Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I bought my Croc Skink girl three years ago, on the 1st March 2003, during a PET EXPO held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.I still have her and she is doing just fine!

I raise her in a Leopard Gecko set up.The only difference is that her water bowl is 1/3 of the size of the whole cage. She loves wet sponge beds!I dont put UVB lights because she hates bright lights.She likes to be in the shadow. When i tried to put an UVB light inside her cage she panicked and stopped eating. So i put a small bowl with calcium in powder inside her cage and i covered half of her cage with a black plastic bag. She started to eat again and recovered her round belly!No sign of MBD until now.

I love my girl!

PS My 2 monkey tails, Leonardo and Rafael, are doing fine too.I bought Leonardo in June 2003 and Rafael a few months later.I raise them with infant cereal and some greens.Rafael doesnt like POTHOS very much can you believe that?))

Flavia

Good to see you again! Thanks for the info on Crockie. I have been in the process of finalizing my caresheet, you information backs up mine which makes me happy.
-----
David Hiscock
http://www.flherper.com
St. Lucie Regional Herp Society
http://www.stlucieherps.com

Wow! 6 years thats great!

Here is my care sheet.Very simple, pratically identical to the Leopard Gecko care sheet which is very easy to maintain.

Substrate: No substrate because croc skins are VERY messy,they cam turn their cages in a smelly and dirty hell if you put soil or any other substrate inside it.I only use decorative plastic aquarium paper.Its resistant, colorful and easy to keep clean.I keep the paper always dry and perfectly clean.

Humidity: Provided by a huge water bowl, only.My croc likes to dive on a kitchen sponge placed in the water bowl.Likes to hide in a wet spong cavern like leo geckos do.As the bowl of water is huge and i only have one crocodile skink, i change the water only once a week.No filter.

Temperature: around 80-85F.

Food.Only gut loaded melaworms.But she likes to nibble greens and loves to lay on the fresh green bowl because she likes the contact of the fresh greens on her belly.My crocodile skink girl is afraid of crickets and too lazy to chase cockroaches.Me too!lol!

Temperament: Very shy but very curious.If you keep her cage in the shadow she will wander around and explore every inch of her cage and even allow you to rub her head without running away.

Plastic plants: She loves to hide under plastic plants and i even put some inside her water bowl.

Flavia

How big of a tank do you suggest?
Do you mist the tank at all? Or is the large water dish and the moist hide enough for humidity?
How do you keep the temp up? A night bulb?
Are these guys fast? Would it be easy enough to pick one up when i'm cleaning the cage?
Thanks.
-----
0.1.0 Blue Tongue Skink
1.0.0 Pixie Frog
0.0.1 African Dwarf Frog
0.0.1 Ornate Horned Frog
0.0.1 Firebelly Toad
0.0.1 Firebelly Newt
1.0.0 Fire Salamander
2.0.3 Florida Bark Scorpions
0.0.1 Emperor Scorpion
1.0.0 Flatrock Scorpion
1.2.0 African Giant Millipedes
2.0.0 Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches
0.0.1 Chilean Rosehair Tarantula
1.0.0 Hamster!
1.0.0 Ugly Cat
1 Small freshwater aquarium
Grunngg@yahoo.com

The minimum size for ONE croc is a 20l tank.Mine is made of plastic.No,i dont mist the tank.If the room's level of humidity is higher than 50%, the water bowl and the wet hide are enough to keep the moisture high. Dont forget the lid with holes. The lid also helps to keep the humidity inside the cage high.

To keep the temp high i made a wooden box, with a wooden lid with holes with a 40W lamp inside. I put her cage during the winter on the top of that box in a way that only half of the cage will be placed directly over the (holes)heat lamp. That keeps the temperature in the cold end around 80 and in the warm end around 88F.When she is cold she will stay longer on the warm end and vice versa.

No, my croc is not fast. You can easily take it when you clean the cage.Most of the times crocs freeze and even cry (yes they can vocalize) when they are REALLY scared. But when they cry its because they are close to have a heart attack so be careful.

When my croc sees me opening her cage she runs to hide in her wet hide so i took the wet hide with her inside and put in a shoe box until i finish cleaning.

Croc husbandry is very easy what makes croc skinks VERY easy to raise but dont try to play with them or to allow them to free roam on the top of your desk because they are shy and dont like such an interaction.In my opinion they are more display pets.The need to respect their shy temperament imho is the main difference between raising croc skinks and leo geckos.

Flavia

"How big of a tank do you suggest?
Do you mist the tank at all? Or is the large water dish and the moist hide enough for humidity?
How do you keep the temp up? A night bulb?
Are these guys fast? Would it be easy enough to pick one up when i'm cleaning the cage?
Thanks."

I would like to get a croc, but im having second thoughts. Are they really as delicate as you made them out to be? I would be afraid of giving the skink a heart attack just from reaching in to change its water..
-----
0.1.0 Blue Tongue Skink
1.0.0 Pixie Frog
0.0.1 African Dwarf Frog
0.0.1 Ornate Horned Frog
0.0.1 Firebelly Toad
0.0.1 Firebelly Newt
1.0.0 Fire Salamander
2.0.3 Florida Bark Scorpions
0.0.1 Emperor Scorpion
1.0.0 Flatrock Scorpion
1.2.0 African Giant Millipedes
2.0.0 Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches
0.0.1 Chilean Rosehair Tarantula
1.0.0 Hamster!
1.0.0 Ugly Cat
1 Small freshwater aquarium
Grunngg@yahoo.com

No, lol! Its not like that!I handled mine a lot trying to find out if she was a boy or a girl. She doesnt like to be handled and doesnt get used to it.After 3 years having her she allows me to pet her head and even to take her out of the cage for a few minutes without freezing or crying or runing away like crazy.For instance she got used to be chin rubbed!lol!But her cage must be in the shadow.She hates to be in a sunny place or in a very bright place.She feels threatened.Croc skinks are crepuscular, they love early mornings and early evenings and they hide when the sun becomes too bright.IMHO handling them too much in the long term will make their lives shorter.They are sweet and they recognize the owner.Its a good pet with a shy but nice temperament.Mine never tried to bite me and never displayed a black beard when i come closer like my male beardie often does!lol!I think their temperament is mid way between leo geckos and anoles.Not as tamable (english?) as leo geckos but not as wild and scared as anoles.

Another important thing: When you handle yours be careful with falls. Croc skinks can jump very fast without previous notice and even a 1,5 meter fall can hurt or eventually kill your croc skink.Yes, sometimes you think the croc skink is frozen-scared and suddenly it jumps from your hands directly to the floor!