In the wild:
These unique looking lizards are from South east Asia.
More specific, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.
Claiming the floor of the tropical and humid forests as their home.
Often hidden under rocks, rotting wood or leaf litter.
This habitat is currently under treat as more and more is used for Palm oil plantations.
Something that's cause cause lots ecological problems for many species of life.
Surprisingly however the skinks are slowly adapting to this new environment where they can be found in the compost heaps. While that is good news their future in the wild still remains uncertain.
Typically they venture out of their hiding spots during the morning and evening.
This is the time when they hunt for food.
Sometimes these lizards live in small communal groups.
These groups tend consist of a breeding pair and the offspring that is not old enough for reproduction.
care requirements:
- Enclosure
A enclosure 60 cm x 45 cm 45cm would be a minimum for 1 or 2 adult animals.
you can use a terrarium or a plastic tub.
Definitely go for a terrarium when you want a pet.
We started with a terrarium but we moved to a tub later on.
They seemed to be less stressed and feel more secure since we did that.
However we might try again in the future since i think a terrarium is easier to give them a more naturalistic environment.
You want a lot of cork-hides (or other hides) and fake or real plants.
Because these are a very shy and sensitive lizard.
They need to feel secure and have enough hiding options or the stress can kill them.
Additionally for the same reason i would avoid handling as mush as possible.
Branches are optional, they not great climbers and we never observed them doing so. But it can't hurt giving them the option anyway.
Something they really like is a thick layer of substrate.
Often they make their own holes and burrows inside the substrate.
If you cant find them immediately they might be hiding in ground of your enclosure or under decoration.
We use a mix of Sphagnum mos,coconut earth and coconut bark as a substrate.
But we also use the sphagnum mos to make one side of the enclosure more humid.
(its kind of placed as a carpet on top of the substrate)
and on top of this all we use dried (and sterilized) leaf litter.
Another thing... they like water!
If you manage to catch a glimpse of them 9 of the 10 times you see them in their water.
There several options,
from a water dish to a full on water part with waterfall and filter and so on.
you can keep it simple or make it very fancy.
Just keep in mind to make easy accessible to the lizards and its not too deep.
They like being in the water but are not the best swimmers out there.
- temperature and humidity
They might be a tropical lizard but these animals don't like it too hot.
The skinks do fine with a colder side around 20 to 25 degrees.
Their hotspot is ideally around 28 degrees but don't go higher then 30 degrees.
We noticed for our animals 28 degrees is just on point for them.
These hotspots can be achieved with a heat-lamp or a heat-mat.
Be sure to use a thermostat with either option to not overheat the skink. you can go towards 18 degrees at night but i would not recommend this temperature for too long at a time.
Humid conditions is where they thrive.
You should aim for at least a humidity of 70% but you can go til 90%.
If you set up your substrate well this should create a quite moist environment already.
But you can use a misting or spraying machine with a terrarium if needed.
Off course spraying manually is also a solid option.
Food:
They are mainly insectivores.
So that's most of their diet.
Don't give anything too big or they might refuse to eat it.
We give a variety of different food items.
Mealworms,Small Dubias,Isopods,crickets,silkworms and their favorite: earthworms !
Some animals might be tame enough to eat out of thongs.
But most are too shy to even eat when you are watching them.
So with new animals i always recommend a feeding dish that you keep on the same place near a hiding option.
Like that you can keep an eye on their eating while respecting their privacy.
little footnote:
These amazing little house-dragons are getting quite popular in the hobby. Why would they not be ? just look at them! However i have to warn people they are very shy animal. And this trait might not make it the best pet for you depending on your expectations.
Another thing i have to address is, please make sure you buy captive bred animals. More and more people are breeding this lizard with success. So its unnecessary to further impact the wild populations.
While it might be cheaper to buy an wild-caught crocodile skink at first or find it more available. I do not recommend acquiring an animal like that unless you are really ready to handle the issues that can arise with wild-caught animals and the long term costs involved. For 99% of keepers i would absolutely recommend to stay clear from wild-caught skinks. Get well established captive bred lizards instead. This is better for the animals, the hobby and the keepers.
Any questions ?:
If you have any more questions about this care sheet or anything else you could not find here.
Feel free to contact us !
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