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Set them up in ordinary play sand, deep enough for them to dig...4 to 6 inches deep. Provide bark and rocks as cover but silicone rocks so they cant fall and crush the skinks.
They require high light levels with UV exposure, so fluorescents lights through screened lids at point blank are recommended. Feed them a varied diet of fancy feast cat food, and insects. Mine also get young mice...Some will take fruit and baby food. I recommend supplementing with Repcal if you hope to breed the females
They mate in the Spring after a winter brumation period. Matings are often in May,with eggs coming in June. I hibernate mine with my colubrids.
Clutch sizes vary from 1 to 6. The eggs have very thin parchment shells, and getting fertile ones is problem one.
Problem two is hatching them. They need high humidiy to prevent desicataion, but they must not touch any wet substrate.
I have successfully hatched eggs on dry sand in a petrie dish that was placed inside another sealed container with wet vermiculite.
The eggs hatch fast.. in 40 to 45 days at 88F
Neonate are olive grey with black and white flecks
A couple other points...they eat their own eggs, which are usually layed under a rock or bark..
I haven't yet concluded whether they only eat slugs,but I suspectc they eat good eggs too. I've photographed it.
Mating is tough on these skinks... They must be kept in sexual pairs only..Males and females will fight, sometimes violently until one loses a tail, some toes or even a leg..
Even established pairs will often lose tails during courtship... so be prepared for the shock of finding your female missing hers.
They grow back quickly but never really look as good.
It took me 12 years to produce 7 offspring.
There is only a handful of people that have ever bred this skink...It's a real challenge...
Best of luck
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Uncle Roy
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Herpetology - more than a hobby
It's a Lifestyle
celebrating 26 years of herp breeding
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