HELP! Broadhead Skink
Clayton L. Workman
I have recently caught a Broadhead Skink in some nearby woods and I am
trying to keep it as a pet. I have had him now for 2 weeks and he is
doing fine, however, I don't feel I know enough about him to properly care
for him.
Could someone please either e-mail me or post here the requirements for
such a lizard? I would like to know any special feeding
requirements/favorite foods, temp requirements, housing requirements, some
tips on how I can tame him, whether or not his bite hurts :-), dangerous
things to keep from him, hibernation requirements, what he would have cost
if I had bought him at a pet store, etc....
Anything you can let me know would be greatly appreciated it. I can't
seem to find much in books on this specific lizard. I do know that he is
an adult male. (He is grayish colored with a reddish colored head.)
I have been feeding him crickets, mealworms, and woodlice, providing him
with a big dish of water and hiding places.
Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.
---
Clayton Workman
cwor...@quapaw.astate.edu
---
Melody Cefalo
The best way to care for your new pet is to let him go where you found
him. Besides effecting a loss to the environment (the food chain and the
availability of different species for posterity), it is very likely that
the skink will never adjust to captivity and will die. If you want a pet
skink, buy it captive-bred from a breeder or good pet store. A broadheaded
skink is only about $15.
Please let him go!
Melody
Julie Sieberg
Clayton L. Workman (cwor...@quapaw.astate.edu) wrote:
: I have recently caught a Broadhead Skink in some nearby woods and I am
: trying to keep it as a pet. I have had him now for 2 weeks and he is
: doing fine, however, I don't feel I know enough about him to properly care
: for him.
from the TFH skink book (*shrug*) ...
"Broadheads [Eumeces laticeps] like to climb and are often found basking
in the full sun on stumps and fence posts, and they like large, sturdy
climbing brances in the terrarium. Nig males can be hard biters
(personal experience) and unbelievaly aggressive. Even in nature they
are sometimes found eating overripe fruit, and in the terrarium, they
will take almost anything. ... Big males perhaps are best given their own
terraria except during the breeding season."
Ross R. Lasley
Clayton L. Workman wrote:
>
> I have recently caught a Broadhead Skink in some nearby woods and I am
> trying to keep it as a pet. I have had him now for 2 weeks and he is
> doing fine, however, I don't feel I know enough about him to properly care
> for him.
>
> such a lizard?
The requirement for this lizard is that you take it back where you found it and LET IT
GO!! Randomly collecting herps is a bad idea for a long list of reasons but do you even
know if you collected this specimen legally?? You almost always need at least a fishing
liscense to take reptiles from the woods.
I have had lots of calls/questions about this subject and I always give the same
advice: stop screwing around with mother nature for your own personal enjoyment. Let the
creature go.
If people want to legally collect speciemns for breeding programs; I don't have
any problem with that. People who think they will "save" money by taking a reptile from
the woods are just kidding themselves.
Peace,
Ross Lasley
Loco Critters
rla...@mnsinc.com
Paul J Hollander
In article <Pine.SOL.3.91.960526...@boris.ucdavis.edu>,
But those pet store broad headed skinks are wild caught, too. Better to
either stick with one personally caught or release it and *not* buy a
pet store skink.
AFAIK, broad headed skinks do fairly well in captivity, though I've
never kept any personally.
Paul Hollander phol...@iastate.edu
Behold the tortoise: he makes no progress unless he sticks his neck out.
