Hi! We've been living with a very healthy pair of female leos for about six months now, and I've learned a lot from this forum. (Thanks!) This morning while doing some yard work we caught a juvenile 5-lined skink and my daughter has grown extremely attached to it! I've done a bit of reasarch on them this morning, but I can't find any info on keeping them as pets. I know that catching and keeping some local wild reptiles is illegal (some turtles for example) but these things are so very common around here (Maryland) that I can't imagine there's a specific rule on them. Legally (or ethically) would keeping it be a problem? Second question: If this thing can live with us, is simply duplicating the local environment the right way to house it? The climate is certainly not desert, but it certainly isn't tropical, either. A tank with a moist substrate and maybe some fairly damp hides would seem sufficient. Temperatures vary wildly, but with a basking lamp to get it up to the mid 90s during the day I would think it should thrive. Sound right? They seem to eat almost anything that's small enough, so small crickets and mealworms should be a decent diet, right? Are there other reasons that this would be a bad idea, or will a 5-lined just not survive captivity? Thanks for any and all advice! -Sam
Oh, and I'd assume that because they are diurnal and big baskers that it would want a UV lamp? I have a red bulb for the leos and an extra lamp with a blue bulb. Would a white full-spectrum bulb be better? Thanks!
i used to have one of those (also called blue tailed skink) and i had mine in a 10 gal but that was a juvi so plder should be placed in 20 gals,the food i fed mine was large pin heads because to big of crickits can bloght them.even tho they have a very aggresive apete.aldults u can deside on your own food size.I also use very loose fine soil from home depot clean ofcourse.Because they love to dig burrows.I had a 50-60 watt bulb incondensent bulb that is placed above a basking area.Also a 4 or 8 watt heat pad beneath a hide that is a opproprite size for the animal............sry for such a long post
Thanks for the advice! Currently ours is tiny (3" with tail) so its in one of those plastic herp-a-terium snap lid boxes. I'll be getting a 10 gal tank this coming weekend, though, so it will probably move. Bedded it on some of that shredded coconut fiber stuff ("Bed-a-beast") very moist, so it can burrow, and gave it a hide and some climbing stuff. Caught a bunch of tiny crickets in the yard for it, as the flightless fruit flies our LPS store sold me (no small crickets) are so tiny that they crawled out through the screen on top of the enclosure! Anyway, thanks!
np....but that bed a beast shouldnt be a substrate for as it can swollow some of the pieces when eating.WOW that small ummmmm yeah lol use very small pin heads to fill that baby up...but sounds like your doing good
Wow, o.k. Didn't know they were succeptible to the substrate ingestion problems (like the Leos are). I'll take care of that. Strange, though, that this would be that much of an issue as I was attempting to replicate the environment in which it was living when we found it. Wet/rotten wood (old pressure treated, even...that can't be healthy), sand, and top soil. Figured the fiber stuff wouldn't be *more* ingesible than that. Oh well. Paper towels it is, then! There is a shop around here that usually has crickets so small that if you ask for 100 or so it is hard to tell there's anything in the bag! Until I can get up there, maybe I'll try tossing in a few of the 1/8" sized baby pillbugs that seem to inhabit the old flower boxes where the skink was living. Much easier to catch than those micro crickets! Links I found online indicated they'd eat pretty much anything that moves and is smaller than them... from slugs to mice. I should be able to do o.k. for food. Thanks again! -Sam
yeah the reason why i said the thing about the indigesting part was bacause i have had 2 of them dieing on the aspen stuff while feeding.Im not one of those freaks on this website (no offense) that freak out about substate and that stuff but i was testing diff. subs and i found clean good healty soil does the best. but sounds like your doing fine
Soil, eh? Well I can sure provide that...right out of the original habitat, even. Probably will still have some feeder insects in it, too! LOL! Thanks for the advice! -Sam
Hmmm.. I think I will post this up in the habitat section and try to get further advice. I appreciate your suggestions, just want more clarification! Thanks!
