Blue Tongue Skinks are diurnal reptiles, meaning they eat and bask during the day and sleep at night. The distinct wild habitat that they are naturally built for caters to their biological needs easily. So when you keep a blue tongue Skink as a pet, your goal should be to provide comfortable natural identical habitat with good food.
Vivarium setup
You need to set up a Blue Tongue Skink habitat before the arrival of your new pet at your home. This stage will be exciting for some owners, and it can also be stressful for beginners, so we’ll guide you through it!. This article will cover the key areas of the Blue Tongue Skink habitat and its requirements like a terrarium, substrate, Humidity, temperature, etc.
Size of the vivarium set up
Baby Blue Tongue Skink under three months of age should be housed in a plastic enclosure or 20-30 gallon tank. Baby Skink needs a minimum enclosure 28inches long,10 inches tall, and 18 inches wide. Blue Tongue Skinks are territorial animals, and they like floor space rather than a climbing area.
Adult Blue Tongue Skink needs a minimum 8sq ft floor space or 48″ x 24″x 18″ enclosure. For an adult Blue Tongue Skink enclosure, you need a minimum 50-gallon capacity and a 46-inch long tank along with the substrate. Blue Tongue Skinks are active reptiles that like to explore their surroundings. That’s why it’s better to choose a bigger container for freer movement.
How many Skinks can you house in one tank?
It’s recommended to house one Skink per cage. Try to keep two Skinks in two separate cages because low floor space can create stress and more chances of fighting and injury. Never put two male Skinks in one cage because the larger Skink will try to down the smaller Skink.
Material of vivarium
Blue Tongue Skinks are not good climbers. You need a vivarium that opens from the front rather than the top because it will be easy for the Skink to move freely.
Plastic or PVC made enclosure: You can choose PVC, glass, or wood made enclosure. The PVC-made enclosure is the best material for vivarium because of its lighter weight, longer shelf life, is waterproof, and there is no chances of corrosion.
Wood-made enclosure: you can choose this type of enclosure for such Blue Tongue Skink species that need less humidity. Examples are Australian Blue Tongue Skink and shingleback. It is recommended that humidity in Blue Tongue Skink be in the range of 30%-35%.
Once you select and prepare the vivarium, the second step is to manage its interior to mimic its wild habitat.
For this purpose, you need substrate, lighting, humidity, thermometer, feed, and other essential accessories. Continue reading…
Substrate
After cleaning the vivarium, add substrate in the enclosure according to your Skink species. Different Blue Tongue species need different substrates according to humidity needs in an enclosure.
Best substrates
The best substrates for Blue Tongue species (such as shingleback) that need Low humidity 20-30% are Aspen wood shaving and Cypress mulch.
Aspen wood shaving will allow blue tongue Skink to enjoy some low humidity, an opportunity for burrowing. Do not choose shredded aspen because it can stick to your skink’s eyes and cause problems.
The best substrates for Blue Tongue species (Northern, blotched, eastern) that need Medium Humidity of 40-50% are coco fiber, which is Aspen wood shaving mixed with sphagnum moss.
The best substrate for higher humidity (50-60%) loving Skinks such as Halmahera, West Papua New Guinian, and Indonesian are coco fiber mixed with sphagnum moss and cypress mulch mixed with some native topsoil.
Substrate Thickness: Blue Tongue Skinks are burrowing lizards, and they need a 4-6 inch deep substrate.
Substrate to add
Try to add dry semi-soft substrates like cypress mulch, aspen, recycled paper, and sand mixture.
Substrate to avoid
Avoid any toxic, hard substrate because Blue Tongue Skink can eat substrate that may cause impaction or other health problems.
Do not use substrates-like Sand, walnut shells, sawdust, alfalfa, orchid bark, and wood shaving.
Cleanliness and Hygiene: keep a close eye on cleanliness and hygiene inside the enclosure to maintain it to keep it clear. Daily check out to remove uneaten food, substrate status, faeces, and shredded skin.
How often do I need to change substrate?
Full substrate replacement for Blue Tongue Skink enclosure should be carried out every six weeks. However, the change may vary according to the nature of the substrate. During substrate replacement, it’s better to disinfect the enclosure before new bedding is put in.
Water
Blue Tongue Skinks stay hydrated by eating food with high naturally occurring water content. You will not often see your Skink drinking water.
However, it is essential to provide water in large dishes. Blue Tongue Skinks can’t swim, and they like to soak in a dish. You will see your lizard stay motionless in a dish to get rehydrated.
Lighting
Because Blue Tongue Skinks are diurnal that means they need artificial sunlight in the daytime in the enclosure to stimulate appetite and activity. At night Blue Tongue Skinks need no particular light because they like to sleep.
For the lighting of Blue Tongue’s enclosure, you need bright light on during the day and off at night. You can use a ceramic heat emitter that doesn’t produce any light if you need heat during the night. A ceramic heat emitter will not disturb the heat cycle.
Daytime lighting
Light bulbs for heat and light for Blue Tongue Skinks include
Nighttime Lightning
At night you need heat only, and for this purpose, you can use a 25 Watt heat emitter bulb.
UVB lighting
In addition to normal light, you need UVB light and fixture in a Blue Tongue Skink enclosure. UVB is essential for vitamin D synthesis. Vitamin D involves helps the deposition of calcium into bones of your skink.
You need to fix the light about the enclosure and keep it on for about 12 hours per day. The effectiveness of UVB lamps decrease over time—that’s why it’s recommended to change the UVB bulbs after every six months and UVB tubes after one year.
