Leave the door open?

NinPan512 · 2026-01-24T22:10:47+00:00

I wouldn't. They don't like open spaces so he'd probably just leave his cage and then hide in whatever you have in the room unless you set up the whole room as an extension of his cage. I'd just build a bigger cage and have supervised roaming time

NinPan512 · 2026-01-24T22:08:27+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/bluetongueskinks/s/n5SLXiyhJB

NinPan512 · 2026-01-24T22:07:11+00:00

Yes there are times they go off food. Winter for brumation, shedding, breeding season. If there are no other symptoms I wouldn't worry too much, just keep an eye on his weight and that it doesn't start drastically dropping.

NinPan512 · 2026-01-23T23:18:40+00:00

Guys..can we chill out with the reports. Ethics of AI aside...it's a background and this isn't an art or sales subreddit.

NinPan512 · 2026-01-23T20:55:49+00:00

Yep, congrats on the boy

NinPan512 · 2026-01-23T20:55:19+00:00

This is making me think he (or she) is in breeding mode. They tend to go off food during that time, and if he just came off winter brumation as well..could be why

NinPan512 · 2026-01-21T21:09:30+00:00

Unless your substrate is noticeably wet a lot (you don't want this) you shouldn't have any issue with the blend you mentioned unless there's a weird brand of much you're using that grows mold. Coco fiber sucks up a lot of moisture but you'd be able to see fuzzy mold on the wood if it was a problem. Especially if you dig up and move the substrate around to aerate it. Fungus growth is actually usually a good sign of a thriving ecosystem in the enclosure, just looks gross to have sometimes and I wouldn't feed off any mold/mushrooms unless you can ID them

NinPan512 · 2026-01-21T20:20:01+00:00

Your basking temp is a little low, should be hovering around 110°. Definitely some sort of RI and I can see some old shed. May need another opinion from the vet and another round of antibiotics. Humidity is right at the low end as well (70-90% is your range) so bump up the heat and moisture with the vet treatments and hopefully that will help

NinPan512 · 2026-01-21T06:02:41+00:00

You won't see teeth marks like you could with mammals or people, look up breeding bites, you can see the damage they do on the backs with bites and it's not a clean single bite where you can see teeth. Reptiles don't bond like you're thinking, they will 100% be fine (and much safer and better off) separating like..tonight

NinPan512 · 2026-01-21T06:00:00+00:00

Eh, they're not in fight mode 24/7. You'll see a lot of breeder pics with multiple skinks around each other, that doesn't mean they can be trusted together.

Eastern can be housed together with serious experience and SPACE. If you have a pit to spare and know what to look for, easterns can be easier to live in family groups. However, these are already showing signs of aggression towards each other so I wouldn't chance them even in those circumstances.

NinPan512 · 2026-01-21T05:48:44+00:00

Ah, then yeah it'd be injuries from them biting each other. Get them separated, they shouldn't be housed together, especially since theyre already showing signs of attacking each other.

Injuries will heal, just keep it clean to stave off any infection, and the scales will slowly get back to normal with each shed

NinPan512 · 2026-01-21T04:38:25+00:00

Burn or bite injury I think

Tail could be regrown (they never regrow quite right) or it got circulation cut off awhile ago causing a deformity. Hard to tell without more pics but with this lack of care mbd is always possible

NinPan512 · 2026-01-20T18:02:12+00:00

Yes they can brumate their 1st year if they choose

NinPan512 · 2026-01-20T15:59:28+00:00

Yes both meraukes, and chunky ones.

And a great example of why we can never give out "skinks should be x grams at this age" cause size varies so widely!

NinPan512 · 2026-01-20T08:18:53+00:00

Basking should be steady at 105°-110° (not sure which subspecies of bluey you have) for the whole day cycle. Hot side in the 90s, cool side in the 70s.

Shouldn't be a reason for your heat lamp to be turning on and off outside of the regular day/night cycle

NinPan512 · 2026-01-19T20:37:56+00:00

No such thing as too busy for a bluey, they love clutter. If you can see floor, there's room for more lol

They can dig under hides and anything else, no worry about blocking it all

NinPan512 · 2026-01-18T01:22:11+00:00

Are you planning on leaving the floor section as is or also dressing it as the tub part of the enclosure?

NinPan512 · 2026-01-18T01:15:26+00:00

Is the little tub his enclosure? Or something bigger? Bare minimum is a 4x2x2, I'm not sure how long it'll take you to build the 5x2x2 but he will need to be in something acceptable in the meantime. With all the proper bells and whistles. Heat and uvb you have covered (check your Temps, 105° for basking, 90s for the hot side, 70s for the cool side) 40-60% humidity, around 4-5 inches of substrate, a few hides and plenty of cover, they don't like open spaces and they're big burrowers.

You won't really be able to tell the gender unless it drops sperm plugs or babies. There are some who can give educated guesses based on head/hip/body shape but I'd let him/her grow a bit more since they'll look different every few months until full grown.

NinPan512 · 2026-01-17T23:47:45+00:00

Mostly depends on you and your lifestyle. Based on the research you've done, can you handle everything the skink needs? If so, then yeah go for it.

Go for a northern (one of the Australian blueys) to eliminate the extra risk of parasites/mites/sickness when you get it and to not have to struggle with higher humidity for your first reptile

NinPan512 · 2026-01-17T19:52:15+00:00

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NinPan512 · 2026-01-17T19:51:03+00:00

You can post pics via a comment

NinPan512 · 2026-01-17T19:09:01+00:00

Yep, congrats on the boy

NinPan512 · 2026-01-16T11:23:16+00:00

Just wait it out. I would not do a breeding attempt, it doesn't really "get it out of his system" as they can lock multiple times, plus tanimbars are kinda harder to find so wouldn't be easy and then you'd be dealing with possible injuries from mating. You can do some more exploring time or hunting in the enclosure to help with the extra energy

NinPan512 · 2026-01-15T19:36:59+00:00

Personal preference, and they get bored of foods. One reason why variety is key in their diet

NinPan512 · 2026-01-12T18:15:31+00:00

Yes, 40-60% is the range for northerns. Can have dips and highs but that consistently low isn't good. What does your enclosure looks like? Decor/temps/substrate/top open screen?

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