The Blue Tongue Lizard As a Pet

In their native habitat of Australia, the blue-tongued skink is known as the blue-tongued lizard. It is a large, thick bodied lizard with very short, stubby limbs in relation to the rest of its long body just like all skinks. Their varied diet, tolerance of humans and interesting behavior make the blue-tongued lizard a fantastic pet that is easy to take care of.

  1. Choosing a Pet Blue-Tongued Lizard

    • The blue-tongued lizard can grow up to almost 2 feet long including the tail as an adult, but it's likely that when purchasing one for a pet you may want to begin with a juvenile or baby blue-tongued lizard. Some pet stores can have a wide selection of well-cared-for and healthy animals, but in many cases they are staffed with personnel who do not understand the requirements of each individual animal. Instead, breeders can offer captive-bred and healthy animals that are far less expensive than those found at pet stores. The lizard should be alert, active, eat readily and have a clear mouth and eyes.

    Habitat

    • The blue-tongued lizard does not climb, and requires plenty of floor space in its habitat. An adequate size of tank for an adult blue-tongued lizard is around 75 gallons, but babies can be kept in smaller tanks that are upgraded as they get bigger. The skink will also need decorations in the tank, like rocks, to hide under and around. A water dish should be present in the habitat as well as a UV lamp and heat appliance on one end of the cage.

    Diet

    • One great thing about keeping blue-tongued lizards as pets is that they are omnivores, which means they eat both protein and vegetation. This allows for a more varied diet, and can include crickets, mealworms, berries, banana, carrot, grasshoppers and pinky mice. Mice should only be fed occasionally as the skink will become obese on a strict mouse diet, and blue-tongued lizards can be fed most feeder insects and sweet, non-citrus fruit.

    Behavior

    • One of the best things about keeping blue-tongued lizards as pets is that, unlike many other lizard species, they become used to and calm around humans quite quickly. Even wild blue-tongued lizards are common visitors to gardens and backyards. While they are tolerant of handling and after a while will become even more accustomed to the handling, blue-tongued skinks can be very violent when kept in the same cage, even leading to serious injury or death. They should always be housed separately.

    Species

    • There are six types of blue-tongued lizard: the pigmy blue-tongued skink, the Indonesian blue-tongued skink, the Centrilian blue-tongued lizard, the western blue-tongued skink, the Tanimbar blue-tongued skink and the eastern blue-tongued skink. The northern blue-tongued skink is the most popular in the pet trade by far. The Irian Jaya blue-tongued skink, a subspecies of the blue-tongued skink that is yet to be scientifically classified, may be a variation of one of the aforementioned subspecies.