BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

The head line covers it. baisicly I work at vons and love animals and petco is right next door... well to make a long stoy short I listened to pet store advice I know eww evil... hissssss, but even though I've had him for only a few days I fell in love I can't give him up but he doesn't eat, at all I read the brumation thing but it isn't winter and he gets plenty of sun. I have alot more worries about him so here goes is a vet hard to come by? he wont eat his vegies only his super worms... are those good for him? and the worst thing of all it is hard to explain but he kinda just drags himself with his front legs sometimes should he ever do that or am I over reacting. I think that is all.

Give him a week in his new home to just settle in. He's from a pet store, so he may be wild caught (even if they say otherwise) which may mean it will take a while to calm him down. You'll need patience.

After a week a vet check would be good. Don't worry about not using the back legs though, most seem to rarely move their back legs. The back legs move maybe once every 2 or 3 steps? If he has things to climb he'll use them more.

Yeah, just give him/her a week or so to "settle in", mine still aren't eating more then a grape sized bite a week... just keep offering food every 2-3 days at least until he/she starts eating more...just a little at a time.

Also, my Indo almost never uses his hind legs when he is sliding along on the substrate in his cage. If he climbs onto a log or something, then he remembers he has them!

ok that helps alot. And would it change anything if he is wild cought. he seems to enjoy laying on my chest when I watch tv is it right to continue to interact with him or should I just leave him to do his skink thing till he comes out on his own? And when I sit up he moves up to my shoulder and curls around the back of my neck.

My Eastern is in an outdoor enclosure and climbs so he can see out the top. When I approach he slides down like a snake.

Souns like a wild caught, it will probably eat under ripe berries and maybe mushrooms as well. Try it with snails but probably won't eat if you are watching. It shouldn't be able to resist raw meat - make sure that it is good quality, not supermarket or convenience store mince.

Scott

Iknow im only a relatively new BT owner but when i got mine from a petshop they told me he only ate locusts and apple and was a very fussy eater.

So i gave him this food and he didnt eat for the first 4/5 days. He wasnt interested in anything, then i tried him with a bit of scrambled egg and he munched it down straight away, the next day i gave him some mince, again he chomped it down, then i tried cat/dog food and he wolfed that down aswell, he has now got into a feeding routine at the times i get back from work.

I then popped some Kale and grapes on a palte and placed it in the same feeding spot and he ate those aswell.

i've found anythign meaty or covered in raw egg yolk they will eat. i havnt had one even wild rescues turn down raw egg yolk yet. i usually put it over vegies or lizard pellets

yup - they are suckers for egg!

Eric. Sounds like things are very normal. As everyone said give him some time to settle. Spend time reading the caresheet (read it over and over it helps) and give yourself time to get to know his little ways. You both will do just fine.

Try www.herpvetconnection.com
scroll to the bottom, enter your state, and youshould get a listing of good reptile/herp vets in your general area.

Sounds like he needs to settle in, but its good that he's comfy with you enough to lay on you or curl around your neck.

Adult skinks can go for quite a while without eating in the wild, so a few days won't hurt. If he doesn't seem to be losing weight, you should be OK.
The vet can run a fecal to see if there are parasites of any kind, I know my boy's appetite picked right up once he was treated.

So wait a day or two, try feeding again. He could just be holding out on what he's used to eating. Trust me, they won't starve themselves!
Good luck!

If you bought him from Petco then you have a 14 day health guarantee. Go to the store manager and tell them that you want to take the animal to your herp specialty vet for treatment. The likelihood is that your skink has a heavy internal parasite load as well as potential for other health problems. If you're within the 14 day guarantee Petco will pay the vet cost, but you'll have to be firm that you'll only let the animal to go your vet...not the store's vet. Go up the chain of command if you have to. Good luck!

wow you are all being very helpful. You cleared up my fears that he might be starving himself to death. It is a huge relief another few questions if he is sitting and i go to pick him up he starts to taste the air is what I assumed he is doing but I heard they stick their tongues out if they are mad over something is that what he is doing or would I know that if I saw it. Another question is in this first three days I imedietly started to pick him up and hold him and even made a trip to the local liquor store and he is fine with being on me but when I first go to pick him up he doesn't want to go. Any body know why that is? should i continue to get him used to being held or should I let him do his own thing till he starts to eat again?

