Hello all, Zach Jaffe here from 214Reptile glad to announce my newest project I will be undertaking…breeding sandfish skinks (scincus scincus)! I have loved this species for quite a while for numerous reasons (alien bodies, weird feet, interesting lifestyle, etc.) but have always been disappointed by the lack of availability of captive bred ones. I am a strong believer in always buying captive bred only as I am a bit of a tree hugger who has always had a passion for nature and wildlife, never wanting to hurt or detract from either. Today, I put my foot down and decided to tackle this problem myself. So as the title states, I have placed an order for sixteen females and four males, have already acquired cages, substrate, hides, lighting (uva, uvb, and heat) and am ready to stare down one of the most difficult challenges I have ever taken on, breeding a species of which very little is known. The reason I am posting here is I have read of few and far between instances of successful captive breeding but I am unable to locate verifiable sources. Any resources anyone can point me towards would be greatly appreciated. I will be sure to post updates as I progress down this journey. I look forward to the difficulties ahead and cannot wait to start working with these fascinating creatures!
I just looked them up and they look like a sand boa, leopard gecko, and blue-tongued skink combined. Super cool! I might have to try keeping these someday. I think it’s awesome that you’re going to try breeding this species. As far as captive breeding I think your best bet will be to learn as much as you can about their wild behavior and try to replicate it as much as you can (which might mean getting bigger enclosures for breeding them for example). Good luck and I can’t wait for updates. 
That’s really cool! I also have a strong desire to breed a species that is only available wild caught. Not sure what species I’d want to work with yet, but it’s a goal for the future. Please post pictures of those little weirdos when they arrive!
I agree with everyone- this sounds very exciting & I’d love to see pics & get updates. 
Alright ya’ll so here is my first progress update! I received all 20 of the sandfish skinks I ordered (4 males, 16 females) alive and well. Next, I set up their tanks: 3x 40 gallon breeders, and 1x Custom 3’ x 2’ Enclosure. For each tank I chose a crushed walnut desert blend substrate as I am always scared of potential impaction risks and I have heard the calcium sand can be over-consumed and cause problems. I set up a UVB 10.0 strength light bar above each cage and placed them all in my desert reptile room (ambient temperature around 90-95 during the peak hours of the day). I placed a water bowl in each cage and dechlorinated the water before placing the skinks inside. I went with one male to four females for each enclosure. Before placing them inside their enclosures I mixed up some dewormer with some fluker’s appetite stimulant just for piece of mind and I dosed each one (I would have treated for mites as well but I saw no evidence of them). For the first three days I left them alone for the most part besides monitoring the temperature and humidity and feeding them calcium and vitamin dusted crickets. After the three day period of peace and quiet I cleaned all their cages today and took some pictures which I will attach to this post (check out my Instagram for videos of the little cuties). So far so good, everyone seemed very alert and plump when removed from their faux sand and I discovered quite a bit of poop when combing through the sand to clean it. All-in-all I’m really impressed with these guys and girls so far and cannot wait to begin attempting to stimulate reproduction in them!
Following this thread from the Waxahachie, TX area. Those little guys are awesome!
They are really cute!
Ooh this is exciting! I have wanted to keep these guys for at least the last decade, but I just can’t support the WC. Especially for a species that is elusive, so that the IUCN doesn’t really know how they’re doing. I’m rooting for you, and hope you’re successful for both the interest of the species and the interest of keeping one myself someday. You are awesome!
Kudos to your new breeding project. Such underrated interesting lizards!! Just a heads up. I used crushed walnut for years…without issue… but one of my sand boas began having odd skin problems I couldn’t figure out…& he would shed & be fine again. Then the same problem started happening with another. After as much research as I could get my hands on. I found out you can use crushed walnut as a hack to clean Brass!! Its extremely abrasive!! Itll literally but tiny micro cuts in there skin if they are moving around abunch…same with their intestines if swallowed. Ive sence switched to play sand mixxed with zilla brand jungle mix. No more skin issues!!!
& yes the only thing Calicium sand is good for is building expensive sand castles!! Lol Good luck with your project!! Having some CBB of these awesome lizards is definitely a step in the right direction for the hobby!!
Welcome to the Community!!
Any updates on the project?