Longhorns1187
Member
As requested by Tom, I've started a new thread on our pink tongue skink named Shadow. He is 8 1/2 months old, weighs about 60 grams, and is about 13 1/2 inches long. He currently resides in an Exo Terra 18x18x24 terrarium with plans on upgrading his enclosure to a 36x18x24 this spring/summer.
He's a semi arboreal lizard, spending quite a bit of time up on the top of his vertically positioned cork bark tube or his Magnaturals magnetic ledges. We provide a 5.0 UVB light and a basking area that reaches around 95 F. We provide a water bowl, but he seems to prefer drinking water droplets after spraying down his enclosure to boost the humidity level. We maintain a 50-80% humidity range with daily misting, usually once in the evening.
He eats live snails, frozen snails (apple snails from Asian market), and grain free canned cat food. I would consider him diurnal, as he is most active in the early morning hours and in the evening. Although, there are times when he's out, moving about his enclosure at all times of the day.
We got him when he was about 8 weeks old and had all the black and gray alternating bands that pink tongues have when young. The bands have since faded and his former black tongue has finally turned pink.
He was a little skittish when we first got him (we let him adjust for 2 weeks prior to any interaction with him, other than providing water and food), but he's a fairly outgoing and extremely docile lizard. He has never once hissed or tried to bite us, from the day we brought him home. He is just the perfect reptile as far as handleability goes. I would describe him as some sort of a mixture between a blue tongue skink and a monkey tailed skink. He does climb around quite a bit like a monkey tail does, and he uses his semi prehensile tail in a similar manner. He reminds us of a snake in a way he moves about his enclosure and the way he rapidly flicks his tongue, smelling his surroundings.
Overall, I would say pink tongue skinks are a VERY underrated species of reptile. Anybody who has the desire and ability to keep one, will not be disappointed.
He's a semi arboreal lizard, spending quite a bit of time up on the top of his vertically positioned cork bark tube or his Magnaturals magnetic ledges. We provide a 5.0 UVB light and a basking area that reaches around 95 F. We provide a water bowl, but he seems to prefer drinking water droplets after spraying down his enclosure to boost the humidity level. We maintain a 50-80% humidity range with daily misting, usually once in the evening.
He eats live snails, frozen snails (apple snails from Asian market), and grain free canned cat food. I would consider him diurnal, as he is most active in the early morning hours and in the evening. Although, there are times when he's out, moving about his enclosure at all times of the day.
We got him when he was about 8 weeks old and had all the black and gray alternating bands that pink tongues have when young. The bands have since faded and his former black tongue has finally turned pink.
He was a little skittish when we first got him (we let him adjust for 2 weeks prior to any interaction with him, other than providing water and food), but he's a fairly outgoing and extremely docile lizard. He has never once hissed or tried to bite us, from the day we brought him home. He is just the perfect reptile as far as handleability goes. I would describe him as some sort of a mixture between a blue tongue skink and a monkey tailed skink. He does climb around quite a bit like a monkey tail does, and he uses his semi prehensile tail in a similar manner. He reminds us of a snake in a way he moves about his enclosure and the way he rapidly flicks his tongue, smelling his surroundings.
Overall, I would say pink tongue skinks are a VERY underrated species of reptile. Anybody who has the desire and ability to keep one, will not be disappointed.