Do Bearded Dragons Eat Skinks? The genus Pogona in reptiles is composed of about eight to ten species of lizards commonly known as bearded dragons. This name is encoded and refers to the appearance of a beard in dragons underside their throat, which mostly turns black due to a number of factors. One such factor is stress. These lizards spend most of their time on branches and bushes and bask on rocks during the mornings and afternoons.
Bearded dragons are equipped with the armor of reptilian scales, including the beard of spikes under their chin which puffs depending upon their mood. The recognized species are affectionately called “beardies”. The most common species of bearded dragons to have as a pet is Pogona vitticeps. These are gentle, inquisitive, active, and most common pet reptiles.
Bearded Dragons Eat Skinks / Diet of Bearded Dragons:
The juvenile and baby beardies eat insects and their diet is mainly composed of them as they require a substantial amount of proteins. Juvenile beardies eat insects three times per day. The usual appetite is determined after a few feedings.
The most common insects fed to the beardies are crickets and dobia roaches but they can also eat black soldier fly larvae, butter worms, silkworms, locusts, super worms, fruit flies, grasshoppers, and hornworms.
The adults eat the plant-based foods as they grow up and their diet should have plant matter as the prime ingredients, the most important of which is leafy vegetables.
The plant material includes the endive, kale, rocket, spring green, Chinese leaf, watercress, pea shoots, butternut squash, bell peppers, and other plants. Before feeding anything new to your beardies, make sure to check the ingredients or contents for toxicity, or their reactivity to bind to the calcium.
If the ingredient in the diet is capable to bind the calcium to itself, that will prevent the beardies from being able to absorb the calcium. In the wild habitat, the diet is seasonal and changes with the changes in the environment and with changes in the availability of the prey.
About 60% of stomach content was reported to compose of termites in the studies of wild bearded dragons.
Like other reptiles, beardies are opportunistic and binge feeds on the food sources available and prefers the live prey over the plant-based foods.
Can Bearded Dragons eat Skinks?
As described earlier, juveniles and baby beardies are insectivorous, and adults also prefer to prey in the wild over the plant-based food so eat feed on different insects. As far as skinks are concerned, beardies don’t get along with other lizards.
Usually, bearded dragons do not eat skinks, but there are some cases reported regarding the skinks being eaten by the bearded dragons.
If your beardie eats a wild skink, it’s important to visit a veterinarian immediately, the skink might have parasites in the body of any accumulated toxins in the flesh.
The skink may have eaten a poisoned dead or dying insect which could be harmful to your beardie because they are not tolerant of insecticides.
The thing to worry about is the poisoning from whatever the skink may have eaten and the impactation could be an issue. Observe your beardie carefully and notice the symptoms like if he stops eating, changes in defecation patterns, consistency, or frequency of urination or becomes lethargic or any unusual sign, take your beardie to a veterinarian to investigate about any harms or toxin development in the body of your beardie.
Eating Skinks is something the Beardie does in the wild,
if there is no concern about being poisoned, the skink would have not eaten anything but small harmless insects. Get checked your beardie for parasites in a few weeks as this might happens if something toxic is eaten by the skink.
Bearded Dragons vs. Blue-Tailed Skinks:
Habitat and enclosure:
Both the beardies and blue-tailed skinks make amazing pets and have very similar housing. Beardies are the desert species and like hot temperatures as well as dried climate naturally. They need UVB in order to survive and sand is the most suitable substrate for them used in enclosures. The claws of beardies help them to climb over things and they will climb the low wooden pieces and rocks if provided in the enclosure.
Blue-tailed skinks on the other hand have special care requirements. The preferred enclosure size is the same as preferred for the beardies, i.e. 40-gallon breeder tank. Skinks like to dig a lot so the best substrate to keep them is the substrate that allows burrowing and holds humidity. The preferred substrate which is considered best for skinks is coconut fiber, recycled paper, and aspen.
