Pair of IJ blue tongue skinks

Corey209 · 03-04-13, 01:09 AM

Well after seeing my buddies and reading up the husbandry the past few weeks I've decided to get a pair of my own.

I'm running a 100 Watt CHE and UVA/UVB bulb 12 hours on and off with day time temps 75 cool side 80 hot side and a basking spot of 98-102. My night time temps are around 70-73. Surface temperatures were all measured with an infrared thermometer.

Currently they're both being housed in what I think is a 60 gallon with substrate around 3-5 inches depending on the spot in the tank. They were being introduced to each other with short periods of time for a week with no aggression so I am housing them together temporarily and they haven't had a problem yet. Most of the time they're both burrowed under the x-large hide I'm using.

Picture of the first day which barely shows their colors on my phone... (crappy meal, was just seeing if they wanted to eat)

Tomorrow's meal (carrots, kale, broccoli and mustard greens)
Still haven't decided what protein I will be feeding, most likely dubia's if I can find them locally.
They are on a feeding schedule of every three days.

Azrael · 03-04-13, 02:34 AM

Gorgeous skinks!

Zoo Nanny · 03-04-13, 04:10 AM

They're beautiful Corey. How old are they? Keeping them together is going to be very dicey. BTS are very territorial and aggressive to each other and can cause severe injury. This includes males being aggressive to females. I have seen juveniles kept together but they were in a very large enclosure 4'x30" with multiple basking spots, hides and food dishes. You may also want to consider getting a larger water dish. They do like to bathe and sometimes are just too lazy to walk around the dish and will traipse right through it, dragging substrate and food. Are they hand tamed? You are going to love having them, they are such fun animals and so curious. Congratulations!

Corey209 · 03-04-13, 09:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zoo Nanny

They're beautiful Corey. How old are they? Keeping them together is going to be very dicey. BTS are very territorial and aggressive to each other and can cause severe injury. This includes males being aggressive to females. I have seen juveniles kept together but they were in a very large enclosure 4'x30" with multiple basking spots, hides and food dishes. You may also want to consider getting a larger water dish. They do like to bathe and sometimes are just too lazy to walk around the dish and will traipse right through it, dragging substrate and food. Are they hand tamed? You are going to love having them, they are such fun animals and so curious. Congratulations!

So far no aggression at all, I'm still getting a new enclosure to separate them in a few weeks though. The water dish will also be upgraded this was all I had at the moment. They have all of their toes and nails and yes they are hand tamed. The female can be skittish at times, but she gets over it.

bumblebat · 03-04-13, 09:23 AM

Awwwww skinklets <3

**lady_bug87** · 03-04-13, 09:44 AM

I personally would have QTd them separately then set up their proper enclosure then after all that introduce them.

My advice for what I feel is successful cohabitation of lizards is to provide a ton on hiding spots where the female can escape the male and vice versa, for example i have hides that my female can fit into that my male cant. If he tries to mate and she doesn't want to she has somewhere to go. Etc.

Though I don't physically remove one when feeding I make sure I have more than one spot. If its worms I feed one to each lizard on opposite sides of the Viv and I supervise crickets are a free for all and only given after the worms.

Please keep in mind that there are some instances where there WILL be some aggression at some point.

In my experience keeping them well fed is a good start to minimizing these episodes.

Corey209 · 03-04-13, 10:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lady_bug87

I personally would have QTd them separately then set up their proper enclosure then after all that introduce them.

My advice for what I feel is successful cohabitation of lizards is to provide a ton on hiding spots where the female can escape the male and vice versa, for example i have hides that my female can fit into that my male cant. If he tries to mate and she doesn't want to she has somewhere to go. Etc.

Though I don't physically remove one when feeding I make sure I have more than one spot. If its worms I feed one to each lizard on opposite sides of the Viv and I supervise crickets are a free for all and only given after the worms.

Please keep in mind that there are some instances where there WILL be some aggression at some point.

In my experience keeping them well fed is a good start to minimizing these episodes.

I'm going to get the female her own enclosure in a few weeks but they usually burrow and sleep together otherwise the female will burrow on the other side of the enclosure. They both came from the same guy so I didn't really feel qt was necessary between them. I'm just hoping there won't be any aggression until I can get the other enclosure fully set up.

**lady_bug87** · 03-04-13, 11:28 AM

Fair enough on the QT

Mine do then same the only time they fight is when one wants to mate and the other doesn't.

Wama · 03-11-13, 02:10 AM

Pair of stunners you have there