Two weeks is long enough for small misunderstandings to become real problems, and short enough that nobody builds new habits to replace the written ones. A blue-tongued skink staying with a friend does not need a folder of general reptile advice. It needs one sheet, in plain language, that lets a well-meaning person reproduce this animal's normal days exactly — and knows precisely what to do on the one day that is not normal.
The Handover Set, Complete on One Sheet
Write the same set every time, with nothing carried only in conversation: the exact foods and the animal's own established amounts, temperatures, handling rules, and emergency authorization. Exact foods means the actual items this skink eats, named plainly, not a category like greens or protein. The animal's own established amounts means the portion you normally serve, described in your routine terms — the bowl, handful, or item count you actually use — because your friend's job is to copy your routine, not to design a diet.
Temperatures should be written as the readings your equipment normally shows, warm side and cool side, beside the light times that produce them. A friend who can compare a display with a written figure can spot drift on day two; a friend told only to keep it warm cannot. Add water changes, spot-cleaning, and any dusting step as routine practice in your own words, plus the skink's normal habits: when it basks, where it hides, how it usually responds to the enclosure opening, and what a normal refusal of one meal looks like for this animal.
Handling Rules a Friend Can Follow
State the handling rules as clear permissions and limits. Say how the skink may be lifted if it must be moved — supported under the body, calmly, for a short move — and what is not allowed: no grabbing from above, no handling by visitors or children during the stay, no taking it outside its secure area, and no feeding by hand unless that is already its established routine.
Include the skink's individual signals. If this animal hisses when startled but settles once a hand is visible, write that. If it has a favorite hide it should never be dragged from, write that too. Handling rules written for this skink, rather than for skinks in general, stop a friend from either fearing normal behavior or ignoring a real warning.
Emergency Authorization in Writing
Give emergency authorization in writing, signed, stating that your friend is authorized to take the skink to the named vet if it looks injured, stops breathing normally, prolapses, or cannot be roused in its usual way. Name the veterinarian and practice, give the address and phone number as you have them, and add your own contact details and a backup contact.
Be plain about cost and contact order as well: call you first if reachable, then take the skink in rather than waiting, and keep any paperwork the clinic gives.
The Pet Passport Holds the Handover Copy
Walk through the setup together once before the stay, sheet in hand, so your friend sees where the thermometer reads, how the light timer is set, and how the skink normally looks at feeding time. Then keep a duplicate of the finished sheet in the Pet Passport, as the home of this skink's records, so the same handover can be sent again, updated after the stay, or shown to the named vet with the animal's history behind it. Note on your copy what was actually eaten and any incident during the two weeks when the skink comes home, because that return note makes the next handover more accurate.
With the signed sheet tucked behind the skink's routine pages on KinsLe, the Pet Passport becomes the single version your friend trusts during the stay.