Returning to the forum years later!

[Jayme]

Hello lovely people of Gecko Forums! Back in 2008 I was surprised with the gift of a baby leopard gecko by someone who knew of my love of reptiles. I hadn't the slightest clue on how to care for one at the time and everyone here helped me out so much. Seven years later she's still going strong, I thought it'd be nice to come back with pictures and some experience of my own to maybe help newbies. I've since added to my lizard family, I now have a big old grumpy beardie and lovely curious merauke blue tongue skink. I'll include pictures attached to this post!

It's funny, at the time I thought that leopard geckos weren't very interesting and that larger lizards would be much 'cooler' for me to keep. But two large lizards later, Jasper my leo is my favorite. She's soft and small; patient and very brave. Full of personality and curiosity for life. She's been my constant companion through so many life changes.. (She also doesn't scratch me with big talons like the others haha)

Anyways, my name's Jayme and I look forward to meeting and chatting with you all.
Pictured: Jasper the leopard gecko, Stitch the bearded dragon, Slinky the blue tongue skink

 

[Ruvik]

I have a question for you. How do you feel price wise is the feeding cost of each of your lizards. I have geckos and I am interested in getting a Skink or Bearded, but I am worried about price when it comes to feeding the two. Can you explain how you feed and the prices it cost you each week? Also which do you prefer the skink or the bearded?

 

[Jayme]

Hi Ruvik,
Good question. Monthly costs of feeding really wasn't something I thought about before getting my animals, and I definitely spend much more on them than I thought I would. It's more expensive than feeding leopard geckos for sure.

Starting with the bearded dragon: I got mine as an adult, so he eats about ~80 crickets a month (if you start with a baby this number would be quite different), and I spend roughly 40$ a month on crickets for feeding both him and my gecko. Then, 80% of his diet is herbivorous, which I spend about 25$ a month on lizard specific greens/veggies (such as collard greens or cactus pads, etc) that is a shared cost for both my skink and my dragon. Plus, I feed them whatever fruits and vegetables I have on hand in the house.

An adult skink has a 50/40/10 ratio for protein/veggies/fruit. For the skink's protein, he can get anything ranging from high quality dog food, to lean ground turkey or beef, eggs, insects etc. So the cost there will vary based on what you choose. I've found the cheapest way is to make a mix of lean ground turkey, eggs, veggies and fruits that are mixed together and frozen into portions in an ice cube tray. This effectively has given me two months supply of food for about.. 15-20$ max.

Then there are the additional costs of chicken gizzards/hearts or canned snails for the skink (they love them snails!), insect gut load diets, or special bugs like silkworms/hornworms/etc. Lots of variables. Another thing that keeps getting me cost-wise is my dragon's heat lamps keep going bad, causing the bulb to burn out so I have to buy new bulbs and lamps.. happened about 4 times in one year now heh. Then there is the yearly cost to buy new UVB bulbs as they do expire.

My preference between the two is my skink for sure. Though I have a special case, my dragon seems to have an exceptionally grumpy personality. He will thrash and throw tantrums and prefers to ignore me when he can, haha! My vet even exclaimed that he has the personality of an iguana. Then in contrast, my skink is very curious and calm, though squirmy if I try to hold him. This may be because he is a merauke (which I heard aren't as 'tame' as a northern I believe?) or because I do not handle him a whole lot. I prefer to let them come to me if I can, and one day a few weeks ago my skink even walked right up onto my arm, perfectly calm and content. By the way, they both have very stinky, messy poops though and both are very scratchy if you don't trim their nails!

Hope that helps, let me know if there are other questions I can answer for you. Which one are you leaning towards?

 

[Ruvik]

What size tank do you have your beardie and Skink? I normally go a bit over what my geckos need. Like my two females are in a nice size 36x18x18 exoterra.

 

[Jayme]

My dragon is in a 36x18x18 and the skink in a 36x18x12. I'm going to build 4ftx2ftx2ft terrariums for them in the near future, and if you can get yours a bigger tank than that, that's even better. Floorspace is important for these guys. Also if you end up going for a skink double check which kind you have because certain ones like mine need high humidity whereas others like a northern would be happy with the same humidity as a dragon or leopard gecko.

 

[Ruvik]

The humidity isn't a issue. I live in a very very humid area. Southern Louisiana about an hour from the beach here. XD

 

[Jayme]

You sure about that? I'm 5 minutes from the beach on the coast of Florida and have trouble with the humidity here. It sits between 45-50% in his tank but it still isn't enough, he has a chronic dry scales issue. Gonna have to get a fogger most likely. I was gonna experiment with different substrates too since he's on cypress mulch only. Might try some top soil in there and an even bigger water dish as well. @_@

 

[Ruvik]

I would most likely have him on eco-earth with a fog machine and a waterfall in the tank. When i get reptiles.. I go all out.. XD My leopard geckos have a two level tank and a water fall on the second level. So yeah.. I spoil my babies.

 

[Jayme]

That sounds like it would work quite well! So are you leaning towards a skink over a beardie? You should check out 'blotchie' blue tongues, they're very cool.

 

[Ruvik]

Yeah. I adore them. I really want a jet black skink so bad.

 

[Ruvik]

How do you have your skink set up? Like instead of using a heat light is a UTH alright? And if a supplement my skink with d3, calci, and multi vit, would I need a UVB? I see a lot of people saying that if you supplement you don't always need a UVB. of course I'd take it outside often since where I live is always warm.