Watson said. Watson and his wife, Dr. They studied the behavior and ecology of these reptiles when they witnessed the protective behavior of the adult skinks toward their offspring.
These documented encounters, Greg Watson says, shows that parental care among lizard species may be more sophisticated than previously thought. They recorded footage of a female skink biting an eastern brown snake to prevent the snake from eating the young skinks.
Their diet was mainly crickets, first micro-crickets for about two months, then a mixture of micro- and small crickets. During the same two months at the beginning I gave them a fruit-flavoured baby food at least once a week, but latterly I gave it about once or twice a month.
From March about five months after their birth I also dropped feeding them once a day to once every other day. It is interesting to note that right from the beginning these baby Cunninghams were avid feeders, chasing and striking at crickets right from day one. Needless to say they also had access to water, which due to the dictates of space and the baby lizards' size is provided in a jar lid.
This was changed once a day owing to a the substrate that gets kicked into it and b the frequent saurian habit of defecating into or near water. Health and Longevity For the most part I had no problems with the health of any of the Cunninghams, adult or hatchling.
They seem to be fairly hardy if the basic requirements correct heat, UV, cleanliness and diet are provided, plus of course enough space. However honesty compels me to state that the hatchlings only reached subadulthood before both losing interest in their food and passing away. The cause of this was unknown. This was one case where the adults outlived the offspring. The longevity record for Egernia cunninghami appears to be 26 years.
Tingha and Tucker sadly both passed away in within months of each other. As I had had them as sexually mature adults for about 9 years, actual age at purchase unknown, I have no way of knowing whether their deaths were premature or normal for their age, but they showed no signs of disease or ill health other than slowing down and a steady loss of appetite. Tied in with breeding is naturally the relationship of a male and female s Cunninghams.
Though they were secretive, I sometimes noticed Tingha and Tucker sitting at the cool end of the tank on top of a log together, occasionally one on top of the other. Whether this preceded or followed mating is not certain. When hiding, I noticed that they also sometimes both squeezed under the same log and lay there together, both pointing in the same direction.
At other times one would lay under this log and the other - I suspect Tucker, the male - would lay under the heat mat at the warm end. This also raises the reminder that two males should not normally be kept together unless their habitat is really large and there are visual barriers to prevent them from coming to territorial blows.
Conclusion I had the Cunninghams for 9 years and have a steady decrease in their reclusiveness, but I would never have called these tame lizards.
For this reason, and the reason that the viewing pleasure was somewhat restricted by their secretive and flighty behaviour, I would not recommend them to everybody, particularly younger keepers. Nevertheless they are beautiful, almost spectacular, lizards when seen in the open, and for that and the reason that the skinks are still an under-studied family, I believe they are worth keeping.
I also strongly urge any keepers to make notes on their captives and make their observations available, and if at all possible to breed them as the export of these animals from their native land is currently prohibited.
Summary of Egernia cunninghami requirements: Vivarium size: Ideally at least 4 ft by 2 ft, best with sliding glass door. Vivarium setup: Generously equipped with rocks, set up carefully to avoid accidents. A newspaper substrate may be acceptable.
Heating: Thermal gradient from degrees to during the day, dropping about degrees for 10 hours or so at night. UV Light: Yes Food: Omnivorous and easily satisfied: Insects: crickets, both brown and black, king mealworms especially good for adults, occasional mealworms and waxworms.
Vegetable matter: cress, paw paw aka papaya , thawed veggies such as mixed peas and carrots, mango, strawberry, limited amount of spinach, kale, banana: if you are used to offering seeds to Uromastyx lizards, try offering some to these skinks: low-fat dogfood or pinky or two occasionally. Water Bowl should always be present. Handleability Low: not at all suitable as a children's pet. Health Fairly robust, but do watch out for parasites in wild-caught specimens.
The enclosure also needs to be well ventilated. A series of cupboard vents cut into. The water bowl should large enough for the lizard to soak in while being shallow. This is invaluable in the hottest parts of summer and for sloughing. This should be situated in the cool end of the cage. The water bowl should be washed when clean water is added, not just topped up.
Not washing the bowl and continually topping up the water can lead to illness in the animal and a green water bowl. The cage should be cleaned out at least once a week to prevent the build-up of germs etc.
Cleaning out weekly will also allow you to check the animal over whilst removing them from the cage. This is when you will pick up things you may miss from just looking at the animal in the enclosure. Cunningham's tend to go in the same spot most times, so it makes it easier to find. This is referred to as a latrine site, and the whole colony will use this site. The sun warms up the rocks beautifully, making for a natural heat source for the Cunningham Skinks. All heating should be placed at one end of the cage and controlled by a thermostat.
This creates a thermal gradient. This is vital for the survival of the occupants. If the cage is either too hot or to cool the lizard has a place to retreat to. Excessive heat will kill your lizard very quickly - ideal temperatures for the Cunningham Skink are approximately 33 degrees Celsius at the warm end of the cage and 24 degrees at the cool end of the cage. We place a large rock that cannot be knocked over on top of a heat mat, this way the rock heats up and they bask on it, just like they do outside on their rock stacks in their pits.
Ways of heating include light bulb s placed at one end of the cage connected to a thermostat. A light makes viewing easier as well as heating. Any light globes inside the enclosure should be placed in such a way that the snake is unable to come in contact with them. A mesh type globe cover is ideal as it prevents the lizard coming in direct contact with the globe but the allows the heat generated from the light to escape.
Uncovered light bulbs usually result in nasty burns to reptiles. Heat cord under the enclosure is another way to heat the cage effectively. Heat rocks are commercially available; however, we do not recommend using heat rocks with any animal as they are not reliable and may cause fire. If heating the cage with a globe set up, the cage should have dark coloured globes. This will then not interrupt its photoperiod.
Cunningham Skinks are diurnal. Thus, the photoperiod of 14 hours light to 8 dark in summer and 12 hours light and 12 dark in winter is acceptable. These are both vital for healthy bone growth as it aids in the proper digestion of Calcium in reptiles and some amphibians.
Regardless of what it says on the package these lights really only work. They also should be changed regularly, every 6 months.
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