Customer Reviews

Prehensile-Tailed Skinks (General Care and Maintenance of Series)

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This was the first book I purchased befor I got my PTS, and I'm very glad I did. It is THE MOST informative one I've found yet, as there is not a lot of information out there on this species. We have been keeping PTS now for 7 years, and have had success with breeding as well. Thanks to the information in this book, our skinks are very healthy and happy critters. I would strongly suggest purchasing this book to anybody interested in PTS.

Prehensile-tailed skinks, Corucia zebrata (also called Solomon Island skinks and Monkey-tailed skinks,) are relatively rare reptiles from the Solomon Islands which are unique in the skink family in that they have true prehensile tails. These tails allow them to move among trees freely, but unlike some reptiles they are not capable of caudal autonomy (that is they can't drop their tails for self-defense.)

This book is a good guide to picking a healthy skink, housing it, and caring for it. There is an excellent section on group dynamics and social behavior as well as great detail on skink diseases including stomatitis, mites, and tail rot (which may require amputation resulting in a healthy "stump-tail" skink.)

I purchased this book for a friend who is very enamored with skinks, but decided to first read it myself, as my collegiate background was in vertebrate anatomy (although I am primarily a mammologist.) The book is a very quick read (maybe an hour, maximum) but is filled with a lot of good information on skinks. I recommend this book for anyone interested in being a responsible skink owner.