2 New Fire Skinks

I recently got two new fire skinks for my birthday and I had a couple questions becuase I never owned a fire skink before.

First off, I started an album on here but I don't know how to attach it to this message so I'll attach just a few of them. The first question I had is, can anyone tell me whether they are juvenile skinks or if they are older. I'm thinking juveniles becuase they look rather small and pictures I've seen, they look bigger. I need to know whether I should be feeding them every day or every other day, that's why I ask.

The other question I have is about their poop. Can anyone tell me what it looks like becuase I haven't noticed any in the substrate. I got them on the 19th of May and they have been eating very good since day one, but I haven't seen any poop. Could they be going underneath the substrate, becuase they do like to burrow a lot. The one burrows way more than the other. Stubbs comes out a lot during the day and is very social. He's (I think it's a he) even been letting me hold him some. But the other one gets frightened easily still, not quite as bad as when we first got it, hence the name Hidey.

And the other thing I wanted to mention is, I got some humidity moss today to keep the humidity up, becuase I was having to mist the substrate way too much before. It seems to be working alright. It's keeping it around 70 degrees. Is that okay or is there something that would work better?

Anyway, if anyone could help me with these couple questions I would appreciate it. Thanks a lot. I'm sure I'll have more questions in the future.

Lisa

What kind of substrate are you using?

They appear to be juveniles to me. At least by what can be seen in the pictures I saw in your album. As adults they will be slightly longer and they are thicker bodied.

If you want to see how they look as babies, here is one coming right out of the egg:

Baby Fire Skinks

There are more pictures toward the end of the thread.

I use a coconut bedding similar to bed-a-beast. It retains moisture well and allows them to burrow. On the first installment of the stuff, I soaked it really well and broke it up. One handful at a time, I squeezed the water out and tossed it into the bottom of the tank. Once the entire bottom was covered, I added some decorations and 2 small water bowls.

Now I allow it to dry out completely. When the skinks need more moisture, I see them hanging around the water dishes, or in them, and thats my cue that I need to refresh the mixture. Since it retains moisture so well, it's just a matter of emptying the spray bottle on it (50 gallon hex) and adding 2 cups of water to the far end of the enclosure. That usually lasts me about 2-2.5 weeks before I begin seeing the humidity levels drop again, and before the skinks start hanging out in and around the water dish. lol

This maintains a humidity level of around 75-85% for 2 weeks. Then it tapers down for a week dropping as low as 40-50%. I let it rest there until I see the skinks looking for more humidity.

My substrate is douglas fir shavings with eucalyptus mixed with repti bark. That is what the lady at the pet store suggested. Maybe we'll try the coconut. Thanks.

I would switch, that mixture you have won't help you keep humidity, and could become an impaction risk.