s back to normal.  He is no longer given dry dog foods of any kind and is doing just fine. Had I known of this sooner, it could have saved me a $625 vet bill + $75 of alternative dry dog foods.  I hope an issue like this never happens to you or your skink, but if it does, perhaps there’s a chance to save $700 while keeping your skink in tip-top shape.

– In 2021 I had a client reach out after about 30 days after receiving their skink. Said the skink no longer had consistent poops and diarrhea often. We reviewed the diet and it was everything I’d do. The ratio was more heavy on vegetables than a baby should receive. More protein helped but didn’t resolve everything. I encouraged their vet do a fecal sample. The result was a low probiotic count. It was prescribed a two-week course of probiotics and was perfect ever since. In 2022 I had a near similar outreach from a new skink owner. I recommended a vet visit and to request a probiotic supplement. They agreed this probiotic deficiency may be the root cause, and it ultimately was. Making the skink perfectly healthy every day ever since.

– George broke his back. I was sitting on the couch, feet propped up on the coffee table, George in my lap. He walks down my legs like a bridge, exits onto the coffee table, and approaches the far end. He looks down and contemplates. Then he did some behavior I’ve never seen a skink do. He backed up. Took a deep breath. And charged for the edge. He leaped and took off like a bird. Except he’s not a bird. He’s a Slinky. And he can’t really jump. So he flipped and corkscrewed and landed awkwardly. He tried walking but was very uncomfortable. He had a noticeable waddle. It was 11pm. Hard to do much for him. When I put him in his enclosure, he started walking laps. When I woke up in the morning, he was still walking laps. Hard to do major spine surgery on a skink. But he was still walking. Taking slight breaks to drink water. He’d take a bite and chews on the go. And after two weeks he finally relaxed. He’ll forever have this bump in his lower spine, but he’s perfect every other way and it has not affected his breeding.

– I have a few personal stories that validate parental behavior in Blue Tongues, that hopefully help steer your course as a breeder of keeping mom and babies together under most situations. Babies are born live with umbilical cord and placenta. There is a physical and biological connection with mom. Rarely does childbirth make a blue tongue mother super moody. It’s really only that situation I support separating immediately. Besides that, I tend to keep everyone together anywhere from a few days up to a month. Really until mom starts showing signs of losing patience or requesting more space, or if siblings start fighting, do we hold off separation. In 2022, Magmar gave birth to a sizeable litter. I noticed this litter in particular loved mom. She would sunbathe; they would sunbathe. The family was always together. Mom would let the babies crawl all over her, even nap on her back. It was truly a beautiful sight to see. Other times, it’s the challenges that test our bond. In 2016, Big Mama gave birth to 17 babies. Some were dead on arrival. Others were born very weak, separated immediately, and given one-on-one care, but ultimately failed to thrive. During the entire birthing process, she had this alarming look on her face of “what did I do wrong?” She was devastated. I was devastated. The baby enclosure was next to hers. For those 4 days, she routinely checked on them, especially when I was working with the weak babies. The demonstrative love and care was obvious. The loss was so great, she refused to breed every year since. Cut to 2019, and I got some pinky mice in. First time offering pinkies to the adult Blueys. Everyone seemed to enjoy them. Except Big Mama. She went wide-eyed and ran in a panic. The Blue Tongues are super into eye contact and very easy to vibe with when you make eye contact. I could read her thoughts: How dare you serve me that poor dead baby! That memory haunts me today…I felt the trauma recall loud and clear. In 2021, Katherine Night gave birth to 4 babies. One arrived dead. The other 3 appeared fine. But on day 3, something changed. Two babies enjoying the tank, exploring, burrowing – doing the baby thing. One baby stuck very close to mom. Or a better way to put it, mom refused to leave this baby’s side. Over the next day or two, I just saw them attached at the hip. Around day 6, I noticed Katherine nearly crushing the baby and the baby breathing abnormally. I reached in to separate them. Mom let me in. But as I pulled away I realized there was something more wrong. The baby’s limps were nonresponsive. As I tried to get the baby to be anatomical and determine if there was anything obstructing its breathing. Mom now crawled out of the enclosure and sit on my lap to get as close to her baby as possible in my hands. And she just patiently watched. As if she trusted me and was grateful for intervention that went beyond her own skill set. It was just 15 minutes. But the baby passed in our hands. Katherine looked sad, but also calm, as if to say, we really did all we could do. She knew something was wrong. And like any good parent, you coddle the weakest member of your family. She demonstrated love, compassion, and care for her babies every second of every day. If that’s not enough to convince you that instant separation of mom and baby isn’t comparable to a standard puppy mill, I don’t know what will. But the parental care is not exclusive to the mom. George is my big breeding male for the Irian Jayas. Every Jaya baby that has been produced her has his DNA. In 2021, I just had this feeling like he may be a good father. Gladys gave birth the day before. I take George out, hold him in my hands, and put him right up to the glass to show him the babies. He stares for a good minute. He takes a moment but finally notices all the babies running around. He slowly turns his head back around, makes eye contact, holds the eye contact, and I tell him, “yes, those are your babies.” He turns back to face the tank. Another moment and he’s itching to get out of my hands. I open the doors and he immediately leaps inside. He steps forward to Gladys, bumps her one the side of the cheek, the same way I see communal Monkey Tail Skinks interact with their clan members. He surveys the tank. One baby runs under his chin. Another baby stops under his chin. He looks down and watches his baby with complete calm and control. I’m on standby in case he makes a sudden aggressive move. But after that, he walked over to their food bowl and chowed down, lol. After his quick bite, I separated him again but I have no doubts, he knew those were his babies, and congratulated Gladys on a job well done bringing them into this world.

