Caresheet
Recommendations on skink set up
Description
Cyclodomorphus gerrardii, the pink tongued skink (PTS), is native to Australia and named after its distinctive pink tongue. Interestingly, pink tongued skink babies are born with blue tongues (like their skink cousin, the blue tongued skink), though it changes to pink as they mature. This is a medium sized species, reaching an adult length of about 18 inches (45cm). They are semi-arboreal, possessing a long, semi-prehensile tail that assists them when climbing. They have sharp nails for gripping branches, and will also dig down and bury themselves when kept in enclosures with soft substrate such as soil or moss.
As babies, they have pronounced dark banding that eventually fades as they reach sexual maturity. Adults can still have banding but it’s usually more dispersed with a speckled appearance. Variation in colour and banding is growing in captivity due to careful breeding with skinks varying from deep black and brown speckles all over their body (usually with pale heads) to pale, yellow-pink skinks with distinct, thin bands.
PTS are long lived reptiles, capable of living up to 20 years in captivity. This means one should give careful thought before purchasing this lizard as it will be with you for quite some time.
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Temperament
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PTS are docile and personable little lizards. As babies and juveniles, they might be a little defensive; hissing and opening their mouth wide in an attempt to intimate you. Occasionally, a baby might bite but they are too small to do any damage (at this size, a bite won’t even break the skin). As the skink grows in size, gentle handling will ensure that they become docile and tame over time. I’ve had skinks that were handled very rarely as babies and they still grew into docile, easy to handle adults.
Once your skink is used to you, you might find that they seek out your presence; coming to the front of their enclosure and scratching at the glass to be let out. PTS are curious explorers and seem to enjoy the enrichment of being outside of their enclosure. I do not recommend putting your skink on the ground when out of their enclosure as they could easily get away from you. They also feel safer when up high and you might find that they will climb up onto your shoulder (or even head!) to hang out and watch the world go by.
Although handling is important to build a connection with your pet and let them get used to you, if your skink is particularly defensive or runs from you, consider trying again another day. I don’t recommend ever forcing an interaction unless absolutely necessary, such as providing vet care or medications.
Housing & Heating
Because PTS are semi-arboreal and enjoy burrowing, I recommend an enclosure that allows for a substrate of at least 4 inches, with enough height for branches and vines to climb. The bare minimum would be a 15 gallon but 20+ gallons will be much better for a single adult skink. If you decide to house pairs or trios, I recommend 30+ gallons. Personally, I house my adult pairs in Large/Wide Exoterra, although their Large/Tall would also be suitable.
These are large enough to provide plenty of branches and other items for climbing, multiple hiding holes, a deep substrate for digging, and a good heat gradient.
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For substrate, I recommend an amphibian-safe soil such as Happy Frog Potting Soil.
Regular potting soil can be used but I’ve found that these often contain some debris (such as plastic or wood chips) or fly eggs, which can quickly become a real problem. At this time, I exclusively use Happy Frog for all my bioactive enclosures. You can also add sphagnum moss to hold moisture. Some people have had success with Repti-chips or similar wood chips mixed with coco coir.
The cool end of the enclosure should be around 75F and the warm side should be mid-80s with a basking spot ranging from 90-95F. I recommend setting up your enclosure so that the skinks can decide how close they want to be to the basking spot. Overhead lighting (such as incandescent bulbs) is better than under tank heaters, as it mimics natural daylight. I also recommend using UV bulbs in the low range (often sold as ‘tropical’ or 5.0). Night time temperature should not fall below 68F. If your house is particularly cold, consider adding an under tank heater for nighttime heat. Never use a hot-rock or similar product; these often get too hot and can cause burns.
Humidity
PTS are from subtropical regions and so require humidity in the range of 70-90%. Choosing a substrate that holds moisture well (such as soil or coco coir) is recommended, as is providing a large water bowl on the cool side, and misting the enclosure at least once a day. Getting a misting system will save you time but is a little expensive. Otherwise, you can simply purchase a spray bottle and make sure to mist thoroughly. This is particularly important with baby skinks as the misting stimulates them to drink. In my experience, it takes a while for babies to learn to drink from a bowl. Misting multiple times a day at this age is beneficial.
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Diet
In the wild, PTS predominantly eat snails and slugs. Sadly, finding snails to feed in captivity is difficult and/or expensive. Never catch wild snails to feed without first housing them for at least a week to clear out their digestive tract (and, even then, I don’t recommend this for beginners). Instead, you can purchase canned snails from brands like Zoomed and Exotic Nutrition. These come ready to feed and are a good source of protein for your skinks. Because these tend to be expensive or hard to find, I also recommend the following food items: Repashy Bluey Buffet, Beardie Buffet, and Grub Pie, poultry baby food (chicken or turkey), squash baby food, finely diced squash, diced boiled eggs, and wet cat food. You can also offer small amounts of fruit or fruit baby food as an occasional treat. I recommend feeding a predominantly insect based diet; if you can, stick to the snails and Repashy foods (which are insect based), and add the other foods listed in smaller quantities. I would caution over feeding the cat food; it’s very high protein. I mainly feed this to babies and gravid females to give them a little extra boost.
