# Berber skink viv temp ?



## son_lou_wak (Jun 16, 2011)

Ok I've become the proud owner of a baby skink today. It's very active and likes to dig lots  

I have a question which is confusing me what ideal temperature does he need to be kept at ? 

I've got a 60 watt light bulb heat mat UV and heater with a thermostat. 

I've looked on the web and it says he needs a basking spot if 100f a daytime temp of 87f and 65f at night my question is how is this possible ? 
If I set the thermostat at 87f I would surely have to change the setting every night wouldn't I ???? 

Also how do I know how warm the basking spot gets and surely if the basking temp was 100f that would make the whole viv 100f ??? 

Sorry for being stupid but I don't want anything to happen to my new special guy


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## son_lou_wak (Jun 16, 2011)

Here he is sitting on his basking stones


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## Dee_Williams (Aug 15, 2010)

the basking temp will affect the rest of the viv but it won't heat it all up. 

it depends on the size of your viv to what size bulb you need.


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## son_lou_wak (Jun 16, 2011)

Dee_Williams said:


> the basking temp will affect the rest of the viv but it won't heat it all up.
> 
> it depends on the size of your viv to what size bulb you need.


Viv size is as follows . . . 
Height 2ft
Width 2ft
Length 4ft


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## son_lou_wak (Jun 16, 2011)

Well woke up this morning to find izzy running around the viv digging and really enjoying herself the viv temp was 80f and considering they need temps of between 67-89f I think it's all sorted


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## Dee_Williams (Aug 15, 2010)

coo. good news mate. 
it is jsut a amtter of what suits your house and thiers kinda thing. i have t ouse a fairly high watt bulb as our house is fairly cold.


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## son_lou_wak (Jun 16, 2011)

Just been to our local reptile place bought a heat lamp with a load of other things I'll Post up details of them later but our little boy/girl will be very happy as we've spent the best part of £100.00 on him/her today


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## Dee_Williams (Aug 15, 2010)

just don't go on ebay. it is seriously fatal.


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## son_lou_wak (Jun 16, 2011)

Dee_Williams said:


> just don't go on ebay. it is seriously fatal.


Done that already bought him/her some plants x 4 and a viv lock in case my dog works out how to open the door lo 

We've also changed our skinks name ten minutes ago it's now called MOJO


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## Dee_Williams (Aug 15, 2010)

:lol2: cute.

now step away from the computer after having logged out of ebay. :devil:


mine has always been Bingo. it is just her name. well i assume is a her. :lol2:

they are awesome beasties. i would love a big tank with a few of them in. maybe one day.


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## son_lou_wak (Jun 16, 2011)

I love my little lizard but my family are scared of him/her looks like I need to teach them a thing or two about skinks. My boyfriends mum won't even come into the house anymore and say's they're slimy and horrible


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## Dee_Williams (Aug 15, 2010)

slimy? :gasp: horrible? :gasp:
but they are so pretty, gorgeous colours.

mind you, i was totally in the dog house when i bought bingo home. i did kinda bribe him when i rang up and asked if i could bid on her . the old "but i never got to spend my b day money" bit.

now he keeps wanting to get her a bigger and bigger tank. i told him she would get lost in a bigger one.


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## son_lou_wak (Jun 16, 2011)

Dee_Williams said:


> slimy? :gasp: horrible? :gasp:
> but they are so pretty, gorgeous colours.
> 
> mind you, i was totally in the dog house when i bought bingo home. i did kinda bribe him when i ran up and asked if i could bid on her . the old "but i never got to spend my b day money" bit.
> ...


Our tank is 4ft wide 2ft deep and 2ft high. our little one thinks it's amazing where we bought MOJO from the tank was tiny the size of a starter fish tank ( not good ) 
Now he/she runs around like mad and loves to burrow into the sand in fact MOJO hides a lot .

How long can mojo be kept out of the viv for ?
Mojo tends to get cold very fast is there any warning signs to look
Out for ?


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## Dee_Williams (Aug 15, 2010)

i always pop mine back if she starts to feel a bit cold.


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## Dee_Williams (Aug 15, 2010)

mine is in a 3ft by 1ft by 1ft fish tank with a viv lid. 

she spends most of her day digging or bodding round or lounging about looking, well, lizardy. 

i tried her in a 4ft viv but she didn't like that she couldn't dig. so nuti la 4ft tank crops up she seems happy in the one she is in. :2thumb:


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## son_lou_wak (Jun 16, 2011)

Were going home now to put in the new equipment and hope that mojo likes it  
I'll do a new post saying what mojo's set up is later


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## berbers (May 29, 2010)

you need a thermal gradient so your skink can warm up or cool down as he needs.

one side of the viv needs to be 77-80f and the other around 100f. 

i) do this by putting the ceramic heater dead central to the viv with the stat probe on the cool end set to 80f. (at this point the whole viv is 80f).

ii) fit a basking bulb on the other side of the viv. this will only heat the area under the bulb raising that side of the viv to 100f. therefore giving you a thermal gradient!!: victory:

iii) place some rocks or hide under the bulb so he can bask on top, closer to the bulb (actual basking spot should be 115-120f).

iv) you will have to try different size bulbs to suit your viv and monitor the temps to see how it heats up. we have a 3ft viv so only need 60w bulb. a 4ft may require 100w. you can use household bulbs, they do exactly the same thing as the ones with a reptile logo on.

v) you need 2 digital thermometers, one at each end so you can see both temperatures.

vi) as for night time temps, turn the Uv and basking bulb off and manually lower the ceramic stat down to 65-70f.

you dont need the heat mat. in my view they're no good for a wooden viv as the reptile can be in direct contact with it. they also dont heat the air, only whats in close proximity to it.

hope this explains things but if you need any help please feel free to send me a pm.

also this is a great website - Berber / Schneider's Skink (Eumeces schneideri) care sheet


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## son_lou_wak (Jun 16, 2011)

Thanks for that info i've just realised that I'd got all the right equipment but I was getting them all mixed up I was using the lamp for light and the heater fir the basking spot lol. Just gone to the viv mojo is fine thank god and I've set the temperatures for day and night as I have a heater that can do both automatically and the lamp now has his basking stones underneath it  

Will check out temperatures in the morning too  

He's also eaten 2x large locust today and it's only his first full day here


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## son_lou_wak (Jun 16, 2011)

Going to try him with orange banana and apple tomorrow with him being hand fed 
Fingers crossed he'll eat them


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## son_lou_wak (Jun 16, 2011)

Bought these today as I was told they're very good items by my local reptile centre. I
Must admit they seem very good and the automatic night temperature drop is great for busy people like me and my partner Dean. 

My lizard seems happy so I'm happy too.


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## son_lou_wak (Jun 16, 2011)

The glow reflector is so cool it emits a soft blue Colour when all the lights are turned off it's not strong enough so you can see what's inside but its supposed to replicate moon light for them


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