Blue Tongue Skink Information

Geographical Location

The normal habitat for a blue tongue skink is semi-desert and mixed woodland places. Blue tongue skinks are mainly found throughout much of Australia and New Guinea. And some can also be found throughout parts of Tasmania.









General Information

A fairly good size for a mature blue tongue skink would be 17 to 32 inches long including the tail. The average weight of this skink is 10-18 ounces.
A blue tongue skink can live anywhere from 10 to 20 years. Their habitat is open woodlands, semi-desert, tropical or agricultural areas.Blue-tongued skinks are ground-dwelling animals, found under bark and other vegetation. They are primarily active during the day, usually moving quite slowly but, they can move quickly if felt threatened. A blue tongue skink is said to be an endangered species.

Reproduction

Blue tongue skinks start to mate between the months of September through November. When this mating times comes around,they go through a cooling down period called brumation. They reach sexual maturity at 18 to 24 months. Female skinks do not lay eggs, they give live birth. Blue tongue skink can give birth to 6 to 12 live young. The newborns are about 4 inches long and weigh about 0.5 ounce. They mature at about 2 years old.

Care in Captivity

Blue tongue skink hatchlings can be kept in 10 gallon aquariums. Adults require a minimum size of 40 to 55 gallon aquariums. Substrates can be clean dust-free pine shavings, aspen shavings or cypress mulch. Most blue tongue skinks prefer hiding, so hide boxes or half logs should be provided. Blue tongue skinks seem to enjoy the exploration and exercise climbing over and through things gives them, so providing different sizes of branches and logs for them to climb on will make for better adjusted lizards. This also means that top-opening tanks need to be securely fastened, and open-top tanks need to be deep enough to prevent the skinks from climbing out.

The temperature of the cage should range from the mid 70s on the cool side to the mid 80s on the warm side. A warmer basking area, with temps well into the 90s, must also be provided during the day. Skinks like to bask in light. The blue tongue skinks diet consists of small insects and they tend to be carnivorous. When feeding the skink, you can give them lettuce, sprouts, carrots, and other salad ingredients, along with canned cat food. Though they are carnivores, they also eat vegetables.


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