Emerald Tree Skink (Lamprolepis smaragdino)

Emerald Tree Skink (Lamprolepis smaragdino) are good sized (typically 8-10" long) lizards native to southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia and the Philippines.

They are very active diurnal, arboreal animals which are rarely found on the ground. Strikingly green in colour with varying degrees of black and brown.

Quite an easy species to keep providing the attention is put into the set up and the individuals are CB, WC animals are said to be hard to acclimatize.

These are very active lizards and need to be given the space to behave as such. A well ventilated  50cm x 50cm x 100cm high is the minimum space I would give to a pair or trio but bigger is always better. They are social lizards so a female heavy group works best, males tend to not get along with each other.

High humidity is important so a live planted bio active style vivarium is the best way to achieve this, consisting of a screen covered drainage layer where excess water can collect and be periodically syphoned out before the above substrate can be water logged. This is covered with my own substrate mix mimicking the 'ABG style' of mix.  

Onto this I add a layer of leaf litter. this helps maintain humidity and supports the bio active life in the substrate, in turn breaking down the waste of the geckos. I add little pieces of cuttlefish bone for the isopods to graze on as a calcium source, to keep them from doing so on my Skink eggs.

Emerald Tree Skinks require a high humidity environment. I achieve this with numerous automated misting sessions throughout the day to maintain a target humidity of around 70% and additionally I run a cool mist ultrasonic humidifier at night at timed intervals to achieve near 100% humidity levels over night.

I provide a basking temperature of 95 degrees with a gradient down to high 70's. The vivarium is brightly lit and provides the plants with the correct lighting in order to photosynthesize in the way of 6500K LED lamps. the Arcadia Jungle Dawn is my go-to plant light. being a diurnal species Emerald Tree Skinks need access to good quality UVB lighting. My product of choice for this is the Arcadia T5pro. I use a 6% lamp positioned about 7" above the basking spot.

They are a very inquisitive lizard so décor is important, they want lots to interact with in the form of logs, branches, vines etc.

Food wise, Emerald Tree Skinks are insectivores, I have found them not to fussy. anything of the appropriate size is readily taken. As always variety is key. I rotate in Crickets, Dubia roaches, small locust, calci worms, silk worms, wax worm moths, meal worms, morio worms.. Waxworms are relished as a treat item and these I save for hand feeding to gain trust. Emerald Tree Skinks can become very trusting of you with patience.

As well as all my feeders being well gut loaded prior to being fed I supplement each feed with Repashy Calcium Plus. this is a combined Calcium and vitamin supplement, but using low doses so works on an every feed method rather than a plain calcium and rotating in other supplement powders. In addition to the insect diet I also give my Emerald Tree Skinks access to a premix commercial crested gecko diet. I rotate between flavours of Repashy and Pangea, but I opt for the mixes containing insects.