The newer female is quite aggressive, and attacks the older and larger female whenever the two meet. We have elected to keep the skinks separated - the larger female has her own cage, while the other two are kept in a similarly sized cage in another room. Encounters still occur periodically when all three are allowed to roam freely at the same time. Captive breeding has succeeded numerous times, both in private collections and in institutions. The Philadelphia Zoo has bred these skinks over multiple generations, for example.
Females give birth to one, occasionally two, large babies, after a pregnancy of six to seven months.
Maternal care of the newborn skink has been reported by a number of sources. The General Care and Maintenance of Prehensile-tailed Skinks. The Solomon Island Skink. This article copyright 1996 by David T. Kirkpatrick. Reprinting of this article for non-profit purposes is permitted provided that it is unaltered and appropriate attribution, including copyright information, is included.