a few questions about my new fire skink

i bought a baby fire skink last week, and he seems to be fairly friendly already, but i'm not sure how much handling he needs to keep him used to me. he's my first lizard and i think he's awesome. i want to give him all the attention he needs. so far i've been trying to give him a good half hour of attention every day when i can. i've made a point of making sure i handle him for a good 15 minutes a day though even when i'm strapped for time though.

i'm also curious exactly what i should be doing to keep him happy with me. i usually let him crawl around on my hand, and gently stroke his head with my fingertip. he doesn't seem to mind it.

he's only nipped at my finger once, and that was the first day i had him when i first fished himout of the box the petstore gave him to me in. it didn't hurt at all, but i'm curious how much his teeth will come in as he matures, and what a bite from a full grown skink is like. is he gonna have a mouthful of little razorblades? lol. i don't think i'llhave to worry about him too much, but i just want to know to look forward to if he does happen to nip me when he grows larger.

nose to tail, he's about 10inches long right now, and i have him in a 20gallon tank. what would his full grown size be, how long until he reaches it, and what size tank would i be looking at him moving into in the future?

thanks in advance for any tips you guys can provide!

pics!

driver said:

nose to tail, he's about 10inches long right now

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I hate to break it to you, but that's not a baby. That's a fully-grown adult. If it's going to be a particularly large specimen it might have 2-3 more inches of growing left.

As for care:
http://users.eastlink.ca/~nshs/care_fskink.htm
http://www.reptileallsorts.com/fireskink-cs.htm
http://www.geocities.com/pinktonguedskink/fireskink.htm

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q="fire+skink"+care&btnG=Google+Search

It's a cutie.

Blue-tongues and shingleback skinks can give a serious bite. It hurts like all hell... But he looks tame as.

Wow he is so pretty and your so lucky :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :} :} :} :worship:
I have no idea on any of the handling just saying your skink is sweet!:drool: :drool: :drool: :} :} :} :worship:

Nice Skink

As stated above should be about done growing. (You should ask these questions before you buy the animal). Is it a 20L or 20H. A 20L (30inX12inX12in approx) is okay for one or two skinks. Larger is better. A 20H is a bit small. Make sure to provide a substrate that allows for burrows. (coco fiber and sand mix is good). They can draw blood (a small amount, nothing to worry about) if they get a good grip and I have had one Fire and a Schneider's skink spin once it bit on which made the little cut look worse. No real danger though. They are fun lizards so enjoy. Yours looks to be quite calm already.

Mushroom Spore said:

I hate to break it to you, but that's not a baby. That's a fully-grown adult. If it's going to be a particularly large specimen it might have 2-3 more inches of growing left.

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huh, i thought they would get to be more in the 2foot area. i guess i just assumed he'd get to be more the size of a blue tongue, and the petstore guy said he had growing to do. oh well, thats cool. he's super friendly, so if he's already tame as an adult, great! i let him lay on my belly when i lay down to watch tv at night. he'll scoot around a little bit, then just close his eyes and pass out on my chest.

Jmugleston said:

As stated above should be about done growing. (You should ask these questions before you buy the animal). Is it a 20L or 20H. A 20L (30inX12inX12in approx) is okay for one or two skinks. Larger is better. A 20H is a bit small. Make sure to provide a substrate that allows for burrows. (coco fiber and sand mix is good). They can draw blood (a small amount, nothing to worry about) if they get a good grip and I have had one Fire and a Schneider's skink spin once it bit on which made the little cut look worse. No real danger though. They are fun lizards so enjoy. Yours looks to be quite calm already.

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it's a 20L tank, and I DID ask questions, haha. they told me he'd grow into 40L tank eventually. not that the 20L zilla tank i had would house him AND another if I wanted, lol. i have him on a substrate of 4 inches of peat/cocofibre, which i give a light daily misting. he has a little exoterra cavehide, a chunk of grapevine, and a large leafy (fake) plant he likes to hide under. i gave him lots of hides at the stores recommendation. i also gave him a little rock to bask on at one end, which sits around 82-84Fdepending on room temp. temprature goes down to about 74-77ish on the other end of the tank. this i about the temp the enclosure holds overnight with a 10*10 undertank heat pad. so far i've fed him a diet of large crickets and superworms.

Sounds like you're off to a good start. You should raise the basking temp a bit though. I've kept their basking temp up toward 95 or so. Past that sounds like the set up is good.

driver said:

i bought a baby fire skink last week, and he seems to be fairly friendly already, but i'm not sure how much handling he needs to keep him used to me. he's my first lizard and i think he's awesome. i want to give him all the attention he needs. so far i've been trying to give him a good half hour of attention every day when i can. i've made a point of making sure i handle him for a good 15 minutes a day though even when i'm strapped for time though.

i'm also curious exactly what i should be doing to keep him happy with me. i usually let him crawl around on my hand, and gently stroke his head with my fingertip. he doesn't seem to mind it.

