I may have to suddenly foster a skink for a few months...

I have a friend with a beloved blue-tongued skink (aptly named Dog) who needs to find another home for a few months. My friend moved into an apartment where her skink is very unwelcome for some reason, probably because of roommates, which I think is a complete jerk move. Apparently so unwelcome that she needs to kick the skink out ASAP. I might be the only reptile-friendly friend who can take care of her skink for a few months, but I'm hoping she can find a more suitable temporary home than me. I don't know very much of the specifics of her situation yet though.

I know next to nothing about any lizard species, which is why I'm worried. If she had a snake, I would take it in a heartbeat, because I trust my experience. Can someone throw me some legitimate care, temperament, diet, handling, and any important information links or paragraphs?

Also, are there any risks (bacteria or illness or something) to keeping the skink in the same room as my ball pythons and dumeril's boa?

I am shocked and just don't understand why her roommates would be freaked out by a lizard. :( If it were a snake I would get it since most folks are creeped out by snakes.

Can't help you with care taking. But from what you have revealed about yourself as a researcher I'm confident that you will be great.

There is always a risk of a new addition bringing some nastiness to an established collection although if your friend has been taking good care of the skink those risks shouldn't be very high. I don't have very much skink experience but I do know that they are very easy to care for. A BTS is usually pretty tame so temperament and handling shouldn't be much of a problem. I know they have a more varied diet than snakes so they'll require more frequent feeding which means more frequent cleaning. Good luck!

Like any animal you bring home it should be quarantined away from your collection, here is a great website http://www.bluetongueskink.org/, if you still have questions after reading through you can also PM me. (care, diet recipe etc)

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Originally Posted by Deborah

Like any animal you bring home it should be quarantined away from your collection, here is a great website http://www.bluetongueskink.org/, if you still have questions after reading through you can also PM me. (care, diet recipe etc)

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This!!! That link will provide you with all the information you could possibly need...you can also PM me or post question to this thread if you need any other advice, there are a handful of BTS keepers on here that would be happy to help.

Looks like she decided to find someone from the school (college, she's still in school) to foster her skink for the few months, so I don't need to... And I guess so she can check on the skink more often, since I'm a 40 minute drive away. Hopefully it works out.