Tiliqua scincoides intermedia

Updates

General Description: A heavy bodied skink with short legs and a broad head. Color varies from creamy tan to golden brown. Blue tongues are extremely hardy and thrive in captivity. The blue tongues main attraction is their docile curious personalities. Most seem to enjoy being handled and rapidly learn to recognize their keeper. The Northern Blue Tongues in particular seem to make the best "pets".

Range: The drier portions throughout northern Australia.

Average adult size and longevity: 24"-28" with an average life span of 15 years.

Feeding: All the blue tongues are maintained on a diet of cooked ground turkey, boiled chicken, eggs, canned cat food, frozen thawed vegetables, occasional fruit, and a mineral supplement.  MINER-All 1 is used as all the skinks are housed indoors. Newborns up to 1 month are fed daily, juveniles every other day, adults 2-3 times per week, supplementing with miner-all at every feeding,  herptivite weekly.

Housing: Newborns to sub-adults (10") can be housed individually in typical 10 gallon aquariums or the equivalent. For single adults we recommend a 30-40 gallon aquarium or the equivalent. All cages should be well ventilated and maintained with an ambient temperature of 70-80 ° F, with a hot spot from 90-100 ° F.  Acceptable substrates include but are not limited to: aspen bedding, cypress mulch, ™ repti-bark, newspaper, and astro turf. Clean drinking water should be available at all times.

Breeding info: Northern blue tongues are among the easiest and most predictable breeders of the common blue tongues. Unfortunately there is no reliable method to sex juveniles. If your goal is to breed, you must either purchase proven adults or raise up juveniles until they can be sexed. One reliable method of sexing adults is to house each blue tongue separately in a container void of substrate, the males will regularly shed small clear seminal plugs.

On Dec. 1st all skinks large enough to breed are gradually cooled over a 2 week period to an ambient temperature of aprox. 60 degrees F. They are also allowed access to a warm area provided by sub-floor heat or a basking light for 8 hours a day. No food is offered 2 weeks prior to Dec 1st or during the entire cool period. Clean fresh drinking water is provided at all times.

Beginning March 1st temperatures are gradually increased over a 2 week period until an ambient room temp. of 75-80 is reached. The sub-floor heat or basking lights are increased to 16 hour on 8 hour off cycle, with a temperature of 90-100 ° F.

Normally feeding resumes within a few days. Females are introduced to males as soon as they have fed twice, and are bred at least 3 times if possible. Pregnant females produce litters of 6-12 live young approx. 3 months later. Baby skinks normally feed within a few days on canned cat food and various f/t vegetables.

Set-up used for breeders and housing juveniles: Juveniles, sub-adults, and adults are all housed in rack type setups with sub floor heat or basking lights. Babies up to 3 months are housed in typical shoe box containers, up to 1 year in sweater boxes, then tubs measuring 33"x 18"x 12" for single adults. The ambient temperature during the warm season varies from 70-82, sub floor heat or basking area at 90-100 degrees F.   

All the blue tongues are housed separately introducing adults for breeding only, most Northern's will fight if housed together. This also allows for the blue tongues to be maintained in optimum condition. If you do decide to house them together, supply a large cage with many visual barriers and hide areas. Housing males together is not recommended under any circumstances.

For substrate aspen bedding is used. They are able to burrow in it and it's easy to keep clean by simply removing the clumps of dried feces. Repti-bark and newspaper has also been used with success. To assist in shedding skinks are soaked in luke warm water when necessary, this proved more efficient than maintaining a moist box within their enclosure.

This is not the only way to house and maintain blue tongues for breeding purposes but works well for us. There are many display type cages available that would allow for a more naturalistic environment. We have found most to be difficult and labor intensive to properly maintain on a larger scale. Keep in mind blue tongues are ground dwellers that don't require a lot of height for their enclosure.