# Blue Tongue Skink - Set Up and Temps?



## TheBadger (Mar 8, 2015)

Hello everyone, first post!

I'm looking at getting myself a couple of blue tongue skinks. I've been doing some background research for a couple of weeks, I just wanted to clarify a few things before going ahead and purchasing the animal.

Vivarium: 
The viv I'm currently looking at is a large VivExotic Repti-Stax. Dimensions: 120cm x 37.5 cm x 45cm. (Length x Width x Height).
I'm unsure if the vid would be on the small side for an adult? Maybe needing a little more width? 

Temperatures: Basking spot of around 95 degrees, warm end around the 85-90 mark with the cool end around 75 degrees.
Basking/heat lamp to be put directly above a large rock for the skink to bank on.

Lighting: A UV strip of around 10-12%, roughly 3/4 the length of the viv. Placed no more than 18" above the bottom of the viv. So a 3 foot UV tube for the viv I have in mind. Turned on and off with the heat lamp to mimic day/night.

Decor: Skinks don't seem to be big climbers. A hide at each end with some plant decor and so on for them to explore.

Diet: 50:40:10 Meat, Veg and Fruit. Found loads of articles on this.

I feel like I know the facts and figures, without actually knowing how to piece it all together. I've no idea of the specifics for the heat lamp and lighting! Is there a particular brand I need? Or is it worth just popping into my local pet store and asking?

If anyone has any advice on this topic, I would be extremely grateful!

I'm also really struggling to find an actually supplier? There are a few in the classifieds but they're all 5-7 years old. I'm ideally looking for one/two up to the age of two years. 

Thanks in advance, Badger.


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## Salazare Slytherin (Oct 21, 2009)

Sounds like you have the right idea! Great to see. 
Personally I would look into offering a little more space as adults, I would probably offer a ft longer, in either length or width, either would be fine IMO. 
Your lighting, is probably best directed toward arcadia john, in that size dimension I would probably look at a 6% lamp, reflected, ( you can buy reflectors) since UVB lamps are more to do with distance than percentage really, and provide lot's of ground cover, (leaf litter, cork bark tubes and hides are excellent. 
Heat lamps, you have a good few options, I would just use a standard 60w screw lamp placed at around 8" from the animals basking point, that should in that size vivarium give you a good basking, ambient, and gradient. 

: victory:


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## sharpstrain (May 24, 2008)

Do you know which species of BTS you are looking at - the Australians like a drier set up than the Indonesians 

For mine I use

An arcadia ceramic bulb holder with a 75 watt spot bulb controlled by a Habistat digital dimming stat with a night time drop - for uv I use an arcadia T5 12% D3 

They like a deep substrate and I have mine on a mix of soil, coco fibre, bark chips and sphagnum moss, with added leaf litter. A good sized water bowl - I have mine on3 legs so that it is raised and acts as a hide underneath. I also use a bioactive substrate with woodlice, worms, mealworms, dermatid beetles and springtails.

All the physical products that you need can be bought from swell reptiles


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## sharpstrain (May 24, 2008)

Hopefully a better pic


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