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!
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