Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have acquired an adult monkey tailed skink recently. He is old i believe they said at least twenty, he was given away because the elderly lady could no longer care for him since her daughters passing. Im pretty sure theyve had him his whole life and was given to me in a made reptile tank about 30 gal high, with side vents and a glass top.
Anyway hes been in my care for at least a couple of months now, i tossed the top got a screen, setup the proper lighting finally and tried my best to work with what i had (im only nineteen and dont have a lot of money to work with).
i also rearranged and cleaned the moldy grapevine he was housed with and got him some nice thick horizontal basking branches and a nice cork bark hide.

if anyone has tips for the general care of him please let me know! but my real topic is a new house for him.

i just cleaned out my boiler room and put together my old ferret kingdom cage, which if anyone is familiar with either, seems to be the same as the iguana kingdom, both made by superpet. Pretty much im asking for opinions on this cage with my monkey tail. it seems like a great idea much vertical room, decent side to side movement as well. the only obvious part i see being a problem is humidity and heat which i will be modifying the cage with plexiglass in an attempt to keep the moisture and heat in. Has anyone used this cage with any arboreal lizards such as iguanas? or even a monkey tailed skink? any and all help is appreciated!

Congrats on your new skink. Hopefully, you can get him into sometype of breeding arrangement eventually.

With this species, you do have to watch the toes and make sure that the skin is fully shed (otherwise, they will lose toes, which is very bad). I would be somewhat leary of wire cages, because of possible damage to the toes and getting things 'caught' on the wire. However, a tall aboreal cage is what they need, with hides and (hopefully) live pothos ivy (a common house plant, which is one of their main food items in the wild).

Obviously, they need to warm, but not too hot. They are not real strong baskers, and will often perfer to be reclusive, even if it's too cold in the hide.

Good luck!!

For additional resources, check out the yahoo group on Corucia, and this forum:
http://corucia.myfreeforum.org/

Sincerely,
Scott Alexander
The Bay Area Amphibian and Reptile Society

I second the comments of Scott. I would tend to lean away from wire, but if it is all you have now, it will do better than the 30-gallon tall. You planned on adding plexiglass. If you are able, put the plexi on the inside of the wire cage. Even if you have to put it on the outside of the cage, at least you are enclosing it. These lizards love it hot and humid. Daytime temps in the low 90s and nighttime temps in the high 70s. Humidity should be 80-90%. Use a mixture of peat moss, coconut husk and "green" moss (not really green, but they call it that, it is sold to line hanging baskets)--all of these products are found at any garden supply store, even Home Depot. Use this mixture as the substrate, make it a couple inches thick, and keep moist like a wrung-out sponge.

The branches and cork tubes you provided sound ideal. Live Pothos is cheap and easy to obtain at any Home Depot or Lowes and is much appreciated. Provide your skink with a tub of water that he can soak in, a shoebox-sized plastic rubbermaid bin works well. They like to defecate in water and this will keep the enclosure cleaner. Thoroughly spray down the entire enclosure daily, they like to drink from the drips. As long as the substrate stays damp and the skink can hang out above the substrate if he wants to, you should not need to worry about it being too damp. Also make sure the enclosure stays warm. Damp and cold is bad. Warm and dry is better than damp and cold, but warm and moist is the best.

Feed your skink daily. Focus on greens and green beans and give fruit as a flavoring agent. You will have to experiment with what your skink will eat. In general, almost any green is accepted, even the bitter ones like dandelion, arugula, and endive. Tropical fruits, like mango and papaya, are accepted. Also kiwi, pear, peach, apple, any kind of melon, apricot, pineapple. Mine don't like berries, grapes, bananas, or tomatoes, but others do. Don't forget supplements.
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Lisa Rakestraw
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My skinks:
1.1.1 Corucia zebrata (Berman and Joni, baby Charlemagne)
1.2.2 Eumeces schneideri (Kaa, Cochisa and their babies; Mabel)
0.0.4 Egernia striolata