Recognizing various blue tongue skink behaviors will help you understand your pet skink better. In this post, you will learn about blue tongue skink behaviors – why your blue tongue is hissing, sneezing, peeing on you, biting, trying to climb the glass and more.
Why is a blue tongue skink hissing?
Blue tongue skinks mainly hiss when they are agitated or threatened. In the wild, blue tongue skinks usually become victims of various predators, because they often can’t properly defend themselves. Hissing is a defence mechanism.
If your blue tongue skink hisses at you, it is very likely to be coupled with an open mouth display. A blue tongue is the main defense mechanism – to trick predators into thinking that the skink is venomous/poisonous.
Your blue tongue skink is more likely to hiss at you when it’s new or not tame. Let your blue tongue skink acclimatize for around 2 weeks before you start handling it. Also, most wild caught blue tongue skinks are likely to take longer to acclimatize and become comfortable with you.
If you approach your blue tongue skink and it’s hissing and opening its mouth at you, don’t attempt to handle it. Instead, let it calm down. Otherwise, it might bite you. This will also affect your bonding and cause trust issues.
With new blue tongues, start with being around the tank and offering treats. Slowly over the days and weeks, let your blue tongue skink get used to you and get on your hand instead of you lifting it for handling.
Your blue tongue skink can also hiss when it’s experiencing pain due to an illness, so make sure to check on it properly. Also, gravid or shedding blue tongues might not want to be touched. Or, maybe the temperatures in the tank and too low or high and it’s feeling uncomfortable.
You can read a full blue tongue skink taming and bonding guide here.
Why is my blue tongue skink sneezing?
Blue tongue skinks sneeze because they need to clear their noses from any particles and dust that gets into nostrils. If your blue tongue skink is sneezing a lot, it can mean that the substrate is dusty or too fine, and is getting in the nose. Sneezing is natural and helps your blue tongue skink clean its nose.
However, if your blue tongue skink is sneezing and also wheezing, breathing with its mouth open, has mucous secretions and seems lethargic, it could be an infection. Please take it to the vet as soon as you can if your skink experiences any uncommon symptoms. Infections can be caused by overly high humidity levels, low temperatures, long-term stress and more.
Hissing sounds like a lot of air being forcefully pushed out, usually when a blue tongue skink reacts negatively to your actions.
Sneezing is a very short splashy sound, coupled with a fast twitching body movement.
Wheezing is usually coupled with heavy breathing and is wet, often causing mucous secretions around the nose, mouth or even eyes (bubbles, wet sound, mucus).
Why does my blue tongue skink pee on me?
If your blue tongue skink pees or even poops on you or generally outside the cage, it is generally a stress response. Even if your blue tongue skink doesn’t seem nervous, it can be, as they tend to hide their nervousness.
In general, those are new blue tongue skinks that are still not fully comfortable with their owners or surroundings, that pee outside the cage.
If your blue tongue skink has peed on your or outside the cage, please do not act surprised or disgusted. Also, don’t put your blue tongue skink back in its cage straight away.
You can clean up or change your clothing, and keep your blue tongue outside for longer. Otherwise, it will learn that peeing is the way to be left alone and will keep doing this. If you don’t act surprised or react to it, it will stop doing this soon.
To make your blue tongue skink comfortable, be patient and start handling sessions. With time, it will go away. Start with few minute handling sessions and build up to 5 and then 10 minute sessions. Have a blanket or something similar not to get your clothes dirty.
If your blue tongue skink is still new, please give it at least 1-2 weeks to acclimatize before you start taking it out for long periods of time. Another important thing is to support its whole body when you handle it: if you don’t support its back legs and tail, it might get nervous and pee or poop on you.
Why is my blue tongue skink trying to climb the glass?
If your blue tongue skink is still new, it might be trying to get out and escape. This is a normal response to being put into a new environment, where your blue tongue is not feeling comfortable in yet.
This should go away once your blue tongue get accustomed to its new home. Some blue tongues will keep climbing before they understand that glass is a barrier (with glass tanks).
If your blue tongue skink is not new and has been with you for more than a month or so, it can be scratching at glass because it wants to be taken out. Many blue tongue skinks enjoy coming out to explore. As time goes, you will learn more about your blue tongue’s behaviors and why it wants to come out.
Sometimes your blue tongue skink might be climbing the glass because it is bored. If there are not many accessories in the tank, it might be a good time to add some – new platforms, rocks, tubes, logs or similar. This can help keep your blue tongue skink interested and engaged. You should also have some substrate for your skink to burrow in.
Make sure that the tank for your blue tongue is not too small. An adult ideally needs a 46 inch long tank (116 cm), that is around 55+ gallons or more. In the small tanks, it might get too hot as well. If your blue tongue skink is also soaking a lot, digging and avoiding the hot spot – please review the temperatures in the tank.
During breeding season, your blue tongue skink might also come out to look for a potential mate. Breeding season generally starts in spring. Blue tongues over 12-24 months old can start showing breeding interest (males become sexually mature faster).
Why is my blue tongue skink biting and how to stop it?
Blue tongue skinks generally bite when they feel threatened. However, most blue tongue skinks will give your other warnings before they bite. They will hiss, do a ‘crocodile roll’ and open their mouth widely. If your blue tongue skink is giving you these warnings, do not handle it.
Instead, start taming and bonding after your blue tongue gets acclimated in few weeks. Before you start handling, approach the tank, place the food and water bowl (make sure it sees it’s you bringing them). Later, start hand feeding and let your blue tongue skink come to you.
If your blue tongue skink tries to bite suddenly when you are handling, place a piece of food in its mouth. It can help your blue tongue realize that you are a positive figure and can be trusted. Same as with peeing, don’t put your blue tongue back into its tank straight away if it bit you. Otherwise, it will continue doing this.
Please be patient, and your blue tongue will become calmer and mellow with time. This is especially if you don’t truly know your blue tongue’s story – was it wild caught? Could it be mistreated by previous owners or never handled before? Bonding will take time, but it’s worth it.
Another reason that your blue tongue skink could bite is pain somewhere in its body. This is especially true if it’s a docile blue tongue biting. If it’s showing any other symptoms, take it to the vet. Mistaking fingers for food might also be a reason for biting.
Thanks for reading this post. If you wish to learn about taming and bonding with your blue tongue skink, read this post.