My Blue Tongued Skink

After my huge Goliath Bird-Eating Spider hit maturity, I became bored with it. It rarely, if ever, left its hiding spot and I began wanting a pet that was more active, but still somewhat unique. I started looking around the exotic pet store and talking to the staff about various pets. I had had snakes as a kid, geese, horses, dogs, cats, rabbits, and even a pet hawk. What ended up catching my eye was a blue tongued skink. Because my spider was female and valuable, I was able to get $250 credit at the pet shop for her in exchange for the skink which was $225. I got the skink, cage, a book, and some food in exchange for my spider.

The skink reminds me of the well-known Gila Monster which is a desert lizard, poisonous, and usually has bright orange and brown coloring. In contrast, the skink is light to mid-shade brown with orange or yellow eyes and a very strange hue of blue coloring for its tongue. The lizard has a rather unique body shape with a very thick torso, thick, flat head, and very, very small legs. Its legs are so small, they are not really active for walking. The skink mostly slithers along the ground like a snake assisted by the small legs which are used for gripping. It’s diet is primarily crickets and water–which makes feeding really inexpensive and easy.

Skinks are rather unique, not so much for their funky blue tongue, but more for their personality. They are one of the few lizards that are actually friendly to people. Many lizards, upon hitting maturity, become very territorial and even aggressive. Skinks, in contrast, have never been known to bite someone or even thrash around. When held, they are mostly passive, only moving or trying to get away when something catches their interest. My skink, which I named Sid Vicious, would actually cuddle next to me when I’d read a book. I would like to think it was fond of me, but more likely it was just attracted to the warmth of my body.

Skinks are the prime choice among pet shops when taking a lizard for a demo for school children. The lizard can be passed around from child to child and will remain passive. Other lizards, like Nile Monitors and the well-known Iguana, would thrash around and try to escape. For lizards like that, it takes daily handling by humans to help the lizards calm down and not panic when held. That’s the real key with most exotic lizard pets is regular handling by human hands. Not so for the skink. Yes, handling a skink daily will help it become even more relaxed in human hands. But, even with little or rare handling, the pet is very tame and passive.