best blue tongue skink hides

The Best Hides for Your Blue Tongue Skink’s Habitat

As a blue tongue skink owner, providing your reptile with proper hides is crucial for its health and happiness. Hides are an essential element in creating a naturalistic habitat that makes your skink feel secure. In this article, we’ll explore the best hides for blue tongue skinks to help you pick the right options for your pet’s enclosure.

Why Hides Are Important for Blue Tongue Skinks

In the wild blue tongue skinks spend much of their time digging burrows or hiding under rocks, logs, and vegetation. This gives them a sense of security and allows them to thermoregulate properly. As burrowing lizards, they feel exposed and stressed without adequate hiding spots.

Hides serve several key functions:

• Security. Hides provide blue tongues with a sense of safety. Skinks that lack hiding spots often pace along the glass, desperately seeking cover. Proper hides prevent stress behaviors.

• Thermoregulation. Hides allow skinks to find cooler or warmer temperatures as needed. A warm hide and a cool hide are ideal.

• Shedding. Tight hides assist with the shedding process by allowing skinks to rub against surfaces.

• Humidity. A humid hide containing moist substrate or sphagnum moss helps maintain proper humidity levels. This is especially beneficial during sheds.

• Privacy. Hides provide a retreat from human interaction. Skinks need quiet time away from external stimuli.

• Sleep. Blue tongues sleep soundly when tucked safely away in hides instead of exposed.

The Ideal Number and Placement of Hides

In a blue tongue skink enclosure, you need a minimum of two hides – one in the warm area and one in the cool area. This allows your skink to thermoregulate while remaining hidden. However, the more options you provide, the better.

Aim to decorate at least 50% of the floor space with hides and decor. Place hides snugly on or partially buried in the substrate to mimic burrows. Scatter them around so your skink always has quick access to cover.

Key Features of Quality Blue Tongue Skink Hides

When selecting hides, look for the following characteristics:

• Fully enclosed. The hide should allow the skink to conceal itself completely with minimal gaps. If you can easily see your skink inside, it needs more coverage.

• Snug fit. With very little excess space, the hide should fit your blue tongue’s body snugly. It should, however, allow enough room for easy entry and turning around.

• Substrate accessibility. Quality hides have openings that make it easy for skinks to dig into the substrate underneath. This enables natural burrowing behavior.

• Securely positioned. Sturdy hides that won’t shift or collapse when dug under are vital. Any heavy rocks or decor must be carefully arranged to avoid accidents.

• Easy to clean. Hides made of non-porous materials are preferred for hygiene. Look for ones that can be sanitized between uses.

• Natural appearance. While not required, hides made from realistic looking materials blend better into a naturalistic vivarium.

• Proper sizing. Ensure hides are sized for adult skinks if housing juveniles temporarily. The hide should be longer than your skink’s full length.

Avoid small hides, heavy loose rocks, difficult to clean materials, and anything posing entrapment or falling risks. Always supervise your skink’s interaction with new hides.

Best Blue Tongue Skink Hide Ideas

Here are some recommended hides to try in your skink enclosure:

• Cork bark. Affordable, attractive option that allows for burrowing underneath. Provides a great shedding surface.

• Exo Terra cave hides. Pre-formed caves made from easy to clean resin. The Exo Terra reptile cave is a popular pick.

• Coconut hides. Hollowed out and resized coconut shells make excellent naturalistic warm or cool hides.

• Rock slates. Stacked slate or flat rocks adhered together with aquarium-safe silicone create secure caves.

• Décor wood. Chunks of mopani wood, bamboo, and other reptile-safe woods work beautifully to mimic fallen logs.

• PVC hides. Small PVC pipe pieces buried upright make nice little tunnels. Short segments work better than long tubes.

• Artificial rocks. Manufactured rock décor provides realistic looking hides. Zilla’s reptile habitat décor rock den is one good option.

• Plants. Dense live or artificial foliage grouped together forms cozy natural hiding spots within the habitat.

• Burrows. Adding extra deep substrate enables skinks to disappear underneath by digging burrows wherever they please.

• Cardboard. Simple cardboard boxes with an entrance hole sliced out provide temporary disposable hides. Replace frequently.

Think outside the box and get creative with hide ideas – anything serving your skink’s needs is fair game. Be sure to provide at least one fully enclosed tight space for sleeping and plenty of coverage overall. Mix different textures and materials.

Cleaning and Disinfecting Blue Tongue Skink Hides

To prevent disease transmission, hides must be cleaned and disinfected regularly. Here are some tips:

• Remove all decorations. Take out all hides, plants, branches, etc. for external cleaning.

• Wash with soap. Use a mild soap and water to scrub away waste, debris, and grime from hard surfaces. Avoid soaking absorbent hides like wood.

• Disinfect properly. Spray or wipe hides with a specialized veterinary-grade reptile disinfectant safe for skinks. Let sit for the product’s recommended contact time.

• Rinse thoroughly. It’s crucial to completely rinse off any soap or disinfectant residue with plain water before returning items to the enclosure.

• Allow to dry. Ensure hides are completely dry before putting them back to avoid mold growth. Drying in the sun speeds the process.

• Replace porous items. Swap out substrates and natural wood or moss hides frequently, as these are too difficult to fully sanitize.

By keeping your skink’s hides clean, you remove potentially harmful bacteria and lower disease risks. Be sure to wash hands before and after handling hides.

Providing proper hides is one of the most vital aspects of blue tongue skink husbandry. Your reptile needs ample hides on both the warm and cool ends of the habitat for security, thermoregulation, shedding assistance, humidity, and peaceful sleep. Make sure to select appropriately sized fully enclosed hides and clean them regularly for your skink’s health. With quality hides, you can create the natural environment blue tongues thrive in.