# Shinglebacks



## jbowers (Nov 17, 2010)

Hey,

I'm considering getting a shingleback at some stage in the (hopefully) not too distant future. As I understand it they are excellent (for a reptile) handlers and not easily stressed by that sort of thing. There slow speed and large size means I can feel comfortable letting him out and about with me around the house.

Anyway, I have 'keeping and breeding australian lizards' so I have some info from there, but I still have a couple of questions that i'd like to get popular opinion on.

Enclosure size for 1 should be 3-4x2x1.5 minimum, basking spot 40 degrees, rough rock to aid sloughing and a few hides available, yes?

What should I be feeding them? Are salad greens/dog food really a good choice?

What kind of substrate do you recommend using? Is sand ok if a feeding bowl is used?

Cheers,
James


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## LippyM (Nov 17, 2010)

Shinglebacks are great lizards! They have great personality and love to explore.

My tanks are 4x2 glass tanks, with half and half substrate ... Astro turf or something flat like vinyl tiles or marine carpet down the food & water end and a paper based cat litter like Dr Harrys or Breeder's Choice down the warm end separated by a row of heavy rocks. Shinglebacks, like bluetongues, like to burrow down in their substrate so sand may be ok if it is not too dense. Don't just leave them on something flat because they do like to get down under.

Shinglebacks usually aren't picky eaters, and they tend to take to veggies more readily than most sub species of tiliqua. You can mix a bit of dog food in with some veggies like squash and zucchini, button mushrooms, and Chris1 on here says they love steamed cauliflower. Mine eat tomato, okra, pumpkin ... really you can try most vegetables. You can give them a bit of fruit; blueberries and strawberries are great, banana in moderation and grapes are ok. You can occasionally give them some egg, scrambled or raw.

They will appreciate most grubs and insects such as snails, centipedes, beetles, worms, cicadas, silkworms etc.
If you're catching them from your garden, keep them for 3-4 days first to ensure they haven't been baited.

Depending on where you live, you may have to keep an eye on humidity. Nothing to strenuos, but if you live in a humid place then you might want to omit a waterbowl and only offer them water only every couple of days, or ensure good airflow in your room. I get around this by having open top tanks for good airflow. Mine always have water, they love a good drink.

I keep my shinglebacks on the warmer side, and in addition to their basking spot they have a low wattage UTH as well. A 40 hot spot is great as is a couple of hides, and yes chuck in a few rocks or logs to help when it's shed time.

Good luck with your purchase!

This is an example of one of my skink tanks. This one's for a bluetongue but all my skink tanks are generally the same.




Santos & She's the Fastest


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## AllThingsReptile (Nov 17, 2010)

LippyM said:


> Shinglebacks are great lizards! They have great personality and love to explore.
> 
> My tanks are 4x2 glass tanks, with half and half substrate ... Astro turf or something flat like vinyl tiles or marine carpet down the food & water end and a paper based cat litter like Dr Harrys or Breeder's Choice down the warm end separated by a row of heavy rocks. Shinglebacks, like bluetongues, like to burrow down in their substrate so sand may be ok if it is not too dense. Don't just leave them on something flat because they do like to get down under. DAUM that is one great setup looking ese
> 
> ...


DAUM, that setup looks very nice..

i really like shinglebacks, and was originally going to get one as my first lizard, the info that lippy has posted all sounds good
..wait, they can eat centipede's?, what about their venom, or doesnt it effect shinglebacks?


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## LippyM (Nov 17, 2010)

lizardboii said:


> ..wait, they can eat centipede's?, what about their venom, or doesnt it effect shinglebacks?


 
All my skinks love centipedes, just the standard brown ones of which there are heaps here after all the rain we've had. They don't like the small black ones with red legs as much, and I've never tried the weird looking ones that have bitey bits. Just your average brown centipede goes down a treat though!

And I forgot lawn grubs that look like small witchety grubs that turn into black beetles. Mine love those as well. The grub, not so much the beetle. But they love christmas beetles.

Grubs and insects are great sources of protein for skinks, plus chuck in some snails for calcium content from their shells, a few bits of veggies or flowers from the garden (nasturtiums, dandelions, daisies etc) and you'll have a healthy skink.

That's the great thing about lizards, you can feed them 'people food' so you don't need to buy anything different to what you would for yourself !


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## jbowers (Nov 17, 2010)

Oh couple more things. How often should I feed an adult? Do they go in to brumation in the winter?


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## jbowers (Nov 20, 2010)

Bump for previous question?


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## reptilife (Nov 20, 2010)

I have numerous Shinglebacks in an outdoors enclosure and I live in a fairly cold part of Vic (Sth West Coast).
My lot go into brumation during the cold months, but will show themselves during winter on the odd warm day we may have though. 
I offer food to my guys every day except over winter when I rarely see them.
I don't know that I need to feed every day, but I have lots of lizards of various species in together and the food always seems to get eaten. Weather they are ALL eating every day I don't know. I would imagine feeding every second day would suffice.
I also ensure my lot have a constant supply of snails in the pen too, so I know they will never go hungry.


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## LippyM (Nov 22, 2010)

Mine are kept indoors and they also brumate, usually earlier than my bluetongues but they wake earlier also. My shingles go down in March and wake late July or early August, whereas blueys go down as late as June but don't wake till last August or September even.

I feed my adults about 3 times a week. That may be a full plate of dog food and veggies, or 3 -4 snails, or a few bits of meat. On non feed days I chuck them a few blueberries. 

Keep them warm and dry and you should have a happy, healthy shingleback. Although, you might get an amorous male like one of mine, in which case you might need to provide a bride as well


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