We just came home from the pet store with a skink. It was "free to a good home." They didn't have much info on it, just that it was a skink, that the owners were moving. They also knew that it likes canned cat food (?! Is that common?), doesn't eat live crickets, and it need a UV bulb, sand, and heat. Anyone know what it is?





Got any advice for us?
Gotta run, I'll check back later.

Michelle

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0.0.1 bearded dragon
0.2 leopard geckos
0.0.1 schneider's skink
0.0.1 painted turtle
0.0.2 firebellied toads
2. hamsters
1.1 dogs
0.2 cats
some fish

Berber or osylated (sp??) skink?

As far as I'm aware, although i'm not sure so please don't take this as gospel, most skinks don't require UV,. only some eat cat food (e.g. blue tongues) and some eat live crickets. Try one of the above names in a search engine and see if you can find some images that match and then search for a care sheet for that species?

Good luck, i hope it does well for you.

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"If you know everything you may as well blow your brains out because the reason for existence is to learn more everyday." - Mark O'Shea, 2004

Having done a quick search I would definately identify it as a berber skink - for a care sheet look here: berber skink care Looks like UV is essential to this skink. Hope this helps.

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"If you know everything you may as well blow your brains out because the reason for existence is to learn more everyday." - Mark O'Shea, 2004

Cat food is not an appropriate food for any reptile. It is too high in fat, and will lead to long-term health problems.

Chances are very high that your skink will eat live crickets and mealworms just fine.

Yup, you've got a schneider's skink (Novoeumeces schneideri "formerly Eumeces sp.") aka berber's skink, aka dotted skink. Rachel's link pretty much covers their care. They're pretty common as far as skinks are concerned. I think they may be CB quite often, but I'm not sure.

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"Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines." - John Benfield

thats a neat little guy. almost reminds me of a sand boa the way the pattern and colors are. good luck with him.

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WingedWolf - i've been reading up on this and cat food isn't suggested as an appropriate food, because as you said, it is too high in fat content. I have read that small amounts of dog food once in a while are ok to feed though.. what are your thoughts on this?

> I've personally always felt that it's quite strange that some reptiles can eat dog food, but I'm not an owner of skinks or anything that it's recommended for so i'm not clued up on this.

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"If you know everything you may as well blow your brains out because the reason for existence is to learn more everyday." - Mark O'Shea, 2004

Thanks so much, all of you, for the excellent advice. I had tried googling under skink, orange skink, skink ID, etc., but nothing useful was coming up. I've checked that link that Bitis posted, and also searched under berber skink, and now have lots of info. What's funny is that the card on the cage at the pet shop had Snyder skink written on it. Snyder is a common family name in this area, so I assumed that it was donated by the Snyders. Silly, huh? They just mis-spelled Schneider's skink.

Now that we know what to do for his/her tank. I knew I could count on you!
BTW, our Bearded Dragon and geckos, turtle, toads, etc. are doing great. If I get a minute I'll post a pic so you can see how they've grown.
Thanks again!
Michelle

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0.0.1 bearded dragon
0.2 leopard geckos
0.0.1 schneider's skink
0.0.1 painted turtle
0.0.2 firebellied toads
2. hamsters
1.1 dogs
0.2 cats
some fish

By CB you mean captive born, right? He certainly is calm and tame like a captive born critter. He's more humble than the bearded dragon (who knows he's king of the house)!

Michelle

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0.0.1 bearded dragon
0.2 leopard geckos
0.0.1 schneider's skink
0.0.1 painted turtle
0.0.2 firebellied toads
2. hamsters
1.1 dogs
0.2 cats
some fish

Glad we could help Michelle, and hope the little guy does well for you. Great to hear that your other animals are doing well, looking forward to seeing those pics as promised!

Yes CB is captive bred or born.

By the way, maybe you should give the pet shop a lesson in spelling?? And also a bit of care advice - as wingedwolf said cat food isn't good for them and yours should eat live food offered to it. Perhaps they never even tried?? Good luck anyway, i'm sure he'll be healthy and happy in your care.

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"If you know everything you may as well blow your brains out because the reason for existence is to learn more everyday." - Mark O'Shea, 2004