Blue-tongued Skink (Tiliqua scincoides)

🌟 1. Appearance and Identification

Shape and Size:
– They have a slender, elongated body with short legs and a strong head.
– Adults typically reach 45–60 cm (18–24 in) in length.

Color and Pattern:
– Body colors can vary from grayish-brown to tan to orange stripes and bands – typically with darker bands across the back and sides.
– The blue tongue is a characteristic defensive pearl – it expands it when stressed or fleeing from a predator to appear larger and more unsightly.

Sexual Differences:
– Males are often more robust with a more massive head than females.

Maturity:
– They usually reach sexual maturity around 2 years of age.

🏡 2. Subspecies and Groups

Tiliqua scincoides has several recognized subspecies:

T. s. scincoides – Eastern Blue-tongued Skink (eastern Australia).

T. s. intermedia – Northern Blue-tongued Skink (northern Australia), often larger and heavier.

T. s. chimaerea – Tanimbar Blue-tongued Skink (Indonesia).

These subspecies differ in color shades, behavior and slightly different humidity requirements — e.g. Indonesian forms often need higher humidity than Australian ones.

Note: There are other species of blue-tongued skinks (e.g. Tiliqua gigas, Tiliqua multifasciata, Tiliqua nigrolutea), but in terrariums T. scincoides is the most common.

🌍 3. Natural environment and habitat

In nature, Tiliqua scincoides lives in a variety of habitats in Australia — from open forests and grasslands, through bush fields to adjacent gardens and soils with leaf or stone cover. They are diurnal (active during the day) and spend the day foraging and basking on the edges of covered areas.

🧠 4. Nature and Behavior

Peaceful and calm: They are generally great for beginner keepers due to their calm nature and tolerance for handling.

Alert when threatened: When they feel threatened, they puff their bodies, hiss, and stick out their blue tongues as a defense.

Tail automosis: They can shed their tails when extremely threatened, which then regrow — although not always in their original shape.

Diurnal behavior: Active during the day, searching for food, cover, and sunny spots.

Social relationships: Prefer solitary — multiple individuals together can lead to conflicting behavior and stress.

🏠 5. Terrarium and care requirements
🖼️ Terrarium

Size: An adult skink needs a spacious terrarium, ideally at least ~120 × 60 × 60 cm or larger, as they are quite large and active on the ground.

Substrate: earth-bark substrate, coconut husks, paper substrates or reptile fabric; also provide a burrow box layer for natural behavior.

Decor: hiding places, bark fragments, shallow dives with decorations and basking areas.

🌡️ Temperature and light

Temperature gradient: daytime temperature around 24–32 °C, with a heated area up to about 35 °C; can drop at night.

UVB light: necessary for proper vitamin D3 synthesis and calcium metabolism — a quality UVB source with a daily cycle of ~10–12 hours.

💧 Humidity

For Australian forms, humidity is suitable ~40–60%; Indonesian ones may need higher humidity (60–80%) depending on the subspecies.

💦 Water

Replenish a shallow bowl of clean water daily — skinks drink willingly and sometimes even dip into the water.

🍽️ 6. Nutrition and feeding

Tiliqua scincoides are omnivores — they eat live insects, plant parts and small animal components.

Live insects: crickets, grasshoppers, cockroaches, larvae (e.g. mealworms, superworms).

Plant components: leafy vegetables (e.g. beets, dandelions), small pieces of fruit in small quantities.

Ratios: young skinks have more insects, adults prefer a mixed diet of 50/50 insects:plants.

Supplements: Sprinkle calcium on food daily and multivitamins once a week for proper bone growth and mineralization.

🩺 7. Health and Common Problems

Although skinks are hardy, improper care can lead to:

🐍 Metabolic Bone Disease (MBD)

A result of UVB or calcium deficiency, leading to bone deformities and weakness.

🫁 Respiratory Infections

Common in low temperatures and humidity without proper ventilation.

🪱 Parasites

External (fleas/mites) and internal parasites — manifest as lethargy, diarrhea, or decreased appetite.

🩹 Coat and Skin Problems

Improper molting (dysecdysis) in low humidity; keeping a moist corner in the terrarium helps with molting.

✂️ Claw Problems

Claws grow back and need adequate wear; in captivity, occasional trimming will keep the legs healthy.

🧬 8. Reproduction

Tiliqua scincoides is ovoviviparous — the young are born alive after developing in the uterus.

Number of young: usually 5–20 young in one litter.

Maturity: Sexual maturity about 2 years and more.

⚖️ 9. Advantages and disadvantages of breeding
👍 Advantages

✔ Calm and tolerant nature - suitable even for beginners.
✔ Relatively easy care, if the basic PROs are met.
✔ Long life: can live 15–30 years in captivity.
✔ Interesting behavior: foraging, defensive blue tongue, intelligent reactions.

👎 Disadvantages

✘ They need a spacious terrarium - lack of space leads to stress.
✘ Need for UVB light and temperature gradient — not an "easy fix" if you don't have the right equipment.