Hello
Im a fairly new owner of a female fire skink. Im trying to get pointers on making her comfortable and keeping her happy. Shes in a 55 gallon long bioactive enclosure. She has UVB and adequate heating. She rarely comes out though. I’ve supplied plenty of hides and foliage. I release calcium dusted crickets in hopes she is finding them and eating. Is this normal behavior? When i handle her she settles down very nicely and is a dream to work with. Shes quickly winning me over as one of my favorite reptiles in my reptile room. Any advice?
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as far as I know them hiding out and staying burrowed is normal
I also read that they do lose the fear of people “fairly” fast
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Awesome. Im still trying to figure her out. Its just a little unnerving to not know for sure if shes eating. When i see her its when I’m in her enclosure making noise. Otherwise shes burrowed somewhere. I know they are diurnal. Yet she’s never active.
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They stay hidden roughly 85% of the time. They are burrowers in nature and only come out to eat, breed, and get water. Rarely will they bask or anything of the sort. DO NOT release crickets into her enclosure. Not only does that risk impaction, but it also risks your lizard being eaten on by the crickets. Pinch their back legs off and leave them in a dish they can’t escape from if you plan on using crickets. Dubias, black soldier fly larvae, silkworms, and small hornworms are better options though (also leave them in a dish, as impaction is still a threat). Is she a wild caught animal? Most are wild caught, so if she is an adult I would assume so.
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I dont know if shes wild caught. Craigslist find. I tried dubias in a dish. She showed zero interest. I wish she would eat dubias since i breed them
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More than likely wild caught then. Try putting her in a tub with paper towels to get a fecal sample to test for parasites so she doesn’t die unexpectedly. Put multiple dishes around her enclosure, as it is rather big for such a small lizard. Leave em in there along with ones with crippled cricket and she will eat em eventually. They can go quite some time without food so long as they are of a healthy weight. You could also try feeding her using tongs while you have her out.
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Shes been fecal tested. Negative ( im a vet tech lol) her weight is great too
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That’s good, means the previous person that had her treated her. The multiple food bowls trick should work, but it is generally pretty easy to get them to eat from tongs, or just from a table while you have her out. When full grown they only need to eat every 2-3 days. But still, don’t release food in her enclosure as impaction is a real possibility in a bioactive setup, especially crickets. I have seen crickets kill lizards by eating into their abdomen.
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I recently took in a fire skink, set it up in a big decked out cage with all the caves and foliage it could ask for, and then… nothing. A good 6 weeks passed… no food intake, no sign of life. I dug him out and set him up in a much smaller enclosure. Now he eats every day without fail. I leave dubia or mealworms in a glass bowl and he comes out and eats every last bug every day. Try downsizing and see if you can get him comfy and eating that way.
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