Gray's water skink

To my knowledge, Gray’s water skinks are only found in the Philippines. However, the basic necessities of keeping these skinks is the same for all semi-aquatic skinks. Besides, I know that some people actually do have Gray’s skinks… Here’s what I’ve gathered from keeping one of these skinks for a full year, and from the experiences of my friend who had two but now only has one.

Difficulties:
May refuse food until they settle down. Whenever choosing an exotic I always insist on seeing it eat before I buy it, which helps me pick animals that are likely to start eating quickly. Also, these skinks need a setup with both water and land… so the “Housing” section for more details. Like tree frogs, you cannot hope to cuddle your water skink.


Rewards:
Personally, I’ve never kept blue-tongues or anything more conventional. However, these skinks just look awesome – their serrated scales make them look more like crocodiles than like lizards. They are low maintenance, diurnal (most active at dawn and dusk) and fairly inquisitive.


Feeding:
I basically feed mine mealworms gut loaded with oatmeal… Not necessarily the most nutritious food, but they seem to thrive on it. I’m not sure the oatmeal makes much difference, but keeping the mealworms healthy saves me money. I generally offer it a mealworm every day by dropping it where the skink can see it. However, you can tell if your skink is in good condition by looking at the base of the tail. A thick, plump base shows a well-fed skink. A skinny base shows you need to feed your skink more often. If absolutely necessary you can offer an adult skink young super worms, but these can be hard to swallow.

[Update] I have found that Grey's water skinks will eagerly eat bloodworms left on a flat rock. However, it appears they will be even keener on eating crickets!!

Housing:
Firs of all, these skinks must be house separately. The friend I mentioned in the intro had two together, but one killed the other. The owner of the pet store/complex from which I bought the skins insists that both of his were males (I do not know for sure how to sex them, although I read that females are generally larger than males). Perhaps it’s possible to house a pair together, but it’s probably not worth it.
They are a medium-sized skinks: mine is just under 20cm long. My second Bible – the DK Reptile Recognition guide – says they get to be between 20 and 24 cm long. I keep mine in an unconventional 20 gallon aquarium that is wider than it is high with a soil and pebble substrate. This is divided in four distinct parts. The most important is the water container in which the skink can swim, shed (they seem to prefer to shed in the water), cool off and hide. The second is a hiding place - currently an inverted rectangular plastic box – which is also absolutely essential to help your pet settle down. Next I’ve planted canary seeds in one corner of the aquarium. The skink seems to enjoy hiding and foraging in these. Finally, I have a raised mound of earth that the skink can lay on to observe the other pets in my room.
Although the water in its aquarium keeps it fairly humid, I do occasionally mist it manually. These skinks look a lot nicer when they are wet rather then covered in mud, so I sometimes mist it just for the pleasure of seeing it in its full splendor... I keep the aquarium at slightly above room temperature (between 24 and 29 degrees Celsius, depending on the season), not because I’m following a guide but because that’s the temperature during the day in the corner of my bedroom I keep it in. I figure that as long as it can submerge itself at will it should not have any problems, and the temperature drops to about 20 Celsius during the night.


Final words of advice:
These skinks are fast and agile. Although they cannot climb up the sides of an aquarium their enclosure must be secure. Keep in mind that they do not become any less agile while you are cleaning their aquarium. Nowadays, I generally leave my skink in its aquarium when cleaning out the water and detritus (such as dead plants and worms) because my skink is fairly used to my sticking my hand in by now. However, for the first few months I had to keep it in a separate plastic box with a firm lid. Catching these skinks, even in an aquarium can be tricky. Don’t worry: although they look like crocodiles I’ve never been bitten by them. I generally restrain my skink by grasping it at the base of the tail then quickly switching fingers and moving my grasp so that I hold it right behind its shoulders. I don’t feel comfortable holding the tail for too long…