Skink: maintenance and care at home
Skink lizards are popular terrarium dwellers. They are distinguished by comparative accessibility, beauty, understandable principles of maintenance and care.
In this material, we will consider questions about how to keep a skink at home, how to feed, how to care for. This will allow you to understand whether it is worth it in your case to have such a pet.
Contents
Who are skinks
Skink is the common name for more than one and a half thousand lizards that can be found in different countries of the world. Many of them have adapted to living in home terrariums.
There are several important external differences between the reptile:
- Smooth scales. In many ways, it resembles a fish.
- Presence of osteoderma. This is a special bone layer that is located directly under the scales.
- Shields on the head. They are symmetrical on both sides.
- Large temporal bones. Like scutes, they form the recognizable image of a skink. They protrude prominently from the sides of the head.
- Lots of limb shapes. Some lizards have small bony plates that allow them to easily move through the trees.
- Various tail lengths. The lizard can throw it away when attacked by predators.
There are many types of color – from faded to emerald and fiery. You can pick up an individual of different lengths. So the largest can grow up to 70 cm, but most reptiles reach 20 cm.
For home maintenance, blue-tongued, fiery, pharmacy skinks are chosen. You can pay attention to the Far Eastern, crocodile and emerald.
Containment Equipment
Like many other lizards, skinks are highly dependent on the conditions that have been created in their place of residence. Since the species is very common and lives in different parts of the planet, it is worth considering the characteristics of a particular pet.
If you do not take care of creating the right temperature, humidity and light, the individual will often get sick, will not be able to grow and reproduce normally. We will consider the average recommendations that are typical for blue-tongued skinks.
Terrarium
A terrarium is a place where your pet will spend his whole life. The model is selected depending on which species you breed. There are two approaches to selection. The first involves periodically replacing the terrarium as the skink grows. The second is a one-time purchase for lifetime use.
The three most popular options are in the table below.
A type | Size (length-height-depth), cm | Features |
|---|---|---|
Large | × × 90 45 45 | A spacious terrarium will be enough for your pet for a lifetime. Inside, you can install many types of additional decor, create different zones, install fountains and shelters. |
Average | × × 60 45 45 | When equipping this placement option, it is worth choosing a vertical arrangement, providing shelves and trees that you can climb on. |
Little | × × 45 45 45 | This is the minimum size, suitable for keeping young medium-sized individuals. |
Heating
The temperature of the content depends on the specific type of skink. Inside the terrarium, you need to maintain a temperature of 22 to 28 degrees. To create a hot corner, various light bulbs are installed inside the terrarium to help create warming.
Ground
There are many substrate options that fit in a terrarium. Such as:
- Wood bark.
- Coconut chips.
- Sphagnum moss.
It is important not to allow strong wetting of the litter. There is a possibility of mold.
shelters
Skinks prefer tight hiding places. These can be pieces of bark, stone caves and other similar places in which the lizard can hide. Our store has a wide range of such products.
World
Maintaining the correct lighting regime is important – the reptile is in dire need of UV light. You need to choose sources that create rays of the UVA and UVB spectrum. This has a positive effect on the appetite and the state of the nervous system of the animal. The lizard will absorb calcium and vitamin D3 better.
All the necessary UV lamps can be found in our store. Remember that the length of daylight hours for a skink must be regulated. It is 12 hours.
Water
The lizard, regardless of the annual cycle, must have access to clean fresh water. It is poured into special drinkers.
Ventilation
Ventilation inside is standard. Provide the usual openings closed by a grid. For large terrariums, you can also consider a forced ventilation system.
Food
Features of feeding the skink at home – an extensive diet. Lizards are very fond of eating snails. In this case, often in the diet get:
- Small insects.
- Worms.
- small mammals.
- Vegetables.
- Berries.
- Fruit.
When forming the diet of a skink, you need to pay attention to its diversity. Some animals are prone to gaining excess weight. Therefore, you should not offer too high-calorie food. Weigh-in regularly to determine if the weight is appropriate for a particular age. The frequency of feeding depends on the age of the animals. Adults are fed up to two times a week. Young people every day.
A special feeding regimen is established during pregnancy. In this case, you will need to give food three to four times a week. It is important to pay attention to the use of special dressings. Especially sharply lizards react to insufficient intake of calcium.
Nutrition FAQ
In this case, you need to try to determine what is the reason. Usually problems arise when the wrong diet, stress, disease and incorrectly set temperature inside the terrarium.
In some individuals, it does appear, but this rarely happens due to the diverse natural diet of the lizard.
Vitamins and calcium should be given regularly. You will find all the necessary complexes in our assortment.
The diet should be 25% animal and 75% vegetable.
Reproduction
In most cases, only specialists can determine the sex of an individual. After reaching reproductive age, females and males are kept in separate enclosures. Pets are planted in one territory only for courtship and mating.
Experts determine that the lizard is ready for this process by its behavior. If she responds to the mating rituals of the male, then everything is in order. If not, the desired mood has not yet arrived.
Pregnancy lasts about 4 months. The female bears from 5 to 20 lizards. During this period, it is worth transferring the pet to a special diet.
How long does a skink live
Life expectancy is very different. Under the conditions of detention, many individuals can live up to 20 years or more.
Females and males are kept separately. The question of the residence of same-sex individuals is decided separately, since it very much depends on the species and behavior. At the consultation, we will talk about whether it is possible to keep the selected lizards together, what should be considered in the process and how much space is required for each of them.
Maintaining Skink Health and Disease
Lizards are quite healthy. Problems can arise due to violations of the conditions of detention – too high or low temperature, humidity, insufficient ventilation. Also, the risk increases and improper care.
Among the common diseases is overweight. Due to an unbalanced diet and a large amount of high-calorie foods, the mass is gained quite quickly.
Obese females suffer from infertility, and in males, libido decreases from it.
Age-related changes are also characteristic. At an older age, more vegetable components should be added to food.
Communication with a skink
Skinks are monogamous solitary animals. They are not too fond of other reptiles. A pet can be walked and scratched, but it does not become strongly attached to a person and does not suffer without his constant attention.
Buy a skink in our shop
There are many varieties of skinks in the Pantherik store. This will allow you to choose an individual with the desired size and color.
There are several other benefits as well:
- Professional advice on all matters of maintenance and feeding.
- Possibility to purchase the whole set of additional equipment, substrate, feed, lamps.
- Services of a veterinarian and hotel for the period of departure of the pet owner.
Everything for maintaining health, proper feeding, can be ordered in our online store. There are other types of reptiles – we are ready to choose the one that is right for you.
The article is all about the varieties of the Cape monitor lizard: habitat, care rules and life expectancy.
In this article, we will describe how and in what to bring pets to our hotel or to a doctor’s appointment. How to make trips correctly and safely with the least stress for the animal. In this article – the nuances of keeping fodder insects, the features of their keeping and feeding!
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