Right after you have decided to get a blue tongue skink, you need to start thinking about its enclosure. Before you bring your blue tongue skink home, you need to choose, buy the terrarium and set it up. Or maybe you will even build your own DIY indoor or outdoor cage for the blue tongue? In this post, we will talk about choosing the right terrarium for your blue tongue skink, the sizes, shapes and your own DIY cage.
Before you get different accessories for the blue tongue’s tank, you need to choose the right terrarium. This will depend on some factors.
Can you house two or more blue tongue skinks together?
Remember, you must house each blue tongue skink separately as they are territorial and defensive lizards. This applies to males, females and babies.
The only exception can be Shingleback blue tongue skinks, who can live in groups of related skinks and are monogamous – which means that they choose to mate with the same partner each year! If housing two or more Shinglebacks, do it from an early age and watch them carefully.
Shingleback blue tongue skinks are seen living in colonies
Blue tongue skink ideal cage size
Let’s start by saying that most species of blue tongue skinks get quite large, and mature specimens reach 18-24 inches (46-61 cm) long. Blue tongue skinks love to more around and explore, as they are intelligent lizards. This requires space.
Northern, Blotched and Indonesian blue tongues get large, and Merauke can even reach 30 inches (76 cm) long! But however, Adelaide Pygmy blue tongue skink only reach 4-5 inches (10-13cm) long, and Shingleback blue tongue skinks – around 12-16 inches (around 30-41cm).
So, the size of the terrarium that you need to buy will depend on the species of your blue tongue skink, too. Larger species will need large tanks, but smaller species can also enjoy a bigger tank! This will only be a question of how much money or space you have for your skink.
Most blue tongue skinks reach their adults sizes by 18-36 months, but this can be even less. So, getting a smaller terrarium for your baby or juvenile blue tongue skink can be waste of money, as blue tongues grow very quickly. They often double in size during the first 3-6 months of their life! So, it can be a good idea to buy a big terrarium that your mature blue tongue skink will be housed in.
Blue tongue skinks need large, wide horizontal terrariums – not high vertical ones. They can’t climb properly, so this space will be wasted and it can be harder to heat the habitat.
What is the best terrarium to buy for my blue tongue skink?
As it was mentioned, it’s always better to buy a large terrarium for your skink straight away, as it will grow quickly. But if you want to buy a smaller terrarium for your hatchling or baby blue tongue skink first, you can do it. Here you can find few of the best terrariums for blue tongue skinks that you can find for sale.
Hatchling and baby blue tongue skinks will need an at least 20-25 gallons tank. A good choice is this Small Wide 18″ L x 18″ W x 18″ H terrarium by Exo Terra, which equals to around 25 gallons. Move your skink to a bigger permanent terrarium when it reaches 2-3 months old. You can also permanently house a small Pygmy blue tongue in this tank.
For a blue tongue skink adult, bigger the vivarium, the better. But you will need to buy an at least 40 gallon tank for a single skink. But don’t only look at gallons when choosing the terrarium – the floor space is the most important aspect and should be minimum 36 inches long, 18 inches wide and 15 inches high. If the terrarium is high, but short, it won’t be suitable.
It’s always good to choose the terrarium that has more length and width, and less height. This way your blue tongue will move around and your heating bulbs will be lower, heating the tank better. A good choice is this Large Wide 36″ L x 18″ W x 18″ H terrarium by Exo Terra, which equals 50 gallons. This terrarium will feature a top lid, waterproof base, closable inlets and doors.
All blue tongue skink species will need a terrarium that is minimum 40 gallons. Larger species will need a 50 gallon tank. The only exception can be a Pygmy blue tongue, that is very small. Even though they are rarely kept as pets, a 20 gallon terrarium will be fine.
Another great option is a good quality PVC cage, that are long-lasting (permanent home thus a good investment), look good, hold heat & humidity well. An example would be this 4 ft long custom made PVC cage.
This is a large wide terrarium by Exo Terra
Terrarium for two blue tongue skinks/breeding couple?
When breeding your blue tongue skinks, you will need to keep them both together. While the good thing is, you won’t need to keep them together for a long time, as sometimes few hours to a day is enough for copulation to happen. Male blue tongue skink is actually more likely to mate with a female that he’s just seen.
For breeding purposes, you can use a plastic container or something similar. But if you wish to accommodate them in a vivarium, you will need a habitat that is at least 60 inches long, 24 inches wide and 18 inches high. Each skink will need a hideout and some personal space to prevent them from getting territorial.
If you want to house two to three Shingleback blue tongues, you will need a tank that is at least 47″ L, 24″ W and 18″ H. Each Shingleback will need its basking spot and a hideout. But they will also enjoy spending time and laying together.
It’s always good to have a spare container in case you need to quarantine your blue tongue. It can also be used for transporting, vet visits and cleaning your main terrarium. Plastic enclosure can be good for this.
Building your own DIY blue tongue skink terrarium
Your DIY blue tongue skink terrarium can be made of following materials:
- Wood
- Plastic – not the best choice for permanent tanks
- Glass
- Metal – not good at retaining heat, but will suit hot climates
- Wire – not good at retaining heat.
