New Owner + Scale Question

[maerzay]

Hi everyone, I just got my first bluey in January. I got him from a reptile show and he he had a red mark on his head. The sellers said it was just from shedding. He just had his first shed with me and the red mark looks the same but now there's an additional white mark on his head.

The red mark looks like a missing scale but it doesn't seem to bother him. The white mark looks like stuck shed. I used a wet qtip but it didn't change appearance at all. Is this something to be concerned about?

Other information:

He is a northern blue tongue.
The seller said he was 7 months old but he seemed a little small so he might be a couple months younger.
He has UVB and heat, working on stabilizing the humidity (glass enclosure).
He cannot reach any of the hot bulbs and there is nothing sharp in the tank.

Sorry in advance if the photos are too big. It's been a long time since I've posted in a forum like this.

[Krebllogs]

Awesome skink!

If you got it from an expo, I would still get it checked out by a vet, and get a stool test done, just to be safe...
I got my Northen from a local expo last November, and she ended up having parasites, at 3-4 month old.

Anyhow, I've had other reptiles that have had bad sheds, where they had a scar left over for years before it faded enough to not notice it as much. So it could take a while for something like that to eventually "go away" because he will have to go through many sheds, before the scar starts to reduce.

Healing something like this depends on the reptiles age, if he was older, he would be shedding less, thus less recovery of the scales would happen. Also, how deep/wide the wound was.
For your skink, I would say you have nothing to worry about, as long as you know the wound, was properly treated at the time it was fresh, and healed before shedding. So, just keep up with monitoring sheds.

Good luck with your new Blue Tongue Skink!

[splashy07]

Sellers at expos are often wholesalers and keep multiple animals warehoused. It's a sad thing to see, and unfortunately, I've seen way too much in my time. Probably an old injury and will heal in time. Does not appear to be serious.

[maerzay]

Thank you everyone! I did end up taking him to the vet and was given an ointment to put on his wound to help.

But the main reason I took him to the vet was because he had mites! The week I took him to the vet was the same week a ton of mites because large enough to notice (before I only saw one tiny one at a time and didn't know what it was). Luckily it seems that I caught it in time before it turned into a full blown infestation.

He is currently unhappy in quarantine but is less grumpy as we get rid of more and more mites. This forum has been an amazing resource in helping get rid of these suckers.

[splashy07]

Mites run rampant at expos. The reason I always suggest seeking out private breeders. Buying at an expo can be similar to getting a dog at a puppy mill. First thing you do is get it to a vet, and this will most likely far exceed the cost of buying from a reputable breeder in the first place. Good luck, hope this is the end of your skink's troubles.