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Veredus

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Hey all, just wondering if anybody on here keeps Eastern Water Skinks, love to see some pics of your setups and your reptiles....
 
I keep Eastern water Skinks, but I don't own a camera.
They are one of my favourite skinks and an ideal lizard for a beginner who is not looking for a lizard to cuddle and play with. They are lizards to watch rather than handle.
Mine are in a 4' tank with a 1'x6"x4" pond built in. The tank is landscaped with rocks and plants around the pond side.
Heating, though probably unnecessary, is by a 15w Heat chord set between two tiles, placed on stones to provide space underneath and covered with sand on top.
They eat any live food, but do just as well on tinned dog food or raw mince, which makes them very easy to care for.
Lighting is by an NEC T10 Fluoro for UV light which they can bask under because several rocks provide a platform about 4" to 6" below the light, and by a Grolux fluoro tube which provides enough light for the plants to survive. The two lights together provide a normal appearance.
Plants used are broadleafed, low growing Sansivera and Bromiliads. Both are very forgiving of neglect and do well under low light. I'm having to change to these in some of my Dragon enclosures because cacti and succulents which are more appropriate as a habitat for the Dragons require too much light to stay healthy. I could put plants in pots and rotate them, but like a natural look.
Eastern Water Skinks are fascinating because they are territorial, have individual personalities and are not easily frightened.
 
Thanks for the info Dragon, that sounds like a great setup you have, how many do you have in the 4' tank?


Id still love to hear about any other setups people have or see some pictures...
 
Yes Water Skinks are great. I kept them as a kid and sometimes feel the urge to keep them again. They tame well and are dead easy to keep. Right little characters they are too!!

Shame they're not more popular.
 
I cannot get my head around why some of the smaller skink species are not more popular. Garden skinks for example would make a great watching pet, sure you cant cuddle them but they would be a fascinating creature to keep and to watch their community behaviours. And water skinks are just gorgeous little things with plenty of personality. You are right, its a shame that most people are only looking for a pet they ca cuddle and play with.
 
I only have a pair in a 4' tank. They are quite aggressive for a small lizard, but a larger number could easily be housed there if introduced carefully or raised together.

I should have mentioned: The base of the tank has a hole drilled in it with a piece of glass siliconed on to prevent escapes, but allow drainage. The top cover is square wire, as glass would stop UV light getting in and would cause the humidity to rise too much and condensation would kill plants with wet feet.

I agree that it is unfortunate that a greater variety of small skinks is not available.
 
Cant Sry

i got a realy good on but when i try to put it on it sais this


The Dimension limits for this filetype are 1024 x 768. We were unable to resize your file so you will need to do so manually and upload it again. Your file is currently 2832 x 2128.
 
You can resize pictures in photo-editing programs like Microsoft Picture it or Adobe Photoshop
 
Spaghetti

I cannot get my head around why some of the smaller skink species are not more popular. Garden skinks for example would make a great watching pet, sure you cant cuddle them but they would be a fascinating creature to keep and to watch their community behaviours. And water skinks are just gorgeous little things with plenty of personality. You are right, its a shame that most people are only looking for a pet they ca cuddle and play with.


It's pretty simple really and has nothing to do with people wanting to cuddle them. There is only as many as people breed as we are not allowed to take them from the wild. So whether people want to keep them or not, there is only as many available to be kept as are being kept right now.
 
Yes but I am guessing that situation came originally from the fact that they were not as popular for keeping/breeding as other species of reptile, therefore these days when it is not legal to take them from the wild there are not a great amount available for purchase.
 
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