How long do skinks live

If your blue-tongued skink is ill or stressed it may stop eating and spend most of its time in hiding. Pet reptiles in general can succumb to a number of diseases and illnesses. The following is a short summary of commonly seen blue-tongued skink diseases and disorders. This condition is found in wild-caught skinks and nervous captive pet skinks.

Regularly check your skink for ticks and remove them if found. Mites are another type of external parasite, but they must be eradicated in stages. A mite infestation looks like a white, red, or black wriggling dust on the body of your skink.

As for internal parasites like tapeworms, lungworms, and roundworms, monitor your skink for things like lethargy and bloody stool. If you notice emaciation or bloody stool seek veterinary help right away. Also called Stomatitis, this is a common health issue in lizards. It can happen if the skink injures itself while eating, becomes stressed, or as a result of poor husbandry.

These are serious and often caused by heat sources that are placed too close to the skink or are unprotected. Blisters and burns should be treated immediately with cold compresses for thirty minutes to avoid complications such as infection. This is often caused by habitats that are too dirty or wet. Also called scale rot, Blister disease is characterized by large blisters that, if untreated, fill with fluid and rupture, leaving the wound open to opportunistic infection. As stated earlier, blue-tongued skinks as a whole are smart, submissive, and interesting animals that make great pets for all levels and ages of herpetoculturist.

One of the worst offenders is the Tanimbar Island blue-tongued skink, which is extremely aggressive and not recommended for families with children. As with any pet that is becoming acclimated to a new home, new blue-tongued skinks may exhibit behaviors like hissing, hiding, or puffing themselves up in defense. When frightened, a skink will curl its body into a C-shape, pointing its tail and bright blue tongue out as it puffs its body up in an attempt to scare away predators.

This defensive behavior is typical in newly acclimated blue-tongued skinks and will subside with time and regular handling as they get used to their new homes. However, it should be easy to clean, easy to access, have adequate ventilation, be free of sharp edges, and above all, it needs to be escape-proof.

The size of your vivarium needs to be big. For just one skink the minimum floor area of 39 by 20 inches by 50 cm will suffice, but an area of 47 by 24 inches by 60 cm would be better. Remember, these lizards have short legs and cannot leap or climb very high.

Skinks are territorial, and you should never keep more than one male in the same cage. You could leave the floor bare, but it may cause claw problems, as noted above in the section on Health. Wood shavings are an excellent option for absorbing odor and liquid, plus you can spot clean wood shavings easily.

Newspaper also makes a good substrate, as do certain reptile carpets and certain types of gravel and perlite-free potting soil. Toggle navigation. Skink Facts Skinks are the second largest group of lizards geckos are the largest group in the world. They can be found all around the globe except in the boreal and polar regions. There are species of skinks described so far. They can be found in different type of habitats: grasslands, forests, mountains, savannas, deserts and urban areas.

Various species of skinks can be part of regular fauna in the gardens. Certain species of skinks are popular as pets. Some skinks, such as androgynous skink, are listed as endangered.

Interesting Skink Facts: Size of skink depends on the species. Not sure about food puzzles? Our veterinarian reveals why the payoff for your pet is well worth any extra work. The friendly and inquisitive LaPerm has an easy-care coat that comes in a variety of colors and patterns. Check out our collection of more than videos about pet training, animal behavior, dog and cat breeds and more. Wonder which dog or cat best fits your lifestyle? Our new tool will narrow down more than breeds for you.

If the video doesn't start playing momentarily, please install the latest version of Flash. Want a Pet Reptile? Consider a Skink. By Dr. The small limbs have five toes each with well-developed claws. Hatchlings are from 5 to 6.

They possess bright blue tails and distinct white or yellow stripes on a black background. Tail color dulls with age, and is more commonly retained in females than males, which display gray tails as adults. Males and females are different in head size and overall coloration. Males develop a widened head and reddish-orange coloration of the snout and jaws during the spring breeding season.

The range of Five-lined Skinks extends south from the lower peninsula of Michigan, southern Ontario, and eastern New York to northern Florida, and west to Wisconsin, part of Michigan's upper peninsula, Missouri, and eastern regions of Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Isolated populations also occur in northeastern Iowa, and west central Minnesota.

Five-lined Skinks prefer moist wooded or partially wooded areas with significant cover and abundant basking sites. These sites may include wood or brush piles, stumps, logs, rocky outcrops, loose bark, or abandoned buildings. Most Five-lined Skinks inhabit disturbed environments, such as forest edges, cleared areas, or burned regions, commonly called ecotone areas.

Five-lined Skink populations may also occur among driftwood piles on the sandy beaches of the Great Lakes. Home range size is affected by available habitat type as well as changes in seasonal food distribution, shelter, and other requirements. Home range may also vary in size and shape in accordance with the age and sex of the skink. Five-lined Skinks seek cover in rotting wood, rock crevices, vegetation, or building foundations, remaining inactive during the cold winter months.

The egg incubation length varies with temperature, so that colder temperatures lead to longer times to hatching. Fertilization in five-lined skinks is internal, with eggs laid by the female between the middle of May and July, at least one month after mating.

Females lay fifteen to eighteen eggs in a small cavity cleared beneath a rotting log, stump, board, loose bark, a rock, or an abandoned rodent burrow. Females prefer secluded nest sites in large, moderately decayed logs. Soil moisture is also an important factor in nest selection. Females often place nests in regions where soil moisture is higher than in nearby areas. Even when nesting sites are abundant, female skinks tend ot nest near each other.

The parchment-like eggs of Five-lined Skinks, similar to many other reptiles, are thin and easily punctured. Freshly laid eggs range from spherical to oval in shape averaging 1. Absorption of water from the soil leads to increased egg size.