baby golden skinks

Question
QUESTION: much to our surprise  our skink (purchased from the pet store) is having  babies as I type. She must have been pregnant when we purchased her, strange, as she was alone in the tank. Anyhow, we see we need to seperate the young from her, but what sort of ground should we put in the new tank? We currently have bark in the mom's tank... thanks! jeannette

ANSWER: Hi Jeannette,

How exciting and surprising! Reptiles can store sperm for quite some time. With live bearers the eggs essentially incubate and hatch inside the mother so they remain gravid/pregnant for much longer then egg layers. With most skinks it is not easy to tell if they are gravid or even to accurately tell male from female.

I would also separate the babies although some species of skinks actually show some level of maternal protective instinct. I'm not sure if Goldens do and better to be safe then sorry.

I like to use coconut mulch for species like skinks that should have a substrate that they can burrow into. The consistency is lighter then bark mulches and the pieces are less of an impaction risk.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you for a quick reply! We'll look for the coconut mulch in town, but haven't seen it yet, might be a possibility that they don't sell that in alaska! If I may ask you a follow-up question? the 2nd baby was born in what looked like a sac, but it didn't break or the baby never broke it (the mom moved away and kept looking at us)... (we broke the first one-and that baby lived).. should we break these for the baby?
Also, how many babies or how long will it take her to have all her young? She's still quite fat, and she's had two. She had her first one yesterday about 2pm... and the 2nd one about 7pm... thanks again, sorry for all the questions! j

ANSWER: Hi Jeannette,

Usually the membrane breaks up in the birthing process but if it remains intact I would break it as you did with the first one. They usually have between 5 and 10 babies. I'm afraid I don't know how long the process may be. Sadly, most skinks are not widely bred in captivity due to the aforementioned problems of sexing them and also the fact that they are still commonly available as inexpensive wild-caught specimens.

Coconut mulch is also available as a gardening product and is usually cheaper that way. It often comes in compressed bricks. If you can't find it then a plain soil (no fertilizer or perlite) mixed with sand is also suitable.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Excellent!  we will break the sac from now on, I'm bummed we didn't do it with number 2. One last question.. (hope you won't hold me to this!) how do we feed the babies. We bought the little tiny crickets, and put them in his container, but he (she?) doesn't seem interested... will instinct evenually take over? Or should we feed them part of a mealworm or banana?
I'll try to take a picture this evening and attach it for you! Once again, thanks for all your help! jeannette

Answer
Hi Jeannette,

Recent reptile arrivals don't tend to eat right away. They have just absorbed the last of the egg yolk and live off that for several days before they show interest in insects. You will likely need 1/4 inch crickets or crickets that are about the same length as the width of the babies' heads. Growing babies will need a bit more frequent calcium supplementation dusted onto the crickets then the adult. I would love to see a picture!