Hi everyone, I have a question about what a fair price would be for a 3 year old blue tongue skink? I am looking for one and have been told about this guy in my local area who is selling his 3 year old blue tongue for 90.00 to me this seems kinda high for an adult skink who is 3 years old. this is just for the skink no tank or other items are included. The reason he is wanting to get rid of his skink is he wants to focus more on bearded dragons. Thanks in advance for any and all input on this question. Bobby
That price is decent I have seen babies for $100 and above. Your going to want a big tank though, at least I would say a 30 gallon.
I got my Irian Jaya BTS at just under 1 year old for $175.00. I'd say you're getting a good deal if the animal is healthy. Keep in mind a lot more has gone into this animal than say a BTS that's only a month old. Personally I think that's just a crappy thing to do. How long will it be until he's bored with a beardie(I hope to God if he's going to breed he understands what that all entails because he WON'T make any money at it for at least a couple of years.)? I think he ought to just give you the skink. BTW, if he's planning breeding beardies will you please show him this link? http://www.reptilerooms.com/Sections+index...-16-page-1.html Blueys are awesome, BTW! Congrats!!
Thanks for the input Wideglide, I havent made contact with the person who has the skink yet, tryong to get some things in place first and I am doing lots of research on blue tongues so i know what to look for and all. the person i received the info from is a friend of my wifes and she told her that the skink has been held a lot and is tame which is what i am looking for, but i plan on asking him a lot of questions about it first and also going to look at the animal myself. I would love it if he would just give it to me, but i doubt he will i will make him an offer lower than what he is asking and see if he goes for it. I already own a Bearded dragon so i am familur with the care of beardies and from what i have read to care for a skink is almost the same as keeping a beaded up. It will be nice to have them eating the same things as for greens and worms as this will help with the food situation we have as our bearded doesnt eat all of the big bunches of greens and stuff we buy for him and it usually goes bad and we have to throw whats left out. I figured a BTS should be housed in at least a 50 gallon tank thats the size tank we have for our almost grown bearded. Also i have a question to ask anyone who is knowlegeable on this will the blue tongue skink be able to take soaks in the bathtub 2 or 3 times a week like our bearded dragon does? or will this not be good for him? The hardest think will be how to give them both attention but that should be easy to overcome i already spoil our bearded dragon to death so adding a skink to spoil shouldnt be that difficult. Thanks again to everyone for all the advice everyone is always helpfull here if i have a question about my bearded dragon. Bobby
Sorry about getting on my little soapbox there! I rarely soak my BTS but that doesn't mean it's going to hurt them if you do, I just don't know if they're as keen about it as a beardie is. Keep in mind your BTS should have about 50/40/10 plant matter/animal matter/fruit. Your beardie shouldn't be eating that much animal matter as an adult. The care for them really is about the same except you're not supposed to have to provide UVB for blueys. I use a MVB regardless, though. If you don't use UVB make sure use calcium with D3 in it. I've got my BTS in a 40 gallon breeder (36x18x18) and I think it's too small for him at this point. He'll be going to a 75 soon. You're looking for floor space and don't much need to worry height. As far as giving either one of your lizards don't feel bad if you have to give less attention to either as they really couldn't care less. They will do just perfectly fine if you never give them any attention other than to provide their basic needs.......so don't worry about that part of your new addition. Here's a great site for BTS care: www.bluetongueskinks.net
Thanks for all your advice Rob, Do you have a preferred substrate to put ths skink on? I was considering aspen shaveings so it can root and burrow and all that is there something else that is good that might be less expensive or is this bedding material about the best? Also i do plan on using a UVB/UVA flouresent light for him i mighjt not be able to afford it right off but he will have one. I am guessing i can use the same Vitamin supplements and calcium i use for my bearded dragon is that correct? Thanks Bobby
Glad I can help! I use carefresh for a substrate but that gets a little pricey. Aspen is fine too and I've been thinking about switching to it lately. What supplements are you using for your bearded dragon?
I forget the name of the manufacturer of them they are in the white plastic containers the multivitamins have a blue label on them and the other is calcium with d3 if my memory serves me right and it has a pinkish color label on it i think it may be made by rep cal maybe. Also i called my local reptile store and they have a used i think he said breeder tank that measures 48x36 he said for 80.00, does that seem like a good price for a tank that size? Thanks Bobby
Yep, that's the stuff. Those are the best supplements you can buy! As far as $80.00 for a used breeder tank that is 48x36 I'd say that's not bad. That's an unbelievably huge tank! Are you sure it's 48x36?
I am not 100% sure but thats what the owner told me over the phone i am going to run up there tonight and check it out and if it is in good shape see if they will hold it for me till payday. He said it came with the screen lid also. if it is he will have plenty of room to roam it sounds like
I'm guessing it's a 40gal. breeder tank which is 36x18x18. If that's the case then $80.00 for a used one is not a good deal at all. For a used one I'd pay maybe $40.00. See what he's got a 75 gallon regular aquarium priced at.
Ok, I was able to get the skink from the guy for 100.00 he also is including with that a 55 gallon long tank a 3' flouresecnt UVB light and repti bark for the substrate. the skink is around 3 yrs old and he said it is very tame. He sent me a picture of it and it looks really good. We are picking it up on Saturday, Hopefully all will go well wit it. I don't think this was too bad of a deal myself as i have priced what it would cost for me to get one at my local reptile store and it would be over 200.00 or close to it for the same setup, his original asking price was 150.00 but i offered him 100.00 for it and he took it he was in a hurry to get it out of the way. Bobby
If you got a healthy skink and all that equipment for $100.00 then I'd say you got a great deal! I'd ditch the bark, though. You want to use something they can burrow in and while they can burrow into the bark none of it will hold it's shape. Use something like aspen or carefresh and I think your skink will be much happier. Congrats on the new addition!!
Thanks Rob, I am excited to give this guy a new home. I will go with the aspen as you suggested. also i have a couple of questions to throw at you, the first is does the skink need UVB lighting? the reason i ask this is because my bearded dragons UVB light went out on me a couple of weeks ago and it hasnt had any uvb rays since then and it will be a little longer untill i can get the fixture replaced so i was going to use the one am getting saturday for my bearded untill i can get his replaced so would it hurt the skink to go without the uvb all together or for a short while till i can get my beardies replaced? Also is there a list of foods for blue tongue skinks to eat on the site or elsewhere like there is for bearded dragons for fruits veggies meats etc.? Thanks again Bobby
I've heard that BTS's do not need UVB by people I trust. I've also heard some of those same people use UVB anyway so that's what I choose to do. But to answer your question I'd say no, BTS's do not need UVB so having him go without for any length of time is okay. I'd us a calcium supplement with D3 in it if you go that route, though. If you go to the link below you'll see a couple of documents on food about halfway down the page you can download. http://www.bluetongueskinks.net/care.htm Glad I can help out!
Hi Rob and everyone we got the Skink today it is in perfect condition and very tame. Now i have a question on the bedding, I read somewhere that if you are going to use aspen bedding to get the shaved kind and not the more splintered up kind that has the small stick like pieces in it, I looked at petsmart today and all they have is the smaller splintery kind will this be ok to use does anyone know? if not does anyone have a link where you can purchase the shaved aspen bedding? Thanks Bobby
Sorry, can't help you there. I looked briefly into that and when I couldn't find the different kinds I decided on carefresh. I also didn't like the idea of any type of splinters possibly getting lodged in my bluey's nose and really didn't understand how the type of cut was going to make that much difference. That's just my opinion, though and others have used Aspen successfully so I will say if you can find the type that's recommended you'll probably be okay but don't use the other type.