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firstly..
its a reptile.
they dont like you, nor do they love you.
they couldnt care less.
they cant be ''happy with you''..to be honest, thats absurd..but a nice sentiment.
i have raised hundreds of all sorts of reptiles from over the world in the last 30 years, and i cant say that one single reptile ever showed me affection or any particular love..they just tolerated me.
they just arent wired that way.

its not good to handle reptiles very often,so be wary of that...it removes natural oils and such that keep its skin smooth, soft, and efficient.


again..just my two cents..everyone else may say different.

also..a gorgeous lizard..super nice

driver said:

i also gave him a little rock to bask on at one end, which sits around 82-84Fdepending on room temp

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Just to be safe--the post is a little unclear--this isn't an actual hot rock, is it? The kind that gives off heat by itself? Because those are bad.

Ted said:

its not good to handle reptiles very often,so be wary of that...it removes natural oils and such that keep its skin smooth, soft, and efficient.

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That sounds more like an amphibian problem. :?

Mushroom Spore said:

Just to be safe--the post is a little unclear--this isn't an actual hot rock, is it? The kind that gives off heat by itself? Because those are bad.



That sounds more like an amphibian problem. :?

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happens to reptiles too.
they have sensitive skin..despite what it appears.
they just arent made for lots of handling.

sure they can be happy with you, as opposed to being NOT happy with you, which they are going to make fairly obvious pretty quick if that's the case. i don't expect him to come running to his name, or want to cuddle up and sleep at my feet at night. but i'd like to keep him friendly enough that he doesn't feel the need o chomp on my fingers every time i pick him up.

<edit>. thank you and good night...

For sake of argument, but not to hijack the post, to what natural oils are you referring? From which glands are these secreted? As far as I knew, the cutaneous glands of reptiles were largely unstudied and seemed to be concentrated in certain areas as scent glands, femoral pores, etc. Not distributed about the body.

Ted said:

happens to reptiles too.
they have sensitive skin..despite what it appears.
they just arent made for lots of handling.

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I handle my python once a day for about 30mins to one hour and he has no skin problems...

I think what the owner of the skink meant by 'happy' was 'not unhappy'. As in having the skink at a level where it is not stressed or frightened.

Everyone knows what people think about reptiles not showing emotion etc (and I would tend to agree) but know a girl with a Morelia bredli that moves to the glass of its cage as soon as it sees someone, and will stay there 'til the door opens. It then crawls out and around the persons shoulders and stays there. Even when she goes for a shower. And she can stroke his head etc etc. Very weird behaviour (and no skin problems)

My dragon is the same, if I put my hand in he lies down but I don't think it's affection. It's simply that he ascociates me with comfort and food. (He sleeps on my belly, I dunno why, he just does) He allways makes sure to give my hand a good looking over (and licking!) when I put it in to make sure there's food in it.

From an animal that is solitary it's the closest you'll get to affection - and if something solitary ascociates you with things that it likes to the point it looks forward to your hand then you've definately got to apreciate that little bit of niceness. Allthough many tend to anthropomorphise reptiles a bit too much (look at beardeddragon.org, it's cute but at the same time a little unrealistic) it still is rewarding because were human and were programmed to get kicks out of what we interpret as affection.

PhilK said:

I handle my python once a day for about 30mins to one hour and he has no skin problems...

I think what the owner of the skink meant by 'happy' was 'not unhappy'. As in having the skink at a level where it is not stressed or frightened.

Everyone knows what people think about reptiles not showing emotion etc (and I would tend to agree) but know a girl with a Morelia bredli that moves to the glass of its cage as soon as it sees someone, and will stay there 'til the door opens. It then crawls out and around the persons shoulders and stays there. Even when she goes for a shower. And she can stroke his head etc etc. Very weird behaviour (and no skin problems)

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i did say that it was just my opinion.
i have personally seen many cases of overhandling where the reptiles developed dry, rough places where the scales curled and all kinds of stuff.

they are creatures of habit, and familiarity..from my many years of keeping them.
i also did say that others may say differently.

we dont all have to agree.

Repeating the question, you don't have a hot rock in there do you?

LeilaNami said:

Repeating the question, you don't have a hot rock in there do you?

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no hot rock. basking lamp over a rock, with an undertank heat pad...

I handle my bearded dragons every day and never had any health problems. When I take them out, I pat them and they literally fall asleep in my hand. The second I stop patting them, they open there eyes and start to go walkabouts. I don't know if you could say that they like me (I tend to think they don't reason in those terms) but I'm in no doubt that they like being handled and stroked.