– In October 2022, I noticed some swelling on the side of Logan’s mouth. Upon examination, it looked like there was dirt stuck in the gums. I got a damn q-tip and started wiping the dirt away. A month later and I’m about to send the skinks into brumation. I was Logan’s immune system as strong as possible. The gum area is still swollen. I check again, wipe again, but this time a tooth comes out. First time for that. Jump online and talk with more experienced breeders/keepers. Turns out Blue Tongues shed their teeth like crocodilians. So got the old tooth out. Thought the problem was solved. Send all the skinks into brumation. We wake the skinks this year on Christmas. I can immediately see Logan’s gums are still swollen. I look in her mouth and it just looks unusual. Not infected. Not inflamed. Just abnormal. I take a damp q tip and start to rub gently. The whole gum line moves. She’s adjusted. But if there’s an infection I want to get to the bottom of this even if it’s a little painful for her. Leaving it would be a worse option. A few more rubs with the q-tip and her whole jawline comes up. It’s all old pus and tissue. 3 more teeth shed. Now she has a cavity in her mouth. I call, book the vet appointment. But all I can do is wait. I check every day to make sure no dirt is getting in her mouth cavity. But I ended up canceling the appointment. Apparently, all that shed teeth area and pussy gum area was due to come out. The tissue around the gums was no longer red but pink. The swelling around the cums had completely gone back to normal. On day 4, I ended up canceling the future appointment. I will keep monitoring her every day, but I think when that one tooth shed, the others were destined to come out as well. They got loose but never escaped and that caused some sort of infection. But her body battled on. My removal of the loose teeth and old pus started her healing process. It’s only been 9 days since but the gums look very healthy and the cavity is already halfway filled in. Boy, are these guys resilient!

– Charlie Manson was always my most muscular skink. It was just his natural gift. He is even strong enough to go up and hold the tripod position.

Well, what I had not considered is the possibility he could end up touching the internally suspended heat light. I didn’t see the incident, so this is just speculation, but one day I noticed a series of charred scales on top of his head. Poor thing. I used a little diluted betadine on the scales, followed by a little Neosporin twice a day for a week. No infection. Took 3-4 sheds to r-granulate fully but now you would never know. And I used this as a lesson in safety when it comes to the use of a heat bulb.

– Tequila is my smallest adult Northern and smallest breeder. She’s about 18.5″ and 660 grams on a good day. The males that are 20% larger and 30% heavier just tower over her. Breeding can be rough. Body slams. She only breeders every other year and I’m always in the mix for her safety. Trying to jostle for position, a male bit down on her tail, hard. When he released I immediately noticed the open wound. Put an immediate stop to the breeding. I didn’t want her to lose her tail. She’s already the smallest, and it’s always tougher for an adult blue tongue to lose their tail than a baby. We did the same treatment for the burn. A diluted betadine cleaning, followed by some Neosporin twice a day for a week. Moved her onto paper towels while the open wound was visible. But her body took care of the rest. Enough time has passed now and the tail has healed perfectly and articulates at every joint, and she was good to go for the next breeding season.

