does anyone know anything about blue tongue skink diets? i am getting an australian blue tongue hatchling soon. I know they need 40% meats and 60% veggies and fruits. What I really need to know is what I need to feed on a dialy basis for my baby. For meats I am just going to use canned cat food as a staple with a bagged veggy mix that I use for my beardy daily. How much of each do I feed and how often for babies, juvenilles, and adults? everything else I know.

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-Adam

"Help Protect our Planet from Overcollection, Purchase Aquacultured Livestock and Captive Bred Herps"

Hey Adam , I know we have several skink keepers here and will be able to give you great information. Dont forget to post pics when you get it.

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MARSHA
A man without a woman is a bachelor, A woman without a man is a genius!.

We have enough youth, how about a fountain of smart!

Okay, what KIND of australlian Blue Tongue Skink are we talking here?...there are several types. What is in the bagged veggie mix? Don't say "greens" or i'll kick you! (that is the most common response I get, I need DETAILS!) Right now I make all of my skinks food for the week at once. Between the 2 of them I pour in a blender about one cup of chopped collard greens, one can of fancy feast cat food, a handful of bearded dragon pellets (adult and juvenille) some grated butternut squash, a cherry tomato, some banana baby food, and 2 large green beans from our garden. I blend it into a paste so they can't pick out the meat and leave the veggies. They are both adults and they get a serving every evening that is about the size of an icecube. I top it off with some shredded squash and 2 king sized mealworms or a snail or slugs. (they LOVE snails!)
Be careful though, Skinks can get obese really fast, i'm cutting back how much my female eats for a while because she is huge (crossing my fingers and hoping shes gravid)
Anything you want to know, just ask and i'll help you as best as I can. Skinks are AWESOME...check out the photo section of the site for pix of mine and val's (esbat)skinkies!

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“Be the change you want to see in the world.”

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~Lacey~

My Photos

LOL Lacey, your mix sounds way grosser than mine But a very good diet Adam. Post pics when you get him/her.

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Val
www.reptilerescuerichmond.org

Yeah right Val, you put the live crickets into the blender...i could just see it all now, you make fluffy his breakfast, rinse the blender out -sort of- then go to make smoothies in the afternoon and have to pick cricket legs out of your teeth! Do you feed Fluffy in the morning or evening? I used to feed in the morning but i'm finding they eat better around 5pm.

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“Be the change you want to see in the world.”

-Mahatma Gandhi

~Lacey~

My Photos

well it's called "spring mix" and it's a mixture of romain lettuce, bok choy, and uhhh...some other stuff. But it's a greta mix and i've heard of many other reptile keepers using it as a staple. For my baby, i guess i'll mix up some cat food, the spring mix, and some fruit baby foods with whatever fruit is available to me at the time (making sure it's safe first). And i'll feed once per day. At first i'll just see how much it can eat and then figure out a certain amount to feed it. Then i'll feed it some crickets or mealworms and dust 3 times weekly because they need lots of vitimans and calcium to grow. As it grows, i'll change the amount to feed accordingly.

Is it ok just to put thix mixture in a tupperware bowl and shove it in the fridge?

thats my plan, tell me what ya'll think.

oh ya, and i'm not sure of the species yet, i'll have to see what is available to me. But from what I hear.....T.s. Intermedia (northern blue tongue) and T. s. scincoides (eastern blue tongue) are the most common and the easiest to keep.

-adam

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-Adam

"Help Protect our Planet from Overcollection, Purchase Aquacultured Livestock and Captive Bred Herps"

The product labeled "Spring mix" is primarily lettuce and as such it's nutritionally worthless. Go with the greens that you can identify. Collard, mustard and turnip.
Another good source of food for them if you can locate it is pelleted alligator chow. Mine loved it.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

well I use collard greens occasionally, but I guess I can switch to collards and turnip greens as staples. Availability is the main reason I use spring mix, i just run in, pick up a bag and then be on my way, but if it'll be better fo my animals, then certaily I have the time to get some collards and chop them up, rotating back and forth with mustard greens and turnip greens. The cat food and beardy pellets I can easily get as well. This is all being made possible because I dont need anything for my day geckos or newt in anymore because they are all gone. I have gotten rid of them because of their significant waste of money in having to buy a totally different size of cricket every time I get crix. Plus it's harder to keep small crix alive. Thats why I chose blue tongues as a replacement because from what i've heard, they can take larger insects at a younger age than most lizards their same size.

what species do ya'll keep merlin and moshpitrockchick?

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-Adam

"Help Protect our Planet from Overcollection, Purchase Aquacultured Livestock and Captive Bred Herps"

I have two indonesian blue tongued skinks, a male and a female, and i'm looking into getting what might be an eastern/northern hybrid. He has been at a petstore near my house for over a year and i'm going to try to talk the people down to a reasonable price. Northerns are soooo pretty
I'm with Merlin on the spring mix though, DITCH IT! The walmart near my house carries washed and cut bagged collard, mustard and turnip greens, they are called something like "Cut N Clean" you should look for them, they dont have nasty fillers like lettuce! Also Bok Choy isnt really all that good for them either. It either binds calcuim or iodine so the lizard can't use it, I dont remember which though.
Another thing....mine have never eaten crickets, they are much too slow to catch them. A small skink might be fast enough but in the future be prepared to offer meal worms, silkies, slugs and or snails.
I can't wait to see pictures!

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“Be the change you want to see in the world.”

-Mahatma Gandhi

~Lacey~

My Photos

I no longer have my BT. It went to become part of a breeding program.
it was an Iryan Jaya.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!