Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi

Ive been doing research on them for a while and i found all different information and i cant find anything alike. Heres some questions

1. Whats a good temperature
2. How high should the Humdity be
3. Whats a good substrate
4. Do they need a basking lamp and what wattage if they do
5. Is a 20h ok for a pair or trio
6. What is a good varied diet
7. What do they normally do
8. What should in inside the tank
9. Tell em about breeding
and thats it for now but telll me things you have noticed when keeping them.

Thanks

Big P

Truth is, I can't understrand how someone who says he's researched something for years, not have a clue as to how to deal with the things he's researched. All these questions are basic husbandry things. You say you have found conflicting information. Best bet for a situation like this is to take all the info you have for each category, such as temps and then take an average of these and start from there. In other words if you have nine different temps to go by, add them up , get an average and go from there. Same,same with substrates, cage sizes and so on. Sure there will be some adjusting to do, but that's part of making it all work. Give it a shot.

Quig

well the temperature thing is a good idea but idk if they need a basking lamp some say yes some say no. Substrate is a thing that i want to see what people have used and how good they were. I dont remember my other questions but i just want to see what people have done with theres and how it turned out and ill use that plus my info so i can make something more natural for them.

Hey, I had the same problem when I was trying to find info about these guys. I've been keeping them for about half a year now, and this is what I've experienced. They've both shed, eat like crazy, and are getting pretty plump, so I'm guessing that what I'm doing is working out for them.

>1. Whats a good temperature

I keep my guys with an ambient temperature of about 82 degrees. They like to burrow at the low end (which is usually 75 to 80 degrees, and I'm guess that it's probably cooler in their burrow. The warmer end I keep at about 88 to 90 degrees.

>2. How high should the Humdity be

I try to keep the humidity around 80 percent, but sometimes that's not too easy so I used cypress mulch and sphagnum moss which is constantly damp. Their burrow is always damp too. I keep patches of dry, but they don't seem to prefer it. I use one of those waterfalls with a mist creating device to up the humidity. They like to soak in the waterfall from time to time, and will drink directly from it too.

>3. Whats a good substrate

Cypress mulch and sphagnum moss is working out great for me. It's very easy for them to burrow in, and keeps the moisture level very high (even if the ambient humidity might only be like 60 percent).

>4. Do they need a basking lamp and what wattage if they do

I have one to simulate day light, which keeps the warm spot at around 90 degrees, but I've never seen them basking directly underneath it. I've seen the male outside sleeping in between the 82 and 90 degree sides of the tank, partially hidden in a cork hiding spot, so I'm guessing that they don't care for the light. I've seen them listed as diurnal animals, but I'm pretty sure they're nocturnal.

>5. Is a 20h ok for a pair or trio

For a pair it's definitely OK, and heard from the guy I got them from that, so long as you supply ample number of hiding spots, then a trio would be ok too for a 20 gallon long. Obviously don't house 2 males. I have a pair and they're happy sharing their burrow.

>6. What is a good varied diet

I give them gutloaded mealworms covered in calcium powder. I tried giving them crickets but they didn't seem very interested, although that may vary between individuals. They have a very interesting behavior where the male (it's the only one I've ever seen foraging) will go to the feeding dish, pick out a mealworm, and scurry back to the burrow. I don't know if it's taking it to the female (which would be amazing behavior, although unconfirmed) or what, but he does this pretty frequently. Also I see uneaten mealworms still alive in the burrow sometimes, so they may also hoard them (seeing how the dish is too deep for the mealworms to crawl out of them). He usually doesn't crunch them up right on the spot.

>7. What do they normally do

Hide and sleep. They're aren't the most active animals, but they're very cool anyway.

>8. What should in inside the tank

I have about 3-4 inches of substrate for burrowing (cypress and sphagnum) and two pieces of hollow cord for additional hiding spaces, although they just dig under it to hide. I also have a feeding dish, calcium dish, and the waterfall for humidity and water supply.

>9. Tell em about breeding

I really wish I could tell you more about this one, but unfortunately these guys haven't laid anything yet. Well, seeing how it's only been about half a year it's not unreasonable. I wish someone would give me some info on this particular aspect of their life cycle too, I'd be really interested in finding out.

Hope this helps. Good luck

Hey maybe this wil help.. sorry for any typos..
e-mail me if you have any other questions..
Thanks
Bob Sabol

Underworldreptiles@hotmail.com

Care Sheet for Red Eye Armour Skinks

Natural History: Crocodile skinks or Red Eye Armour Skinks are found mainly on the northern parts Irain Jaya and Papua, New Guinea. These skinks are usually found scurrying around the undergrowth of the forest floor, mainly located near a water source.

