Introducing Pink Tongue Skinks

[Stompsy]

Hi Guys....

I need some advice. As some of you probably read, I purchased 2 new Pink Tongue Skinks at the VHS Expo a few weekends ago. I was planning on introducing them to my existing enclosure, where my feisty female resides. However, this is proving more difficult than first expected.

Short back story: she is about a year and a half old, the two noobs are about a year, slightly smaller and suspected male and female.

At the suggestion of the breeder, I removed her from the enclosure, changed the substrate from euci mulch to cat litter and moved all the furniture around. I then placed all three Skinks into the enclosure and chaos ensued!

At first the noobs chased her, biting her tail and she was pretty stressed. Even attempted to run up my shirt to escape (which is unheard of because she hates me). Then the tables turned. The noobs started trying to settle for the night and she got nasty. Puffing herself up at them, hissing and carrying on. One just continued trying to sleep, but the other was chased around. And when she started biting, I removed the two noobs into a temporary tub so we could all get some sleep.

I guess my question is... does anyone have any advice on how I can get these guys to live in harmony? I'd really like to keep them all together, but at this stage, unless I'm watching, it's unlikely not to end in injury of some kind. And that's the last thing I want.

I suspect it may have been the female she was chasing around....

Please help!

 

[pinefamily]

I can only suggest short introductions, over days, or even weeks. I have heard of and seen similar with ackies.

 

[Nero Egernia]

Perhaps try placing all three of them in a bare tub for a couple of hours? They should be feeling too out of place to attack one another and while they're trying to scramble over each other to escape the tub they might get used to each other and their scent. I'm not familiar with Pink Tongues, are they naturally territorial?

 

[Scutellatus]

I am not sure how big your enclosure is, but another option would be dividing the enclosure for a period of time so they can adjust to each other. You could use some egg crate, the stuff used for dividing fish tanks and placing eggs on in an incubator, to seperate them until you see no signs of aggression. I would divide them with the two new skinks on one side and the existing skink on the other, so the existing one doesn't have contact with the assumed male until her aggression subsides.

 

[Stompsy]

Perhaps try placing all three of them in a bare tub for a couple of hours? They should be feeling too out of place to attack one another and while they're trying to scramble over each other to escape the tub they might get used to each other and their scent. I'm not familiar with Pink Tongues, are they naturally territorial?

Not that I'm aware of... people keep bunches of them together often and they've been sighted in the wild in groups.

Both this and PF's suggestion are great starting points, so I'll give them a go.

Thanks.

 

[sp.michael]

Maybe try to introduce them after feeding them all. My female normally gets grumpy coming up to feeding day and the male knows to avoid her.

 

[pinefamily]

With our trio of ackies, I noticed after a while that two got along fine, but tended to ignore or be slightly narky with the third one.

 

[Stompsy]

The dumb thing is, I only wanted a male but the female that was for sale with him, I got for less than half the price you'd normally pay for PTS's, so I grabbed her too.... she was so stressed when i grabbed her out of the enclosure that she just sat on my lap trying to hide in my clothes.

I'll try giving them all a feed and then popping them into a tub to see if they go any better.

Thanks for the advice guys!

Also, maybe females are more highly strung than I thought!

 

[Nero Egernia]

I would be a little careful when introducing recently fed lizards together. While it can enhance their mood, it may also lead to vomiting in individuals that have become extremely stressed. But I wouldn't worry about it too much as in my experience skinks are probably one of the most bomb proof lizard groups out there. Amazing, hardy little creatures. Please let us know how it goes.

 

[Stompsy]

Will do. I'm setting up an extra enclosure tonight regardless, just to make sure they have warmth while I'm trying to make this work.

Thanks again for all the advice.

 

[Stompsy]

Temporary tub with heat cord. Having a munch on some noms before bed.

 

[Buggster]

My only suggestion would be to place them all in an unfamiliar environment so that there is no 'established' territories.

Have you considered introducing one at a time? Your new female seems to be the most stressed, so why don't you give a go at introducing the new male to the established female? Give them a couple hours and try swapping in the new female for the male or just add her in.

 

[Stompsy]

I've decided to set up a proper small enclosure for the noobs and then I'll try introducing them all to a tub for short periods to see if that helps. If not, I'll just keep the new guys together and hope they're male and female anyway. Either way, they're uber placid in comparison to Pinch. But depending on how long until I move, I may get a bigger enclosure and try all three again.

 

[kankryb]

As a long time keeper of pinktongues I have never seen a female kill or do long time dominans but it may take a few months for them to rank and find their spot in the tank so my advise is just to give it some time and make sure all 3 get to feed. Good luck

 

[Stompsy]

As a long time keeper of pinktongues I have never seen a female kill or do long time dominans but it may take a few months for them to rank and find their spot in the tank so my advise is just to give it some time and make sure all 3 get to feed. Good luck

Thanks.

Ill probably try a second introduction tomorrow.

My main issue is that she's a complete bitch at the best of times, so I'm worried her hatred will carry over to the noobs and she just won't leave them alone.

Nice to know they can be introduced though.