Summer Time and Blue Tongue Lizards

This is the time that reptiles come out to play. And play they do with many young animals being seen over the next few months in both the wild and captivity. Perhaps the most conspicuous lizard to many people who live in Southern Australia are Blue tongue lizards. This ubiquitous lizard is found in all capital cities around Australia in one form or another and is a frequent visitor to suburban areas. It is one of the most kept and most loved reptile pets in the world.

They are bred readily in captivity and by Xmas, large numbers are available for purchase. A young bluetongue will be fairly quick to poke that bright blue tongue out when handled but most are fairly quiet to handle and don’t tend to bite. They are housed either in outside aviaries or pits, or inside in enclosures that are specifically designed and landscaped for ground dwelling reptiles of medium size (about 30cm) such as a bluetongue.

I have around 20 bluetongue lizards and house them individually in Reptile One enclosures that are 90cm long and 45cm wide by 45cm high, namely the RTF-900S. Many bluetongues are kept in enclosures without any UV light, but in my mind, any animal that is day active and basks is using the sun for both its heating properties and to use the UV to metabolise calcium. With this in mind, I have a Reptile One fan heat light in each enclosure that allows the lizards to warm up through basking and also supplies UV to a fairly specific area in the enclosure so the lizards can choose whether to utilize it or not. The entire subject of UV is one that perplexes many people and is a full volume in itself, however if we look at wild animals for guidance, there are many reptiles that can use UV but there are a few that cannot live without it, such as the dragon family.

Bluetongues are a lizard that tends to use a lot of water so a water bowl should always be provided. A varied diet is important for all reptiles but essential for Bluetongues. They are omnivorous and will eat anything from vegetables and fruit to cockroaches and mince meat. Be sure to try new and different food to work out what your particular lizard likes.

One of the biggest problems for young bluetongues has to do with the resting position they will take if they are in an enclosure with very few furnishings. Basically they will rest with the upper part of their body up the glass side of the cage and the lower half will be on the floor. This means they will be at right angles. Over time this then becomes a spinal deformity that cannot be corrected.

It is important to make sure this does not happen as it is quite easy to stop early on but it only needs about two weeks of this behaviour and it is stuck with a distinct kink in its back. The kink doesn’t seem to affect the animal unduly, but looks unsightly, and when the lizard is flat on the floor it has a dip in the middle of the back. To correct the behavior, I put many things the lizard can climb over, under, through and around in the cage. Put hides up against the walls so the animal cannot sit in the right angle position. Essentially, what you are doing is akin to cage stimulation and it tends to work well. If you have as recalcitrant animal that still wants to sit at right angles, then you can put it into a round tub. This round tub makes it hard to sit in a corner or on the right angle.

Bluetongues grow very quickly and even become conditioned to come to their keeper at feeding time. I hope you all get the opportunity to keep a reptile as a pet and a Bluetongue lizard is a great place to start – Happy herping!

 

Written by: Dr Gavin Bedford, Kongs Australia