Probably one of the most important things you have to take care of now that you have gotten yourself a Blue Tongues Skin is the proper temperature that needs to be maintained in the glass tank or terrarium of the reptile. This is because these reptiles are used to living in tropical regions where the temperature is hot and humid. Along with this, these reptiles like to have some place cool to hang out as well which is why acquiring the perfect temperature gradients in the tank of your reptile can be a tricky job.
First of all you will have to get a heat lamp for the reptile’s tank and you need to make sure that the lamp is neither too big nor too small. This will depend entirely on the dimensions of the glass tank that you have arranged for your reptile. The bulb that you get for the heat lamp will be another issue; if the tank has more height, you might have to get a bulb of greater strength (115 to 120 watts) while if you have a tank of lower height, you will not require a high strength bulb (100 watts).
The regular temperatures in the daytime that your blue tongue skink needs will be from 70 degree to 80 degree while the higher end temperatures will be from 95 degrees to 100 degrees. The heat lamp can help you achieve these temperatures easily in the tank. Otherwise, natural daylight can be difficult to manipulate in heating the skink’s tank up. In order to test the capability of the heat lamp, put it on the screen lid of the tank and leave it on for a few hours. Make sure the lizard is not inside the tank. Once the tank is ready, place the blue tongue skink in and check for its behavior; if it is lying on the cool side or in the water bowl all the time, then chances are that the tank is too hot and you should adjust the heat lamp settings accordingly.
If you have cats in the house, keep them away from the heat lamp because they have a tendency of knocking the lamp over. The best way to be safe in this regard is to keep the heat lamp clamped to the tank. During the night, the temperature should be no lower than 60 degrees. You can turn the lamp off for about 12 hours during the night as long as a temperature of between 60 degrees to 70 degrees is maintained. Keeping an extra bulb for the lamp handy is a good idea too.
