Handling blue tongue skinks is not as easy as handling dogs and cats. Blue tongue skinks being wild animals; they tend to be shy of human interactions.
However, with patience and tolerance, you can tame your blue tongue skink, and start handling and bonding with it.
Keep reading this article to know how you can get to quickly bond, tame, and even calm an aggressive blue tongue skink.
This article has been reviewed by Dr. Dilber. Read more about our knowledge control process here.
Contents
Do Blue Tongue Skinks Like to Be Handled?
Yes, blue tongue skinks like to be handled and you should handle yours from time to time, except during brumation. While many reptile lizards do not like to be handled, blue tongue skinks are docile, friendly and love human companions. Since they are bulky lizards, ensure that you support their whole body, including the tail with your forearm.
Blue tongue skinks originally do not like to be handled. It is because they are never domestic but wild animals. But after taming, they are like to be handled a lot.
Luckily, you can easily tame them to become docile and friendly. Wild-caught blue tongue skinks can be challenging to tame. Thus, you better get a captive-bred pet.
How To Get Your Blue Tongue Skinks Familiar With You?
Blue tongue skinks are unique animals that can quickly familiarize with its owner. But before getting there, it can be a difficult task trying to familiarize yourself with it. Thus, we came up with this article to help you quickly bond with your blue tongue skink.
There are several steps that you should follow before handling your blue tongue skink. These include:
Making Their Habitat Comfortable
When you introduce your blue tongue skink in a new habitat, they are usually much stressed and tend to hide throughout the day.
Therefore, you should include plenty of hiding spots for them to hide and feel comfortable. You should never try to handle them during this stage as they are highly likely to bite you.
Blue tongue skinks tend to be aggressive during the first weeks after introducing them to a new habitat. They huff and snort at you every time you try to approach them, and they can sometimes try to bite you.
You should be very patient with them during this stage and don’t try to handle them. Just let your blue tongue skink be until it gets used to its new home.
Start Talking To Your Blue Tongues Skink
After establishing a natural habitat for your blue skink tongues, you should start more time during the first weeks. You should try to talk, and offer food and treats. This will help the skink to get attached to you. However, you should spend time according to a routine or schedule.
Blue tongue skinks can recognize voices and faces. Thus, you should frequently talk to your blue tongue skink or read it a book to make it recognize your voice.
Blue tongue skinks are curious animals. Thus, hearing your voice, they will start approaching to listen to your voice.
Start Giving Your Blue Tongue Skink Treats
To win your blue tongue skink trust, you have to try giving it different fruits, snails, roaches, and worms to see what it likes most. You can then start to offer its favorite fruit or meal to win its trust.
New to blue tongue skink? Check out the blue tongue skink care sheet now! We had listed out all the things you need to know about blue tongue skinks as pets. Check it now!
Offering treats to your blue tongue skink will help it start seeing you as the person who feeds it rather than an enemy.
You should face your blue tongue sink directly into its eyes to show confidence. Lack of confidence when feeding it can reflect in your eyes, and it can cause your blue tongue skink to see you as a threat.
Blue tongue skinks get defensive every time they see you as a threat. Thus, you should always be calm around your pet.
Start Handling Your Blue Tongue Skink
After a week or two of talking to your blue tongue skink, you can now start handling your blue tongue skink. At this stage, you will notice that your blue tongue skink is no longer defensive, and it’s trying to approach you every time you want to feed it.
You can now try to handle it for a few minutes a day. And increase the handling session slowly until your pet starts showing calmness around you.
If you are a bit nervous about your blue tongue skink biting you, you can wear welding gloves when handling it. You should also ensure that you hold your blue tongue skink firmly but not too tight.
The best way to handle a blue tongue skink is to hold him by his chest as you support his front and back legs and let its tail rest on your arm.
You can also take your blue tongue skink around the house or in the garden where it can spend the day basking in the sun.
However, you should be careful as it might try to escape from you. You should ensure that you are in the open air with no possible hideouts.
Try bathing your blue tongue skink
You should know that not all blue tongue skink enjoy bathing. Thus, you should try doing it, and if it does not like it, don’t force. Just find another activity that your blue tongue skink enjoys to do when around you.
Now that you know how you can get familiar with your blue tongue skink let’s now see how you can tame your blue tongue skink.
How To Tame a Blue Tongue Skink
It can take you long before taming a blue tongue skink. However, patience and tolerance make the process easier. How fast or long it takes to tame a blue tongue skink depends on its background.
