blue tongued skink vivarium help

[spend_day]

I have a cheap 3x2x2 aquarium which i want to use for a blue tongued skink. I've read in a lot of places that its a good idea to have a false bottom. would a blue tongue need one.

[islandvivs]

No, I really cant think of a reason why a blue tongue would need a falso bottom. For water you just need a big enough water dish. As for plants, ive hardly ever seen live plants in blue tongue skink;s terrariums. Therefore personally i dont know why you would need a false bottom.

[spend_day]

i didnt think it would but thought its better to check

[slowfoot]

Bluetongue skinks are tough to design a 'real' terrarium for. They'll stomp all over or eat any plants you might put in and you can't add a water feature.

However, you can still do some cool stuff. They are surprisingly good climbers and explorers. I've had my BT for about 10 years now. I recently made her a super deluxe shelter/jungle gym out of cardboard boxes, Great Stuff, silicone, and coco fiber.

Basically, I cut the boxes down into 'cave' shapes, then stuck them together with masking tape (don't use shiny tape). I wanted her to have two levels: one lower larger box, and a smaller one up top. I also stuck a large piece of driftwood to the side, making a skink ramp. Then I covered the cardboard with Great Stuff, let it sit, cut out the doors and trimmed it back, spread on the silicone and stuck the coco fiber to it - it's the same technique that many people here use to make backgrounds for their vivaria.

Anyway, she really loves it and uses both the hides and the top (for basking). And it looks slightly more cool in the terrarium than the

[sinflspeed]

Let's see some pics slowfoot. Maybe help give random some ideas to help his set up.

[slowfoot]

Whoa! Last post got cut off - I don't even remember what I was trying to say.

I'll try to get some pics when I get home Though her cage hardly counts as a terrarium.

eta: Here are a couple of pictures. The quality sucks because of the light - sorry. You can see that it's not much more than a brown lump, but skink enjoys it. The coco fiber on the slopes make it very easy for her to climb. The bottom level has two openings, and the top story has one.

sk1.jpg

The queen on top of her castle:

sk2.jpg

[froggsong]

That is a WONDERFUL hide. It looks very natural. One of the best I have seen.

[sinflspeed]

Really nice set up.