Sticking their tongue out rapidly is part of how they sense the world around them, if its done a bit like a snake. It basically "tastes" the air around them and brings tiny particles to their Jacobson's organ (at the upper rear of their mouth) and they gather info about their environment that way.

Now a full on display is when they whip around in a horse-shoe shape and the big blue tongue kind of Blarps out of their wide-open pink mouth! They may hiss while doing this display, and it happens if you frighten or startle them on accident, such as walking into a room unannounced. (I did this on accident to my guy while he was in the bath tub. I think it scared both of us! )
Approaching them while talking softly to them alerts them to your presence before you pick them up. Also, a front-opening cage is much less scarey for them than grabbing from above like a predator might.

You've already been holding/handling your guy for a while now, so I say the more handling at frequent intervals for short periods of time should be fine.
I'd just get him to a vet for a proper check up next!

Hopefully Jenn on here may chime in with some helpful hints. She has many bluey's and she has weaned them off whatever she didn't want and incorporated many more vegi's.

Hullo~

I've had problems with my bluey eating too. He still doesn't eat that much. @_@
Snails are his LOVE right now ^_^

As for handling:
My skink doesn't seem too happy about the initial pickup.
If you're picking him up form above, you just might be freaking him out a bit.

My method is to talk for a few seconds before trying to find the guy. That way, he knows you're there. Then scoop him up in one go. Don't let your hand linger like you're waiting for a dog to sniff your hand. That stresses them out. Other people on the forum told me this and it works really well. ^_^

Good lucks to yoU!~

I tried to talk to petco about the vet thing and they told me that to take advantage of the health guarantee you have to return him and they will take him to their vet and then make sure he is good and then sell him back to me. Personally I think it is a crock of bull, does any body feel that that is right? if so tell me.
If they had them (the two bts) for 5-7 months is it likely that it was wild caught? or unlikely? and now it wont come out to bask in the lamp even though I have put him on his basking rock severl times to show him it is there but he sits the for awhile then lumbers off of it to go hide under his logs and stuff.

Petco is full of DooDoo, and its because they're corporate and the people at the top don't give a rats bum about the animals or the "lower" store employees. Its all about the money to them. . .

I would just get your guy to a reputable herp vet near you and be prepared to shell out the money.

I had to do this with my rescue loepard gecko. I knew it would cost because of how sick he is, but I was prepared for it before I got him out of there. The Petco Vet was actually killing him with antibiotics when he needed to be treated for parasites! Didn't even run tests!

I can't speak for sure, having not actually seen your Bluey, but I would venture to guess that yes, it is quite likely that your guy is Wild Caught and probably an Indo, IJ, or Merauke if gotten from a petstore. And will likely have some kind of parasite that will need to be treated for.

This is why most peeps on here recommend getting from a reputable breeder, because there is a much better guarantee of health, and you know the animal's genetic history back at least a couple of generations.

Good luck with your Skinker, try the herpvetconnection.com site.

I wouldn't go panicing about a vet visit just yet, unless he shows signs of being ill,wild caught or not. You have been handling him with no horror stories of fingers getting bit, or him hissing at you like a snake,or hiding and running from you (thats what you'd expect to see from a Wild caught),he sounds very normal and quite well behaved,(not what you'd expect from a wild caught), have you had a chance to check out the main part of this site, there is a care sheet well worth reading/printing out for later reference,and a diet sheet with a list of GOOD,BAD and indifferent things to feed it sounds like you're doing fine so far,they are great animals for pets and as long as you provide the basic needs he'll be O.K.also in the main section you can see other sorts (species)of skinks. you need to supply your new buddy with,
A=a nice enclosure 4"x2" and as high as you like,home made or purpose bought.
B=a hot end with a spot lampor heat emitter onto a basking stone/rock/tile/log of 100F (no electric heat rocks please)
C=a cooler end at about 70F to80F(give or take a couple of degrees
D=a couple or three inches of substrate,NO CEDAR,PINE,OR GARDEN MULCH,use beech,aspen, carefresh(not my liking)or plain paper towels
E=a fresh water drinking bowl
F=UVB,lamp/tube 5.0 or 8.0 are recomended,or a Mercury Vapour lamp, which will give you UVB and a basking heat source in one
G= a good,varied,balanced, 2:1Cal:P

anyway read through as many old posts as you can, you'll be amazed how many of your would be questions, will be answered there for you,Thats the most I've written in a while,ahh, last thing YOU MUST POST PICTURES....ITS THE LAW you know.