Info on Five-Lined Skinks?

Question

Does anyone know any good websites to get caresheets on Five-lined skinks? Has anyone ever kept one from the wild before...and the results?

Answer 1

Yes, when I was younger I had some in a large vivarium with live plants. They were very active and actually pretty cool. They're more of a lizard to look at rather than handle. They learned when I opened the tank it was feeding time. I tried feeding them crickets out of my hand, which was cool at first, but this turned out to be not such a good idea. Every time I stuck my hand in there to do something, they would run up and bite my fingers because they thought I had food. They don't have teeth, but the adults do have a hard bite. The juveniles have the bright blue tail, but they change as they mature. Males can become patternless with reddish heads and they get pretty large. All in all, they were pretty cool lizards. Just give them plenty of room if you have more than one. Also, UVB lights and a basking spot with a heat lamp are important. And they seem to prefer drinking water droplets from misting rather than out of a water bowl. You can go to google.com and type "five lined skink caresheets" and you'll get plenty of websites. Good luck!

Answer 2

Five Lined Skinks

It is a small to medium sized skink growing to about 12.5 to 21.5 cm total length (5 to 8.5 inches). Young five-lined skinks are dark brown to black with five distinctive white to yellowish stripes running along the body and a bright blue tail. The blue color fades to light blue with age, and the stripes also may slowly disappear. The dark brown color fades, too, and older individuals are often uniformly brownish.The Southeastern five-lined Skink, E. inexpectatus, of the Southeastern United States is very similar to this species and there is some overlap in range. The two species can be told apart based on characters of scales, see photo gallery below. The Broad-headed Skink, E. laticeps, is similar, and may be difficult to distinguish from E. fasciatus. The former species usually lacks the two enlarged postlabial scales characteristic of E. fasciatus (Palmer et al. 1995). Adult male Broad-headed Skinks, with their large size and swollen red head, are readily distinguished from E. fasciatus (Beane 2006).



Five-lined Skink

[edit] Range and Habitat

The range of the Five-lined Skink extends in the north to southern Ontario, the lower peninsula of Michigan and eastern New York. The western border is in Wisconsin, Missouri and eastern Kansas, Oklahoma, Florida and Texas. These skinks tend to be most abundant on the coastal plain in the southeastern United States and along the Gulf Coast.

Five-lined Skinks are ground-dwelling animals. They prefer moist, partially wooded habitat that provides ample cover or inside walls of buildings as well as sites to bask in the sun.

[edit] Reproduction

The breeding season of the Five-lined Skink is in spring. During this time, males develop an orange coloring of the snout. The females will dig a nest under a log, stump, or rock and lay between 4 and 18 eggs in late spring. The eggs are about the size of snake eggs. She guards the clutch until they hatch. After 24 to 55 days, depending on the ambient temperature, the hatchlings appear.

The mother will consume any unhatched eggs. Five-lined skinks are about two inches in length when born and live for five or six years. Sexual maturity is reached after two to three years.

[edit] Predators

Common predators include raccoons, red foxes, Virginia opossums, snakes, raptors, and domestic cats.

[edit] Captive Care

Five-lined skinks can be maintained in captivity with minimal care. A 20-gallon aquarium with a screen lid makes a suitable enclosure for a pair; a larger enclosure will be needed for more than two animals. Never house adult males together as they are very territorial. Place a 1-inch layer of pea gravel on the bottom of the enclosure and cover it with 2-3 inches of topsoil or organic potting soil (be sure to avoid potting soils that contain perlite, vermiculite, foam rubber and fertilizers) mixed with leaf mold and/or coconut bark chips. Give the skinks places to hide using unglazed terra cotta, flat stone or sections of bark. If collecting bark, avoid gathering it from areas where pesticides are used. Place an incandescent light over one end of the enclosure to create a temperature gradient for the skinks. Five-lined skinks like a temperature gradient of 75-80°F on the cool end of their enclosure, 90°F on the warm end. Leave the light on for 12-14 hours per day. The light should be operated using a timer to mimic the natural rising and setting of the sun. Humidity in the skink enclosure should be between 55% and 75%. Mist the enclosure lightly once a day and make sure that the substrate under the shelters remains moist. The rest of the substrate should be allowed to dry out.

For feeding, skinks should be offered live insects. Crickets, Mealworms and Waxworms obtained from pet stores are good for skinks and many other small lizards. Another option is to go outside where you can find many beetles, caterpillars, and myriapods which they eat. The insects should be gut-loaded before being offered to the skinks: chicken mash is good for this purpose. If chicken mash cannot be obtained, rodent pellets and tropical fish flakes can be offered instead. Dust crickets and other insects with a calcium/D3 supplement to make sure the skinks get enough calcium. This is especially important for juveniles. Offer adult skinks 2-5 insects every other day, while juveniles should be fed daily. Each insect offered to a particular skink should be no more than half the size of the animal's head. Skinks can also be fed canned cat food and chopped fruit as part of a varied diet. Water should be offered in shallow non-metal bowl.