– Carl has always been Daddy’s lizard. He sleeps in my bed by my feet. He walks the house when I’m not home. He’ll wait on my shoes until I return. He comes finds me in the next room if I switch. He’s great. But spoiling him like this, means he’s rarely content in his enclosure. He’s always looking to escape or scratch on the glass asking to get out all the time. When I had him in a taller tank, he would stand tall, only on his hind legs and tail, lean into the glass, and hope someone takes notice and opens the door for him. Well engaging in this behavior for 5 consecutive years takes a toll. He started getting a dip in his spine where it bent leaning into the wall. One time he fell back, folded in half, and gave me the biggest heart attack! I made the switch to a more squat tank from that point forward. I also added an internal lip at the top of the dam that keeps substrate from entering the door tracks but also pushes him back an inch or two, preventing him from that vertical extension and bend. Below is a photo of the internal lip I recommend adding to your enclosure.

– Cuts in the creases of toes and in the creases of elbows are, not common, but with 20 adults brumating each year, I have seen it a few times. If the cut is deep enough for blood, you gotta go with paper towels over loose substrate. If it’s almost just a crease, that needs daily betadine cleaning and Neosporin applications as well. When dealing with issues around the hands and toes, always look extra carefully for stuck shed. It can hide and blend in, but ultimately cause circulation loss, inflammation, infection, and loss of the toe. 20 fingers and toes per lizard, 20 lizards, 400 fingers and toes to worry about. I’d be lying if I said I was perfect but perhaps 5 toes have gone missing because even handling them regularly, it’s just that easy to overlook.

Differences: Northern Vs Irian Jaya Vs Eastern.

CARE

For me, with the natural climate and humidity levels in Chicago, the particular display-style habitats I chose to go with, along with the substrate and heating combo – there are only a few differences in care I enact that caters uniquely to each species:

1) Indonesians need higher humidity.  To accomplish that, I add a higher percentage of coconut husk, mossy substrates, and play sand to the hot side of my irian Jaya enclosure. Nothing too drastic. Maybe 10-15% swing in favor of the above mentioned substrates in loo of more cyproess mulch witht the Northerns. I also add more water to the enclosure more frequently when adding moisture for humidity. Say 3 cups instead of 2. I keep the Northern humidity at 40-60%, being on the higher during shedding.  And 60-70% for the Irian Jayas, potentially up to 80% during shedding. The above-mentioned humidity readings are average levels. And levels calculated at the floor level your skink might be. If you take a reading close to the top of the tank, it will be different than what your skink experiences. It is okay if there is a spike up to 90% for an hour when you add the water initially, and there can be moments during peak day heat where it gets as low as 30%. As long as it consistently remains in the appropriate range, temporary or momentary fluctuating spikes shouldn’t be anything too concerned about.

2) During the summer months, I may keep lights on the Northerns 12-13 hours or so.  But the Indonesians will get 14-16.

3) During the cool-down cycle, I may drop Northern light hours to 4 or even zero hours a day.  With the Indonesians, it may be as high as 8, but can also go as low as zero hours a day.  They also get another bump in humidity then. Keep in mind, I am trying to get them on a breeding cycle here.  If that is not your objective, nothing needs to be as extreme or precise.  Please review what was previously mentioned in the COOL DOWN/BRUMATION section in addition to these three distinctions of care.

That’s really it.

For each lizard though, I make personal adjustments based on their hydration.  Every skink takes in water differently.  Some like to lap it up from their bowl, others prefer to burrow when the substrate is moist, others like to hover over the top for a steam effect.  Some prefer to remain burrowed the entire time, others prefer life on the surface.  If all conditions are the same in each habitat, some lizards may appear drier than others for these very reasons.  If your skink’s belly is rough, their sheds are flakey or their skin looks cracked, you need to allow more options for your skink to intake water and bump that humidity.

For anyone who says they keep their Northerns at 20-40% humidity, or they keep their Irian Jayas just like Northerns, they are flat-out doing it wrong. No apologies. There is a lot of misinformation out there and their skink is alive. Yes alive, but suffering. Any BTS can live over 30 years. Improper conditions act like smoking cigarettes for humans. It takes time to affect the lungs, but when your blue tongue looks like a dry raisin at age 16, dies prematurely, and has bad lungs at autopsy – this is the reason why.