Don’t use acrylic tanks, as they are easy to scratch and can become hard to see through. When building a terrarium, make sure to think ahead about heat and humidity resistance, ventilation and how you will access it for cleaning.
Making a terrarium out of wood
Wood is actually a good material for building a terrarium for your skink. This is because blue tongues need heating in the tank, so wood will hold in the heat. When choosing wood, think about moisture resistance, because wood can rot.
Any spills and misting can add to the problem. So, when choosing wood, make sure it’s moisture resistant. You will need to waterproof the tank to prevent wood from rotting.
Choose moisture resistant wood, such as marine plywood, teak, redwood (but avoid other conifers) and etc. When making a wooden terrarium, think about installing front glass doors, so that your blue tongue skink can see through.
This is very important, and if your blue tongue skink can’t see through the terrarium, it will become depressed. Front opening doors will also help with cleaning.
You will need to spray or paint the wood to make it waterproof. You can use a non-toxic marine epoxy (will need to cure it for up to a month), oil-based polyurethane or water-based polycrylic (oil-based one is more resistant to heat).
Cure the wood for 2-4 weeks in fresh air and make sure it doesn’t smell before using it as a terrarium. You will also need to seal the joints with non-toxic aquarium sealant. A terrarium made of wood will be harder to make, but will look appealing.
Plastic containers for a terrarium
Plastic container can be also transformed into a terrarium. While it will be easier to make, plastic container won’t look very appealing and it will be hard to create a naturalistic setting in one. If choosing a plastic container, make sure it’s heat resistant, because you will be heating the tank to up to 95-105 F (35-40 Celsius) degrees!
Don’t choose a plastic container unless you can’t afford another type of a terrarium. Plastic containers are also hard to see through and not nice to the touch.
Your blue tongue is inquisitive and intelligent and needs a proper cage. But, you can have a spare plastic container to place your skink in when you are cleaning the main terrarium, or for transporting.
Glass terrarium
Glass is the most popular material for terrariums. You can use a custom tank, aquarium or something similar. But when choosing a glass container, think ahead about air screen size that will fit on top of it. An air screen is a must, because glass terrarium will create a buildup or air and will require proper ventilation.
DIY blue tongue skink terrarium size
No matter which material use choose, make sure the floor area is at least 40 inches long (around 102 cm), 20 inches wide (50.8 cm) and 15 inches high (38cm) for a DIY terrarium. But even better, you can make the tank 47 inches long (around 120 cm), 24 inches wide (60cm) and 18 inches (around 46cm) high.
It is always better to have a large and wide terrarium, and not a very tall one. If you can, make it shorter, but longer and wider because the height will be mostly unused by your skink.
Too much height will cause heat dissipation, making it harder to heat the tank to high temperatures (especially in the basking area, to around 100 degrees).
But if it’s very high, you can have an open topped terrarium and use an adjustable lamp stand for any bulbs in fixtures. Of course, everything will depend on what you can find, and if the tank is very long and wide, but also tall, you can still use it.
For example, this blue tongue skink’s tank on the picture is 47″ L (120cm), 24″ W (60cm) and 29.5″ H (75cm). Just because the tank is very wide and long, the height was not taken into account. Terrarium was also placed on a cabinet matching the length and width.
Importance of an air screen for a blue tongue’s terrarium
Most terrariums that you will find for sale will already feature an air screen. An air screen, or screen top, is important in blue tongue skink’s terrarium. This is because blue tongue skinks are intelligent, and can escape from the top of the terrarium. If you place something weak, your skink can push it to escape.
What is more, it’s important to place an air screen because you will need to use heat lamps, and this air screen will protect your skink from burning itself.
Air screen is important for creating heat gradient, proper air flow (to prevent bacterial growth), temperature and humidity. This air screen will act as a barrier, so no other pets/children (if you have them) or even objects get inside the terrarium. You might skip placing the air screen is the tank is higher than 25 inches.
The air screen will look like this, but bigger.
If you are creating your own DIY terrarium, you will need to buy the screen top separately. You will need to buy a metal mesh screen air cover. There are different sizes available, but the one you will need is probably this 36×18 inch screen.
If you can’t find the suitable sized air screen, you can make one yourself. Use a mesh wire to cover the openings of the terrarium. You can either cover the whole top with the mesh, or create 2-3 openings (around 10 square inches each) on the top left, middle and right sides and fix the mesh on top. You can either make the holes on top of the terrarium, or on sides, to make heat loss minimal (heat moves from bottom to top).
Installing an air screen is important with low cages to prevent escapes
Outdoor cage for a blue tongue skink
If you live somewhere with hot summers and warm winters, you can have an outdoor cage for your skink. The temperatures during the day should be around 95 degrees F and 75 F at night.
With an outdoor cage, you won’t need to heat the tank and your skink will have an access to natural sunlight. But however, you have to make sure that the cage is secure and that no other animals can get around or inside the tank.
For this, you will need to have a strong air screen and shield the cage with a wire. What is more, it will be harder to create temperature gradient (hot and cool side) and there is always a chance that other animals can stress your skink.
If you have found this article useful, please check out other care sheets on blue tongue skinks on this page.