BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Another question about Hunter. Sorry everyone

Lately I've noticed how he's been whistling during the inhalation phase of his breathing. I notice it only when I put his nose up against his ear and listen. Breathing out's okay, but each time he breathes in there's a tinny whistle. This has started around three weeks already, and from what I've read in the forums it could be just harmless keratin growing on his nostrils, so I observed him closely instead. He's okay, sleeps all day but becomes active when I pick him up and play with him, and walk around for quite a while in his terrarium after I put him back. He has no watery eyes or excessive drooling, he eats normally, licks all around and is generally still active. He also sneezes every so often, but he doesn't wheeze or anything like that (although when he does breathe in I can see his neck puff and deflate a bit).

It's been three weeks since I spotted this. No change, nothing worsening. Should I take him to the vet now or is it just me being paranoid again?

I recently went through something similar to this with my Northern. Is it like a squeak? Sometimes I have found that when Juno is happy she makes a 'squeaking' noise, which you could also probably describe as a whistle...

keep observing your skink as you already do. make sure his temps are good.
dont look mainly for drooling, but rather any excessive fluid from nose or eyes. coughing or crackling sounds while breathing are more definite indicators.

sneezing normally is normal.
sometimes there is a little stuck shed near the nose that can make a whistling sound. this will fix itself.

i have another recommendation, dont handle him so often if you are worried he is ill. handling is of course a way to find such things early, but you dont need to take him out.
since its starting to become winter, it may be so that he wants to sleep a bit more, id say to let him do so - if he is healthy.

Three weeks is a bit long but sometimes one of mine whistles just before a shed.

As this seems to be a general health question and is getting general (non-scientific) responses, I am moving this to the General Discussion Forum.

I noticed the same sound several weeks ago when I have Ard's face close to my ear. There is a faint whistle and I thought it was food stuck in his nose so I gently cleaned around it and it now comes and goes. Seems to be a mystery as to what it truly is

Thank you for your replies everyone. He's still doing it, but it does come and go. He's eating fine and there's no excessive fluid from his nose or eyes. No coughing or crackling either, but he does tend to sneeze a bit (like a handful, I counted five or so sneezes in two or three seconds) when rooting about his newspaper substrate. Is that alright, or should I be concerned still?

I'd keep an eye on it, but it could be some dust in his nose, or a funky scale stuck in there, and they sneeze a lot when digging around, so unless you see other RI symptoms you should be OK. If you see ANY other symptoms, take him to the vet IMMEDIATELY, as RI's can kill in anywhere from hours to days.