# Pink Tongue Skink Keepers



## Mitch.11 (Nov 10, 2018)

Anyone got any photos of their Pink Tongue Skink enclosures? And would you say UV lighting is essential with these guys as they are primarily nocturnal?


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## Stompsy (Nov 12, 2018)

I don't use UV at all for my Pinkies... never have. Mine tend to come out only in the late afternoon and stay up quite late after their lights have turned off at night. I have the lights on a timer for a few hours in the morning and then several in the afternoon. I don't think UV would hurt but I've never had any issues without it... and my female is again pregnant this year after a successful litter of 17 last year. 

Don't have pictures of my setup atm, sorry.


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## baker (Nov 12, 2018)

I've never used UV-B for either of my pink tongues, however supplying a low level of UV-B (~2.0 or 5.0 at most) certainly wouldn't harm them.

Here is an older photo of the enclosure my male is in.







Cheers, Cameron


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## nuttylizardguy (Nov 13, 2018)

what are their tempaments like ?


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## Stompsy (Nov 14, 2018)

nuttylizardguy said:


> what are their tempaments like ?



They vary. My breeding pair are sweethearts and the two hold backs from their litter last year are also now starting to become used to handling.

I do have another female, but she's bitey and pooey as all buggery.... we just leave her to her own devices.


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## Sdaji (Nov 14, 2018)

I've bred consecutive generations of skinks without them seeing any UV, natural or artificial. This includes diurnal, sun-loving skinks. I tried doing it with and without UV for a couple of generations and there was zero difference. I strongly recommend giving them calcium and multivitamin supplements though.


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## nuttylizardguy (Nov 14, 2018)

Sdaji said:


> I've bred consecutive generations of skinks without them seeing any UV, natural or artificial. This includes diurnal, sun-loving skinks. I tried doing it with and without UV for a couple of generations and there was zero difference. I strongly recommend giving them calcium and multivitamin supplements though.



It's easy and relatively cheap to install a nano hood under the lid a tub or a tank , and use a 5% or 10% UVB compact (13W or 26W depending on the size (height) of the tub or tank) , so why not provide UVA & UVB for the captive skinks ?
Doesn't cost much to run a 26W compact UVB globe even with the cost of electricity as it is now , so IMO if it doesn't harm the skinks , and might actually be beneficial to their health , more +s than -s , so I provide UVA & UVB to my skinks.

What I don't do is buy encheapo Chinese made knockoffs like Reptile One or Natural Selections brand UV globes.


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## Sdaji (Nov 14, 2018)

nuttylizardguy said:


> It's easy and relatively cheap to install a nano hood under the lid a tub or a tank , and use a 5% or 10% UVB compact (13W or 26W depending on the size (height) of the tub or tank) , so why not provide UVA & UVB for the captive skinks ?



Because it does nothing for them.

An even cheaper and quicker way to achieve absolutely nothing is to send me half the price of the UV gear.

If you like wasting time and money, I have plenty of tasks I can offer you 

Or, alternatively, you can use that time and effort to provide stuff for your animals which actually is beneficial. Call me crazy, call me insane, but doing research and learning about what animals need and providing that rather than random stuff of no benefit seems to be a good way of doing things.


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