TEMPERAMENT AND PERSONALITIES

Both species offer overlapping, different, and equal opportunities to be loving pets. I hope my broad insights from being a keeper will help you make the best-informed decision as to which species is right for your family. In terms of temperament, I house a wide range of personalities, for both species. The top kindest of all time are Goldilocks (Northern) and Big Mamma (Irian Jaya). The top two that seek out and hold human eye contact – Mr. Egghead (Northern) and George (Irian Jaya). The top two best to hold in your arms – Carl (Northern) and Dinobot (Irian Jaya).

As I offer a comparison & contrast between the two species, I speak broadly in the following examples when I say, the Irian Jayas species, as a pet, seek human affection when they want something from you – to be let out and roam, because it wants more food, wants water or more humidity, please remove those fruit flies hovering in my basking area, etc. A Northern will seek human affection when it’s bored and is looking to amuse itself with whatever else the outside world can offer. Irian Jayas do not like being picked up but love being held. They still have that prey instinct that kicks in when they see an arm and hand reaching for them. It startles them more than the average Northern. Yet as soon as the Irian Jaya is held, they get into a submissive, relaxed state. When I was in college, Dinobot was with my sister. He sat in her lap for hours while she did homework. That’s a taller ask for a Northern. They’ll enjoy being picked up and played with when it’s regular to them. But they won’t tolerate it for long. They’ll get antsy and want to explore as an individual. It will find you when it’s ready for you again. But if the Jaya is out and about on its own, it will have that “Oh S*** look; you caught me” all over its face as it scurries away when you’d like to return it to the enclosure. Ultimately, you can’t guarantee the personality of the individual lizard any more than you can for your own child, or your own sibling, or the personalities of your parents. But if you give them everything they need to feel safe and loved with the care guidance above, and you handle them regularly, the odds are ever in your favor for their personality to evolve and adapt to revolve around your cohesive relationship with it as a loving family member.

Oh – and both are food motivated so use that to your advantage.

Additional Care, Quick Reminders, And Other Important Facts

–  They can switch to a more adult-themed diet after 6 months but may continue the high protein diet for the first two years.

– When they are born, they will eat every day and should have a high protein diet of around 90%. By adulthood at age 2 or 3, they will eat once every 5-7 days and have a diet of roughly 60% protein. The transition decreasing meal frequency and protein ratio should be a gradual one from days 1 through 1000.

– Meal size for a baby is the size of their belly but meal size for an adult is their head. There should be a gradual shift from day 1 until day 1000.

–  Though they will continue to shed and grow their entire lives, 90% of their total growth is done in the first 2 years. Between ages 4 through 34, expect another centimeter of growth or so.

–  Nail maintenance is a must but should be done naturally by them walking over the rocks, brick, and slate you already provided for them.

–  The more you handle them the more personable they will be and bond with their hooman.

–  They have moods, just like people. A bad mood can last a moment, an hour, or a couple of days. If mood changes more long-term, there may be something off with their health or your care tactics.

–  Always support their entire body when handling them. Particularly the shoulder and hip areas. I tend to carry mine like a football and press them up against my body as an additional point of contact for trust, safety, and support.

–  Their hissing sound is actually heavy breathing and usually an indication they are not interested in being handled at this time but their mood may change once they are picked up. Like a bunny, they can also make these super soft breathes and squeaks or clicks even, you can only hear up close. George is easily my most vocal skink. These sounds should typically only be associated with a respiratory infection when it is accompanied by other symptoms like weight loss, decreased appetite, sluggish in nature, discharge from eyes, nose, or mouth, or a cough.

–  An open mouth is a sign that an aggressive and defensive bite is coming. Time to leave alone. They also do yawn like people, and open their mouths to help swallow after a big bite of something.

–  If their eyes are closed when petting they may be falling asleep, but more likely they are stressed out. Reptiles are not like mammals. Mammals close their eyes when they relax. Reptiles close their eyes as a form of sensory deprivation because whatever is going on is overwhelming and inescapable.

–  They have a tiny black dot on top of their head in the center. This is a third eye, called the “parietal eye”. It is light-sensitive. And just like an eyeball, should not be touched or rubbed by you.

–  If they make an “arf” type of squeak, they are in distress and need to be attended to instantly. I have a few that tend to “arf” when they poop.

–  Interactions with other animals is generally risky. Cats are potentially the safest. Other reptiles may seem like a safe idea but each reptile has their own unique oils and touching the skins of different reptiles can be health hazardous.

