Waterskink enclosure

[WaterSkink123]

What's the best setup for these guys? Should I have the floor as water, grass or anything else? At the moment I have some fake plants, grass, rocks, a water/food dish which is made of stone. I've been alternating between grass and water for the "floor" and I'm not sure what's best. (My little sister caught him when her and the rest of my family went camping and I just got back home a few days ago and I've started taking care of by him) Edit - From what I've read they need both uva and uvb lighting does anyone haveany products they recommend?

 

[Sdaji]

First of all, keep in mind you're keeping it illegally. You may or may not care about that, but even if you don't respect the law you may have legal issues coming your way if you're open about it. For various reasons I strongly suggest going down the legal route if you want to have pet reptiles in Australia.

Water Skinks are very fun to keep and you can set them up in whatever way makes you happy. You can keep them in primarily aquatic setups and they'll happily sit on whatever rocks or branches or whatever you give them and as long as they have a comfortable place to sleep they'll be fine, or you can keep them in a normal terrestrial setup and they'll also thrive.

UV for skinks is a myth, they don't need it and you won't find any difference with or without it. I've kept skinks without it for many years and multiple generations, and they've thrived just as well as skinks given UV (years ago I did side by side trials with various reptiles including skinks with and without UV - no difference). Naturally Water Skinks sunbask a lot, and it's most fun to keep them with a basking light, but they'll also thrive with just floor or ambient heating. Make sure you give them calcium and multivitamin supplements. UV is completely unnecessary, but on a captive diet, the supplements are absolutely essential.

 

[nuttylizardguy]

PM sent.

Since the skink has been removed a very long from it's territory and colony, it's best to make the best of this for the skink's sake by providing it with a safe home as a pet.

Water skinks are marvelous pets and your's will tame up very nicely given time and patience and gentle care.

My two (captive bred water skinks) seem to really enjoy coming out for "funtime" when they crawl all over me and seem to enjoy the interaction (especially if food is part of the interaction).

 

[WaterSkink123]

Okay, thanks for the help. I understand how bad it is to take something out of its natural habitat but my sister is only 6 so she didnt understand what she was doing and I wasn't there to stop her, and not being able to drive means I can't return him/her I just wanna do what's best for it

 

[nuttylizardguy]

We've all taken frogs and lizards from the local piece of bush and parks when we were kids , I remember going "flipping" and catching frogs, grass skinks, rainbow skinks, water skinks, bluetongues, geckos, eastern water dragons and eastern bearded dragons , and even occasionally snakes and legless lizards , and taking these home to become pets. This was a rite of passage of childhood in my day and most kids had wild caught pet lizards and frogs from time to time.

I can't see how you can be held responsible for a skink caught by and brought home by your child.

The chances are it wont last long if it were released outside it's own territory , as it'll likely be killed by skinks who occupy the area or driven away (attacked constantly) , or taken by a cat , or run over trying to return to it's territory.