5 lined skink eggs

bad fish

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 16, 2007
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earth
i found some 5 lined skink eggs and i wanted to try to hatch them in captivity. any advice???
 

dhgyello04

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
May 27, 2008
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Manteca, CA USA
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.

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 or caber class.

more info:
Some skinks (such as the five lined skink, three lined skink, broad-headed skink and the ground skink lay a clutch of eggs which then hatch into young. However, none of the blue tongue skinks reproduce this way. All blue tongue skinks are ovoviviparous. This means that the young develop in an egg INSIDE the female, who then gives birth to live young.

Photos of an Eastern blue tongue skink giving birth can be seen at: http://bluetongueskinks.net

The most difficult part of breeding skinks, is getting two skinks of the opposite sex!! Sexing skinks is extremely difficult, there are some physical differences between the sexes, for example, the males normally have a larger, broader head, BUT these methods are not reliable unless you have two known sex skinks to compare!

It is recommended to brumate skinks before attempting to breed. Brumation is a period of inactivity that many reptiles naturally go through in winter. In captivity, it will be necessary to lower temperatures and give the skink shorter daylight hours in order for them to enter brumation. Prior to brumating a skink, you will need to stop feeding, so that they will not enter brumation with undigested food in their stomachs. Brumation normally occurs between November and mid-February, when you would begin to raise the temperatures and increase light again. Once the skink is fully out of brumation and feeding normally again, the female is introduced to the male’s enclosure. When skinks mate, the male bites the female on the back of the neck, and the female will lift her tail to cooperate with the male. Mating between skinks can look quite brutal, but this is normal, though they should be watched in case they are injuring each other.
Gestation lasts around 3 months depending on the species. The amount of babies born varies between species and the female may give birth to between 5 and 20 live young.
Each baby skink will be enclosed in a clear placenta, which they wiggle out of and consume. The placenta is the babies first meal. Newborn skinks are not dependant on their mother who will have nothing to do with them once they are born - her job is done!

hope this helps
Don
 

Louie

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 29, 2007
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South Florida
bad fish;2034717; said:
i found some 5 lined skink eggs and i wanted to try to hatch them in captivity. any advice???

Put them in a container with holes in lid no need for humidity .
Place them in warm area of house like garage or backyard patio aslong as they dont get wet and are warm in 80s and/or 90s .
doesnt matter if temps drop to 70s at night .

They will hatch just that simple. I have hatched gecko eggs and strange little lizard eggs like that think they were curly tail lizards .
Way easier than snake eggs.

Geck.JPG
 

coura

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 13, 2008
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europe
Put them back where you found them:nilly: Mom skink is probably still looking for them:nilly:
 
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