I have not had much success offering live insects such as dubia, crickets, and mealworms but you can always try and see if your skink is interested.
Supplementing with a good quality calcium powder with D3 for every other feeding is recommended. Occasionally (every 1-2 weeks), I would also add a multivitamin designed for reptiles such as Herptivite or equivalent.
Sexing & Breeding
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PTS are not sexable until they have reached sexual maturity, which varies from 6-18 months. Males are easier to identify due to the bulges at the base of their tail where their sexual organs, the hemipenes, are stored. You might even see your skink invert his hemipenes when defecating; they appear as 2 dark pink/red protrusions. Sometimes, male skinks will leave sperm plugs on the substrate in their enclosure. These look like two white/pearly coloured strands of a gel-like substance, and are made up of their seminal fluid.
I have also noticed that males become very active at the onset of sexual maturity and then each year during breeding season (late-Fall through Winter). They will roam their enclosure a great deal at night and often refuse to eat. They might engage in unusual behaviour such as coming to the front of the enclosure and clawing frequently (as if asking to be let out), or even traversing the top of their enclosure by hanging upside down with their claws hooked into the screen top! This roaming behaviour is normal and is a sign that they are looking for a female.
It has also been my experience that males have wide skulls and a longer tail compared to body length than females.
In contrast, females are sexable based on what they do not have or do not do: no hemipenal bulges, no dropping of sperm plugs, and no crazy climbing or scratching during the winter. Females often have a slightly longer body than a male with an evenly sized tail. I’ve also found females to be larger overall than the males when they reach their full size but this could just be the genetic lines I work with.
Since PTS can potentially reach sexual maturity at the young age of 6 months, I recommend separating littermates before this age to avoid accidental sibling breeding. It’s also been my experience that females mature much more slowly. Even if a female reaches sexual maturity and is capable of breeding, she might not be large enough or healthy enough to produce a strong, viable litter. I recommend waiting until female pink tongues are at least 1.5 years old or a minimum of 150g before allowing them to breed, which means not housing them with a male until this time.
This species is surprisingly easy to breed. Simply place a mature male with 1-2 mature females and let them get to it! You can either house mature pairs or trios year round, or place the male in with the females in late Fall.
Mating usually occurs at dusk or overnight so you might not witness the copulation. This can make timing the potential birth a little difficult. Thankfully, there are signs that your female is getting close to giving birth. These include: basking a great deal, going off food, and heavy breathing. I’ve found that 1-2 weeks before giving birth, my females will retreat into one of their hiding holes and barely move around. Instead, she will lie there looking like a stuffed sausage and breathing so heavily that her whole body moves up and down (almost like she is doing push-ups!). At this point, I recommend removing the female into a birthing tank. I use a 15 gallon, line it with paper towels, and provide a shallow water bowl (to prevent newborns from drowning should they find it), large hide, and appropriate basking spot. Move this tank into a quiet area of your home, away from pets, loud noises, or small children who might stress the new mother.
PTS are live birthers, and can have litters ranging in size from 10-35 babies. The babies are born in their amniotic sac with their placenta still attached. They will break through their sac and proceed to eat it and the placenta. This early meal will tide them over for 1-2 weeks and gives them a good start in the wild where their next meal would not be certain. In captivity, I start offering appropriately sized food within a few days but do not worry if babies do not eat for the first 7-10 days or so as the placenta is quite a large meal.
PTS babies are often a mere 1.5-2 inches long when born with bold stripes. They can be housed together with no fighting, although I do recommend offering multiple dishes of food so that larger babies do not monopolize the food. Although some people choose to keep the mother in with the babies, I recommend removing them to their own tank. I have never witnessed aggression or a feeding response of a mother toward her offspring but the size difference makes me concerned that she might inadvertently harm or crush her tiny offspring.
Litters can be moved to a 10-15 gallon tank with paper towels as a substrate. I recommend avoiding particulate substrates until the babies are a few months old, eating well, and clearly thriving. Just as getting their first non-placenta meal into them is a milestone so is regular defecation. Paper towels let you see that the babies are, indeed, pooping. If you notice a size discrepancy developing, I recommend sorting the babies into groups based on their size so that the smaller ones are not bullied by the larger.
Sadly, not all babies will go on to thrive. Some level of loss is normal in each litter. I’ve personally lost as much as 50% of babies from a litter, likely due to poor genetic matching of the adults (side note: I do not pair the adults again should this occur). Babies are delicate and require regular misting as they will not drink standing water, and need to be stimulated to drink by a gentle mist. Setting up an automatic misting system is highly recommended. Babies also sometimes just fail to thrive. This usually occurs after 2 weeks of age. Babies might never eat, or you might notice some that never flick their tongue. These babies are unlikely to make it even with intervention but moving them to their own tank to monitor closely is recommended.
Ultimately, if your husbandry is good, you are feeding and misting them appropriately, breed healthy, non-related adults, and yet still lose babies, it’s likely those babies were destined to fail. A sad fact of life.
For more information on how to set up your new baby skink, please see my article on the subject: PTS Baby & Juvenile Care