Buying a blue tongue skink lizard can be a tricky business especially when you are a first time buyer; it is generally seen that most of the dealers and online sellers try to sell off their sick or unhealthy lizards over internet to inexperienced purchasers. Therefore, it is very important to be careful while choosing a pet blue tongue lizard for you; the most common mistake made by people is that of buying a wild caught lizard instead of a home bred one. Wild caught skinks are very aggressive and may take a lot of time to tame or get used to human interaction; most of the time, the pet dealer may tell you that the lizard is home bred but actually it is not. You can determine it for yourself by checking for mites or other skin diseases; wild lizards usually have more parasites and skin diseases than homebred ones.
Sometimes it may happen that the lizard is in hibernation or inactive period and may look tame to you initially but it becomes aggressive as soon as it comes out of the brumation period. Apart from that, do not buy lizard by just looking at pictures online, it may happen that the pictures are photo shopped or edited, thus showing a healthy lizard when it is actually not. Another common mistake is in the determination of the sex of the reptile; people usually do not know how to differentiate between a male blue tongue skink and a female. They just believe the word of mouth of the seller and end up buying a lizard of the wrong sex.
People are also not generally aware of the fact that there are a number of different species of blue tongue reptiles, because of which they are easily, mislead by the pet stores who want to get rid of their unhealthy skink. It is very important to research thoroughly before going out to buy a pet lizard for you; most of the people do not realize that keeping a pet is a big responsibility and require a lot of time and attention. Therefore, if you are planning to get a blue tongue lizard for yourself, make sure that you pay the right price and get a good breed, healthy animal that does not give you a lot of trouble in the long run. Also, do not forget to inquire about the eating habits of the lizard you are buying, since the feeding time and amount varies from one specie to another.