Behavior and Lifespan:
Bearded dragons are not incredibly active and are considered as the king of the chill. They just like to eat, sleep, poop, and bask on the breathing rocks.
Beardies are intelligent lizards and learn tricks to establish a routine to recognize their owners and know the routine and recognize the gestures when they are about to feed.
The life span of beardies is about 7-12 years and some can live up to 15 years, the lifespan depends on care, life quality, and the habitat provided to them. On the other hand, skinks live up to 15-20 years and on average live more as compared to beardies.
Average Size and Handling:
The average size of beardies is 17-24 inches while of skinks are 18-23.6 inches. The adult size of skinks is achieved in 12-24 months, along with a similar size; both lizards weigh around 300-600 grams.
The classic beardies are brown or yellowish in color, have small spots and scales on the body. Their signature feature is the throat that puffs when they are scared.
Skinks on the other hand have similarities with monitors and snakes and have a grayish body with caramel or brown stripes. They can’t climb properly due to small legs; they have signature blue tongues that helps to scare off the predators.
As far as nature is concerned, beardies are friendly just like the skinks and don’t mind getting handled.
They love to climb their owners and spend time with them. Blue tongued skinks bond with their owners really well and can be shy but curious once tamed. If you do not spend much time with them, they will spend most of the time of day hiding and burrowing in their enclosures.
Group Behavior:
Adult beardies aging a few weeks should not be housed together and they compete and injure each other for life. Similar is in the case of skinks, when they are grouped together, they become aggressive towards each other. Few skinks species like the shingle back skink, blotched and blue tongue skink can live together, but it totally depends upon their personalities but it is preferred to avoid grouping them together.
The skinks have moderate requirements and are beginners friendly as they are very friendly and hardy. They don’t eat much, all you need to worry about is mainly the heat, UVB, and their diet. Beardies, on the other hand, are also beginner-friendly as they also have moderate care requirements.
The main aspects to care about are heat and their diet, taking care of baby beardies of about 3-5 months is a little harder as they need to be fed multiple times a day mainly with bugs but this becomes easier with time as they grow up. The adults eat less and mainly are vegetarians.
To conclude, we can say that both the beardies and skinks are good as pet lizards and these can’t be housed together as bearded dragons and skinks both love to live alone.
Grouping causes aggression, competition and the results may have many harmful consequences.
Conclusion
Bearded dragons do not go well with other lizards and there are chances that they might engulf the skinks. Eating skink is rare, but is reported by few beardie keepers. It can be fatal only if the skink has toxins, parasites, or have eaten something dangerous, otherwise, it’s just a piece of meat for beardies. Always keeps an eye on your beardies while taking them out, do not set them running around outside without supervision.
Bearded Dragon Diet
| Insects | Greens | Occasional Snacks | Avoid These Foods | Toxic | Supplements / Reptiles |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SuperWorms | Kale | Plumbs | Lettuce | Parsley | Gut Loaded Insects |
| Earth Worms | Cucumbers | Melons | Spinach | Chives | Calcium |
| Dubia Roaches | Cabbage | Grapes | Wild Insects/ Insecticides | Eggplant | D3 |
| Black Soldier Fly Larvae | Bok Choy | Bananas | Bees | Garlic | Cuttlefish |
| Crickets / Leave none uneaten / They can wound Your Dragon | Bell Peppers | Apples | Centipedes | Mushrooms | Multivitamin |
| Locusts | Mustard Greens | Apricots | Fireflies | Rhubarb | |
| Butterworms | Squash | Kiwi | Ladybugs | Avocados | |
| Wax Worms | Dandelion Greens | Strawberries | Monarch Butterflies | ||
| Tomatoe Hornworms | Peaches | Wasps | |||
| Phoenix Worms | Fuzzy Caterpillars | ||||
| Houseflies | |||||
| Flour Beetles | |||||
| Stick Insects | |||||
| Mice |
