fire skinks

[brian c]

since the website is all about frogs i think at least someone on here knows about fire skinks i want to know if i can have one in a 55 gallon and what i would need for it have a nice day

[TAPDart91]

Idk about fire skinks but im a longtime reptile owner and I would think a 20 long would be sufficient. For a member of the skink family as far adult size go. I cant say im an expert but iv had reptiles for about 14years from Green anoles to chines waterdragons and clombian boas

[brian c]

and so you know i made a mistake i meant a 55 gallon tank

[TAPDart91]

Oh well then most definitely. You should be good

[Lija]

What do you wanna know about fire skinks?

55 gal is great, for them the more the better, but you gotta think about design, or you wont ever see him

[brian c]

i want to know all i can about then especially the stuff i need to buy for them like bedding heating and anything that i need and my favorite 4 words money is no object i have been saving for 5 years and im now 13 so that ads up to alot 50 bucks a month for allowance so yeah money is no object but the mom is gonna take some convincing though but so far shes on board with it so far though she might change her mind

[TAPDart91]

I would suggest google and read as much as you can stand. Also if you have been saving for that long be patient. So you get everything to your liking. Including specimens of your liking. Also look at all of your options there. Are many different cool reptiles and you want to make sure you get something your going to stay interedted in for years. Welcome to the hobby its catchy

[brian c]

yes i know (back story time) it all started about 5 years ago when my friends were playing cops and robbers with machine guns and i got shot and stumbled back in to a book case and i knocked over it all and while i was picking it up i saw a picture of the fire skink and how to care for it and i fell in love with fire skinks and i still have the book but it does not contain that much info like 3 paragraphs (back story over) and ever since then i always loved them and i did not keep my love quiet every day i would say a little about a fire skink like one day hey look the lizards st petco is on sale and the fire skink is like 75% off!

[Lija]

Ok first of all, fire skinks are very pretty, colourful and.... Very mean..... Most of them.... especially wc that are dominating the market. Meaning you will never be able to hold him, they are very strong and fast, very hard to handle. Im not saying all of them are like that, but probably 95% in captivity are like that. If you do enclosure the way they need you close to never see him, only when he is very hungry and have no choice.

They need warm humid environment, best substrate is coconut husk mixed with moss, it should be wet, but not drippy wet. The guy would prefer more compact exo earth and ability to completely burrow himself, but then as i said you wont ever see him, so i found husk works better, but needs more flooding to keep it moist.
Lots of hides, the more the better, i use half cut logs and pieces of cork. Water bowl for drinking, food bowl, i use glass bowl or tong feed. You can use any insects and worms, he is perfectly capable of digesting mealworms and superworms, but the less fattening food you feed the better, so keep staple of nightcrawlers if he eats from tongs or crickets, dubia. Careful of fingers, their bite is not nice

then you need a spot with about 90f, i use heating spot light as a day light and it is directed to a big rock, the rest of the enclosure - plants of sorts, anything really, he would feel the best hidden, so the more stuff the better for him, not for you lol.
some people prefer cables under the tank, or heat pad to heat up the substrate, both dont dry out the substrate as much, but i think you really need to test it first and have it on a dimmer.


check my guy out here http://www.frogforum.net/other-pets/...y-new-pet.html

[brian c]

cool fire skink and im totally ok with not holding him i al more a look but don't touch kinda person depending on the animal and i have a special thing about me i once tamed a wild dog ,cat,and a bunny that im still workin on

[Mentat]

They are very pretty; but rarely tamed to any degree. For more interaction, would suggest a Blue Tongue or maybe a couple of Pink Tongues .

[poison]

CB fire skinks are starting to pop up here and there. These guys are actually pretty calm.

[Lija]

Blue tongues are awesome! Daniel, yes there are more chances to tame cb, i really hope more people breed them, but the market is flooded with wc and they are cheap, no incentive for people to invest time and $ into breeding.

[brian c]

i think blue grow to big i have 3 fish tanks in my room all 30 gallons a bird and a couple of lizards and a frog or two and i get all the money by doing a bunch of chores and stuff

[Monza geckos]

Berber's/Schneider's skinks are very cool too and I've handled a couple and nearly impulse bought one once and they seem to be quite intelligent and patient with handling. But with most skinks you won't see them often unless you have the right set up as mentioned by Lija, that is other than blue tongue skinks and the only reason you see them often is cause there huge and find it hard to hide in a captive environment. Fire skinks are not widely seen in my country I mean you can get them ordered in but you can't usually just wander into an exotics shop and go I'll have that one like a baby Beardie. So dunno what's its like in Georgia.