Choose a UVB lamp, and the fixture should span half the length of the enclosure. Place the UVB bulb to the side where artificial light is placed. That will allow maximum heat gradient.
You can use reflectors in the hood of the UVB light for better efficiency and equal distribution of UV rays according to the Blue Tongue Skink’s length.
You will possibly need a dome-shaped UVB fixture that will hang above the Blue Tongue Skink tank for UVB light bulbs according to the size of the vivarium.
Examples of UVB light sources
Example of UVB light Fixture
- Bio Dude solar grows.
Temperature/Heating
Blue Tongue Skinks are cold-blooded, which means they need a light source to maintain their body temperature and function. It is an essential combination of a temperature gradient inside the vivarium. In the Blue Tongue Skink enclosure, you’ll need:
Cooler end – temperature range 75-80°F.
The warmer end – temperature range is 80-85°F.
In winter, be careful that the temperature should not drop below ambient temperature. If the enclosure temperature drops below ambient temperature, you will need a heating pad or ceramic heat emitter to stabilize the enclosure temperature.
Basking Area
Provide a basking area at the warm end where the temperature should be 90-95°F. You can use a halogen floodlight to increase the temperature for basking. The light in the enclosure should be on for about 12 hours in the basking area to maintain the basking temperature.
Blue Tongue Skink has short legs so you need to give it a hand, put something like some flat timber scraps, wooden offcuts or some kind of elevated platform like flat rocks for closer access to heat for basking.
You can use a thermometer to evaluate the temperature of the enclosure. You need this so that you will be able to adjust the temperature according to the requirements of your Skink.
Sources of heat in the blue tongue Skink enclosure
The primary source of heat
- Incandescent bulb.
- Ceramic heat emitter.
- Halogen globe.
The secondary source of heat
Light and heat control automation devices
Thermometer
You need a thermometer to measure the temperature of the Blue Tongue Skink enclosure. It is common to have 3 thermometers in 3 different positions (one on the cooler side, 2nd on the warm side, and 3rd in the center) and that will allow complete temperature readings of the whole enclosure area.
Humidity gauge
For the humidity measurement in the Skink enclosure, you need a hygrometer. Place 1-2 hygrometers in cooler and warm ends.
Thermostat
The thermostat is needed to control the temperature of the enclosure to avoid your skink from getting burned, you can connect lights and heating devices with it. The thermostat will switch off the connected devices when inside temperatures reach the maximum limit that you set.
Power center/ Light Timer
To automate lights and bulbs in a tank, you need a power center like a timer. You can set it to automatically turn the system on and off at a specific times.
Humidity
Different species of Blue Tongue need different humidity levels in their enclosures.
Humidity levels
| Blue Tongue species | Humidity requirement |
| Northern Blue Tongue Skink | 40-60% humidity |
| Classic indonesian Blue Tongue Skink | 60-80% humidity |
| Halmahera Blue Tongue Skink | 80-100% humidity |
| West Papua New Guinea Blue Tongue Skink | 60-80% humidity |
In the wild, the Blue Tongues stay in semi-dry environments. So in the vivarium, 40-60% humidity is ideal.
How to decrease Humidity in a vivarium?
To decrease Humidity, you can use an artificial light source.
How to Increase Humidity in a vivarium?
To decrease Humidity, You can spray water in the enclosure.
Humidity Measurement: Use a hygrometer to regulate the level of humidity in the vivarium. An overly high humidity level in the tank can create chest and skin infections in your skink.
The level of humidity is higher towards the cool end. Place the hygrometer at the cooler end and control humidity after analysis.
Hides
The hide is very important in a Blue Tongue Skink enclosure. Make sure the size of the hide should be larger than your Blue Tongue Skink to allow complete coverage.
Examples
- Logs
- Cork hide
- Caves
You can purchase a hide or make your hide. It is advised by experts that the material in hides should be heat resistant and nontoxic for Blue Tongue Skink.
Place one hide on the warm side, the second on the cold side, and if possible, place 3rd hide in the center.
Things to climb
Blue Tongue Skinks are not good climbers, but they like to sit on rocks or logs to bask under light sources.
You can place a few rocks in one place to create a climbing spot for Blue Tongue Skink.
But keep In mind that crawling floor space should not be compromised because Blue Tongue Skink prefers crawling more than climbing.
Basking Rock
Your Blue Tongue Skink needs a basking area. You can place rocks or some wood near the warm end to provide an opportunity for a Skink to bask.
Plants branches
You can use artificial plants and plants branches(such as Mopani/grape wood) to provide similar wild habitat in a vivarium. Do not use live plants because lizards can easily destroy natural plants by digging under them.
Feeding bowl
You need a large but not deep bowl for feeding in the Blue Tongue Skink enclosure. The height should be lower than the height of the button jaw of the skink so that it does not have to climb over the lip of the bowl for water.
Complete list of items for Blue Tongue Skinks tank
After a detailed discussion, I have created a list of items you need for the Blue Tongue Skink tank.
- Enclosure
- Substrate
- Feeding bowl
- Water dish
- Artificial sunlight
- Heating lamp /ceramic heat emitter
- Large flat basking rock
- Fixture
- Heating pad
- UVB light
- Artificial plants
- Hides
- Things to climb
- Calcium and multivitamin supliment
- Enclosure disinfectant
- Thermometer
- Hygrometer
- Lights timer
- Thermostat
- Pressurized spray bottle
Conclusion
The Blue Tongue Skink habitat should be well planned before finally constructing the vivarium setup.
