Baby Fire Skinks...Silly Lizards

[Odonata]

My younger son has a pair of Fire Skinks that have been breeding like crazy. The adults are very mellow and well mannered, and the babies are just silly. We have 6 that are about a week old that continually amuse my boys. One of them regularly sleeps in an unusual position:

We have more eggs in the incubator and another batch in with the adults!

Someone needs to tell them to knock it off already, we have enough....

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The morning routine!

One proud dad.

 

[jamesnyborg]

The first pic made me laugh

 

[kim86]

Awww, I love skinks so much... their little legs are too cute! Those are beautiful.

 

[dragonmetalhead]

That pic is fantastic. I love the coloration on fire skinks and would very much like to have one one day. care to share some of your husbandry tips for the benefit of future skink owners?

 

[Odonata]

I am happy to describe how I care for our skinks, though I should point out that I am no expert!

That our Fire Skinks have been successfully breeding seems to indicate that the environment they live in is within a reasonable range and their diet is at least adequate to support healthy breeding conditions. All that said, their setup is fairly simple.

The tank itself is a 30L with a ZooMed Slider lid (these are great for retaining humidity, solidly built, but not cheap). The substrate is a mix of EcoEarth coconut fiber and ReptiBark. The cool end is up to 6" deep and more EcoEarth based, and the hot end is more bark based and only 2" deep. There is a Reptisun 10.0 in the Slider along with a 40W infrared heat bulb. I initially had a Monsoon 400 attached for the humidity but found it was easy to maintain an air humidity around 60-70 (substrate humidity higher at cool end) with just regular misting due to the Slider so removed it.

Hot side temp is up at 95 - 100 at the basking area (they rarely bask), and down to low 80s on the cool end, going lower 76 or so at night. For the cool end of the tank I provided a hollow log and lots of sphagnum moss which helps maintain the substrate moisture. The UVB light is on a timer controlled outlet and is illuminated 14 hours a day.

I Have tried numerous different diets and my skinks are happiest on a mix of mealworms, superworms, crickets, and waxworms. I occasionally give cooked chicken that they will eat, but they turn their nose up at most vegetables (just like my kids!). I use Repcal calcium supplement and multivitamin.

I make a point of handling the skinks regularly, though during the breeding period have limited this to the times when I have been cleaning their tank and in the mornings when they are hanging out waiting for food. It is worth mentioning that when I first picked these skinks up I was worried that we would never see them since they like to burrow. I quickly realized that if you feed them on a specific routine and only as much food as they will clear in one feeding they become patterned to the feeding times and will be out waiting eagerly for you. When they are waiting on food they are happy to be stroked and are seemingly very calm. Once fed they tend to retire beneath the substrate. Our male is definitely more tame than the female and far more bold. Neither of them have ever bitten or shown any sign of aggression.

Eggs are layed in the deeper substrate at the cool end of the tank. I remove the eggs shortly after they are laid since the adults burrow so much and can damage the eggs while digging. I have been using a Reptibator for the incubating, set to a temperature of 83 and humidity 70-73. When the eggs hatch I leave them in the incubtor until the sack is fully absorbed and they have dried off. I then move them to a small 20 gallon tank lined with carpet. Tiny crikckets and mini mealworms are gobbled down right off the bat. I keep the humidity up and mist regularly.

Overall once setup it is easy to maintain and breed this beautiful skink!