If a blue tongue skink is wild-caught or has had a bad experience with human interactions, it can take you longer before taming it.
However, if your blue tongue skink is a home-bred, it might take you a shorter time to tame it. You can follow these steps to tame your blue tongue skink easily.
Earn Your Blue Tongue Skink Trust
The first step to tame your blue tongue skink is by winning its trust. It has been one of the most effective measures for most blue tongue skink owners.
It might be the most extended method, but it’s the best method as it helps you to bond with your blue tongue skink quickly.
The best way to earn your blue tongue skink trust is by following the bonding methods. These include:
- Not bothering your blue tongue skink during the first 14 days after introducing it to a new habitat.
- Regularly talking to your blue tongue skink without trying to handle it.
- Gradually introducing it to handling.
- Taking it on a stroll around the house or in the garden.
- Bathing your blue tongue skink.
If your blue tongue skinks start showing aggressive signs after introducing a new activity, go back to the previous one that it was comfortable with.
During the first weeks, you just have to feed the skink after talking or calling a few words. Try to repeat the same words with the same pitch. The skink will recognize you and come out often hide when to call the words or talk.
Follow The Skinks Lead
Each blue tongue skinks is different when it comes to their dislikes, likes, and tolerance. Thus, you should try to understand what your blue tongue skinks seem to like most and use it to tame it.
New to blue tongue skink? Check out the blue tongue skink care sheet now! We had listed out all the things you need to know about blue tongue skinks as pets. Check it now!
For instance, some blue tongue skinks will scratch the edge of its enclosure when it wants to get out. You can take your skink out at this moment, try handling it, or take it on a stroll.
You can also try to let it explore by providing a tube to resemble a tunnel and add blankets or towels to make it feel safe.
Others like to be cuddled while others don’t. Thus, if you notice yours enjoys cuddling, make it a routine to make your blue tongue skink happy and comfortable.
Offer Treats
You can offer your blue tongue skink its favorite meal like snails, worms, fruits, or roaches during the taming session. This way, your blue tongue skink can associate the handling with tasty food and thus enjoy, and keep looking forward to you coming around.
Add or Remove Hides
The primary reason why removing hides from your blue tongue skink cage is to let it get accustomed to stay for some time without hiding.
However, if your blue tongue skink starts getting stressed after excluding hides, you should include at least two hides in its cage. One hides on the warm side and the other at the cold spot.
Modify The Enclosure
To make your blue tongue skink feel safe; you can cover the backside of the glass. It can help your blue tongue skink stop trying to escape from the tank.
Additionally, you can move your blue tongue skink’s cage to an active area of your house. It can help your blue tongue skink get used to human activities.
However, you must ensure that the noise is not too much as it can scare away your blue tongue skink rather than encourage human interactions.
The location of blue tongue skinks plays an important role in keeping the pet happy and stress-free. The skink should easily notice human activities from the cage so that the skink may get used to humans. However, the location should be free from noises and stress-inducing factors.
Tough Love
Some blue tongue skinks are hot-headed, and they are never willing to comply. Thus, you have to force them into the handling sessions, especially when you need to trim their nails or give them medication.
However, this method is never fun for either you or the skink. But, if it’s the only option left, you must do it to try taming your blue tongue skink.
When forcefully handling your blue tongue skink, you must ensure that you handle it firmly but without hurting it.
You can also wear welding gloves to protect yourself from getting bitten by your pet. If your pet bites you, don’t put it down immediately as it will get used to it every time it wants you to stop handling it.
How to Quickly Calm Down An Aggressive Blue Tongue Skink?
Some blue tongue skinks prove to be very aggressive, and they will puff and huff every time you try to approach. To calm them down, you must use tough love until they get accustomed to you handling them.
Luckily, blue tongue skinks huff and snort before you handle them, but once they are in your hands, they stop trying to fight.
The best way to teach your blue tongue skink to get used to handling is by doing it even when they do not want you to hold them.
Wrapping Up
Blue tongue skinks are gentle, curious, and friendly. In most cases, they like to be cuddled and handled. Thus, even though it might be challenging to handle yours initially, it will eventually get used to it.
Therefore, be patient and do not overly force to handle it. Provide a comfortable habitat for it, and eventually, you will have fun with your blue tongue skink.
Remember that blue tongue skinks can live more than 20 years in captivity. Thus, you have a long time with your pet to bond, so you don’t have to hurry.