Physical Description: Croc skinks are a small, shy, stocky bodied skink that ranges in size about 3.5-4 inches for snout to vent length, with a total a size of about 7 inches. The body of Croc skink is usally a dark brown to flat black in color. Croc skinks have a bright orange circle running around the diameter of its eyes, that develops with age (hatching croc skinks do not have these rings). Head and body of this animal reminder me of a toy dinosaur, or medieval dragon. The head is in a shape of a triangle with head having heavily keeled scale to the rear of the skull. These keeled scales continue down the back of animal in 4 rows until reaching about half way down the tail. Croc skinks as have the ability to vocalize when disturbed or restrained. More often I have seen this in freshly wild caught animals and hatchings.

Housing requirements: I believe that single Crocodile skink can be comfortably house in a ten gallon glass aquarium, but 20 longs are a lot nicer. For Pairs and trios highly recommend at least a 20 long or higher. From my own personal observation I believe that a lot of vertical height is not considered necessary. The cage temperatures for Croc skinks should be maintain at around 80° F in the daytime to 70°F in the nighttime. When the temp rises above 85 °F the animals in my collection seem to exhibit some signs of stress. For lighting full spectrum lighting dose not seem to be need ( cool florescent bulbs are all I use) as long animal’s diet is properly supplemented. Basking light’s are also optional, if using a basking light use a lower wattage bulb (20 watts or below). For substrate I prefer a shredded coconut fibers at a depth of 3-4 inches ( Bed a Beast )( ratio of Bed a Beast I use is 1 brick for every 10 gallons of tank space), but I believe any good moisture holding material would work just fine.(examples clean top soil, peat moss, and shaguphm moss). The cage should be spot cleaned off with substrate being changed once every 2 to 4 weeks.
Croc skinks like to borrow, so I avoid putting any plants in the cage to the destruction that I have seen in the past. As mentioned up above Croc skinks are shy animals, so to reduce unneeded stress ( especially in the first few days of acclimation) try placing a slab of cork bark lying
flat on the ground. If you don’t have cork bark try using a opaque plastic lid or deli container. The Croc skink(s) will most likely make a nice hid out for themselves were they will feel safe.

Water Requirements: In captivity Croc Skinks appear to be very good swimmers, so at minimum I like to provide my animals with at least enough water to fully sub merge their entire body. (Take care when working with hatchings and juveniles to avoid drowning). If you have the ability to make the cage 1/3 to ¼ water go for it, but it gets messy quick with fecal material and substrate. The method that I found works best is a flat bottom bowl that obtains a depth about 2 to 3 inches. Recessing the bowl into the substrate provides easy access for adults to enter. ( clear plant saucers 6-8 inches in diameter are my favorite to use, they can be found at many garden supply stores). In conjunction with supplying a fresh clean water source, I mist my Croc skinks once a day just to keep the substrate damp not soaked..

Food Requirements: The main staple of Croc skinks in captivity is gut loaded crickets. The size of the cricket will depend on the age of the animal, from pinheads for hatchings to ¾ inch crickets for adults. Feeding should be done once to every other day, again it depends on the activity level and stage of life.. Younger the animal the more often. I highly recommend dusting the prey insects with a D3 multivitamin, three times a week for adults and daily for hatchings.
Other food items that Croc skinks seem to love is wax worms and butter worms. Wax worms and butter worms are great for getting reluctant animals to eat.

Reproduction / Sexual Maturity: Males can be determined from females by looking at the rear feet. Males will have a series of planter pores on the third and fourth toes that appear grayish in color, for younger animals this can be a little difficult. Not much is know about the reproductive habits of the Crocodile skinks but, from my own account the courtship ritual contains a series of head bobs displayed by the male, and then male grasping the female by the nape of the neck then sliding his tail beneath the females. I’ll let you fill in the rest of the blanks, for what happens next. After successful courtship has occurred the female will deposit one leather egg (gestation time for the egg seems to take anywhere from 30 to 60 days depending on the health of the animal). The egg is about 1 to 1.2 inches long with a diameter of about ½ inch. The egg’s of the Croc skink seem to be able to handle pretty damp conditions, so to incubate them I use shedder coconut fiber. The incubation temp found in most articles and has work well for me in the past is 75 to 78º Fahrenheit for an average of about 70 days.. After the first egg Hatches be on the look out for another egg, Females seem to lay the following egg about same time that first one is hatching. Croc Skinks usually have a clutch size of about 3 eggs per season..