Small skink housing?

[hornet]

So in a few weeks i'm getting some Morethia boulengeri hatchlings. These are a little smaller then a garden skink at full size so i'm expecting the bubs to be tiny. Food is no issue but i am worried a little bit about the substrate. The enclosure will be a 50l tub, hot end approx 40c cool end what ever the day time temps are at the time. Will have a bit of wood at the hot end so they can move closer to and further from the light to get their prefered temp and at the cool end i'm thinking of leaf litter or some crumpled paper for hiding. Does that sound fine and what sub should i use? I'm sure i would get away with sand but its the first time i've had the opportunity to keep a small skink like this so not going with my gut like i normally would.

 

[dihsmaj]

We had two, actually, wildcaught (don't know how, but we're in VIC, the pics match it perfectly), and they were adults. We had for substrate tambark, a bit of sand, and a tiny bit of gravel, as we used what we could find (we had them at school).
They lived good.
We had a water skink in with them, probably a baby.
The water skink and one of the garden skinks were stolen.
The other one died of too much sun... we had his tank outside and the water must have evaporated from his bowl.

 

[jamesn48]

Find out what substrate they live on in the wild, the Morethia adelaidensis in my backyard live on red sand with a layer of leaf litter over the top, and a most abundant under bushes, especially saltbush. So i would assume they live on pretty similar substrate considering how similar they are.

 

[hornet]

(don't know how, but we're in VIC, the pics match it perfectly)

they are found in every state bar tasmania.

Yea i'm thinking sand will be the way to go, going out to their natural range tomorrow for a few days so hopefully can find some (been out there god knows how many times but never seen this species before) and get a better idea on how they live in the wild

 

[jamesn48]

The best way to replicate there natural enviroment is to go out and find them in there natural habitat, Also look at photos of them to see what sort of environment they live in.

 

[Snakeluvver2]

I think a mix of sand and coco peat would be good. I'd would go light on the leaf litter if they are that small...visibility would be hard.

 

[butters]

One thing to be careful of with small skinks(hatchlings in particular) is hydration. These little guys will dehydrate very quickly (hours) if not given a moist area they can retreat to if needed. You will find they will spend a lot of time there.

I use a mix of mostly peat moss with a little bit of sand mixed through. Should be damp to touch but not soggy. Much the same as some inverts John so you should know what I mean. Mine burrow totally into this.

Cheers Andrew

 

[hornet]

Cheers mate, i was going to be providing a damp area of substrate at the cool end for that purpose, have done it with WC carlia sp in the past with good results

 

[snakeluvver]

This may sound stupid, but isnt 40c a bit hot for such a small skink? I'm probably wrong, but it certainly sounds like a lot.

 

[waruikazi]

This may sound stupid, but isnt 40c a bit hot for such a small skink? I'm probably wrong, but it certainly sounds like a lot.

For a basking spot that is actually pretty low for any Autralian reptile. If you went out during a summer day and checked the surface temps you would be in for a bit of a shock. Most solid surfaces will be up over 50deg (ever tried walking barefoot in summmer time? The ground gets freakin' hot!) The important thing is to have a heat gradient that goes from those high temps down to something more bearable so the animals can retreat.