Cohabitation is a very important issue with territorial reptiles like the Blue Tongues Skink, which tends to prefer a lot of isolation in its terrarium along with a lot of hiding places. Therefore, cohabitation is something that is strongly advised against especially if you are new to keeping BTS reptiles. The key to cohabitation is understanding the moods and behaviors of the two reptiles in isolation as well as together.
Some skink reptiles may have the friendly and pleasant personality of putting up with other skinks especially of the same gender. However, most skinks will be territorial and may not allow the introduction of another reptile into their terrarium. Some male reptiles might not mind the presence of the females especially when it is the breeding season.
The reason why cohabitation is generally not recommended because you may think that the skinks can get along well together and they may even be exhibiting that behavior. It is also possible that you can have them live happily in the same terrarium for months but blue tongue skinks are very unpredictable reptile and if for any reason, they get irritated by each other, they will get into a fight and the probability is that one of them will end up losing a finger, nail or even its tail.
These reptiles are used to living alone in the wild, hunting alone and generally staying away from other skinks. If you keep two or more skink reptiles in cohabitation, chances are that even if they are not violent towards each other, they might undergo stress or they might transmit disease from one other. They will also have to compete for the basking spot as well as for the special hiding spots in the terrarium.
Many breeders argue that keeping each lizard in a different enclosure is just too expensive however; it is still the safest option if you want your pet reptiles to be happy and protected. This is why if you are starting out as a new skink keeper; keep just one reptile for at least a year or so before experimenting with keeping multiple BTS reptiles. If you have a large outdoor enclosure, then it is possible for you to keep two or more reptiles in that enclosure because there will be lots of basking points and hiding spots for all the reptiles. The breeders tend to keep these reptiles together but they have the experience and tact to allow them to keep two reptiles together for cohabitation and breeding purposes.