–  Feces should be picked up daily. Their feces have two parts consisting of the traditional brown log and an additional white byproduct. The white byproduct is “uric acid” and is how their body expels sodium. Feces left in the habitat will attract mites. Isopods will eat the brown poop but rarely dispose of the uric acid.

–  If you are using natural substrates, a helpful bug called springtails may appear. They are like an in-house cleaning crew and will not harm your skink. Do Not confuse springtails with harmful mites – they look different to the trained eye. Springtails are typically oblong and grey with antennas. They grow up so they can be seen in a range of sizes. Mites are super tiny and perfectly round in comparison.  They come in white, black and red.

–  Water should be changed at least every week and sanitized when they defecate in the bowl.

–  Gentle pets are best. Under the gin is generally safe and they seem to enjoy getting rubbed around the cheeks and around the back of their ears. But everybody is a little different.

*** BE WEARY… There is A LOT of misinformation out there.  I’m seeing stuff like Northerns need 25% humidity, Indonesians do not make good pets, some Halmahera in the US is captive bred, dog food is bad for a skink, windowless drawer rack systems are fine, and skinny is healthy/normal.  Everything I’ve mentioned above has been pushed onto me and I am standing ground saying it is blatantly false and dangerous advice.  There have also been A TON of Facebook groups popping up in the past few years.  Some people on there are great, genuine, and capable of offering intelligent advice.  Many other individuals offer up guesses as facts and like to post for a self-serving basis. Be wary of everything you read online and take it with a grain of salt.

Please feel free to write me if you have any questions about BTS care. But be mindful of my time. Asking tips and pointers on how to care for your skink is part of the package of purchasing a skink from me. I am not a trained vet and only specialize in a few species so seeking advice from me with a lizard I’m unfamiliar with will be met with a mix of referencing this care guide and recommending a formal veterinarian appointment.

I will update the care section periodically as I learn additional and better techniques to keep these majestic reptiles happier in captivity.

PSA: The section below is new and developing. What is shared below are accounts of my first-hand experience being a keeper of second-hand adults, tips from other keepers outside the US, and highlights of the T. Multifasciata section of the Bluey Bible (BLUE-TONGUED SKINKS Contributions to Tiliqua and Cyclodomorphus). I was fortunate to be lent a pristine copy by fellow keeper, Robert Walters. And I’d like Mr. Walters to know his book is kept under museum glass, except when it’s read with white cloth gloves. The point is I am new and learning. If anyone has any proven tips and success stories about keeping Centralian Blue Tongues in captivity, please reach out, I would love to connect with you. Tiliqua Multifasciata, also known as the Centralian Blue Tongue Skink, are a rarely bred species of Blue Tongue (Tiliqua) in captivity. They are native to the North and West deserts of the Australian outback and encompass the largest natural territory of any blue tongue species, from the extreme north-west corner of New South Wales, Australia, to South Australia to the central part of Western Australia, and the states of Northern Territory and Queensland. Finding out what specific region yours came from will do wonders for the skink in captivity as you try to emulate its natural environment.

Centralians are one of two desert species of bluetongue, with distinctly different needs to thrive in captivity from more common Aussie species, and especially compared to their Indonesian cousins.

Multifasciata are known for their red-toned bodies, golden heads, and dark side eye bands. Their skull features a crescent valley of scales in the center towards the neck. The front arms are half-toned while their back legs are lightly banded. They average ⅔ the size of adult Northerns but have been known to reach a size that rivals Northerns in the wild. Their lungs do not fare well with humidity and their immune system fails at cooler temperatures. They are one of the most easily handleable Blue Tongues – the easiest being the Shingleback Blue Tongue (Tiliqua Rugosa), personal opinion here mind you. They survive in the hottest, driest, and most arid parts of Australia. Stocky in stature with a dinosaur-like head, this is one species you won’t come across every day.

I saw a single beauty on the open market in 2016 – and never since then. When I had the chance to jump on an unrelated breeding pair, I literally sold my Tesla stock to make this dream come true. Well, the dream turned a little bit into a nightmare for me. This is the care section, so I want to focus on things related to their care and husbandry, but if you’d like to learn more about the bane of our journey and why you should avoid dealings with J. Craig Stewart of the Urban Reptile or Urban Gecko in Canada, you can read all about it on The Blog, here.