Nails and weight

[TGC7]

Hello,
I am a first time owner of a blue tongue skink. I have had my skink since June 2012, when I purchased him as a CB lizard from a reptile store. I believe I was told he was 3 months old at that time, but i'm not 100% sure of this.. So his age is roughly 9-10 months I guess.

I would like to ask if he needs his nails cut, it is something I often look at and they seem totally fine to me. The only problem is, I have never had to cut them, so I am concerned that maybe I just can't recognise when this needs to be done.

Additionally, since I make home made food, as many others do, I am unsure if I am feeding him enough. Actually, I recently thought it may be too much.
Each meal is the size of one ice cube, every 2 days. Extra Lean Ground beef, dandelion greens, collared greens, other various greens from the care sheet recomendations, some banana or blueberries.. usually only a very tiny amount in a whole batch of food. I blend it all together in a food processor, and he eats most of the cube right away, except some crums. I also feed superworms (live) every 1-3 days. Vitamins added to food on Fridays.

Is that diet ok for my skink? Please look at the image and see if he looks overweight or underweight.

Oh also, is his back supposed to be straight? it looks like it dips down in the middle.. is this a sign of MBD?

claws-BTS.jpeg

back-BTS.jpeg

weight-BTS.jpeg

Thank you for any help you may be able to provide me.

[Spindown]

The nails look fine, just like any creature, some skinks have fast growing nails, some have slow nails. They will look long, and if they start curling AT ALL its time to cut them.

[Bird_Brain]

Agree, both nails and weigh look good to me. As far as the dip, does he like to climb the walls of the cage?

[TGC7]

Yes he climbs the wall of his cage every day for a while, it is annoying because I dont want him to fall and be hurt. It is an exo terra background (foam) so he can just climb it with claws. Should i remove the background? I havent so far because he seems to enjoy climbing it lol

[kenn]

What about other things?
Like when you gently push on the jaw?
Does he poop well?
Lack of appetite?
Tremors?
...

The spinal chord COULD be a sign of MBD, BUT for 100% diagnosis of MBD,we need to know more:
- diet?
- supplements?
- UV bold?

And normally we (vets) should do a bloodwork AND RX radiograph, and THAN we can say if it's MBD or not..


But when he is doing fine,.. I wouldn't be worried

Climbing:
you can also give wood or cork to climb on

[Linnea]

Yes he climbs the wall of his cage every day for a while, it is annoying because I dont want him to fall and be hurt. It is an exo terra background (foam) so he can just climb it with claws. Should i remove the background? I havent so far because he seems to enjoy climbing it lol

that dip is placed in a way that makes me think of wall climbign as well.

the problem here is that when they try to climb vertically often they can get an unusual spine deformation.
climbing behaviour can occur when the skink has too little space, too open glass view (so they think they can get past the invisible wall), if they hides are not sufficient, or simply because the skink climbs around a lot.

the same spine thing can be seen when dachshund dogs climb stairs for a few years.

i suggest getting a flat background and cover 3 sides of the terrarium with this.
look over the hides, are they good enough and secure and snug or are they too big and spacy.
cork bark hides are great for bluey climbing (close to the ground, minimal risk of injury, good basking spot, snug hide). i also have a low guinea pig house for some more climbing.
variation is the key, but they are ground dwelling reptiles, with backs made to climb over obstructing objects every now and then, but not all the time.

dont worry about the nails, they look good, very short even.

about the risk of mbd, do you add calcium and D3 to the food you give? if so, all is good. if not, it has to be supplemented.

[Jos]

Some pictures

[TGC7]

What about other things?
Like when you gently push on the jaw?
Does he poop well?
Lack of appetite?
Tremors?
...

The spinal chord COULD be a sign of MBD, BUT for 100% diagnosis of MBD,we need to know more:
- diet?
- supplements?
- UV bold?

And normally we (vets) should do a bloodwork AND RX radiograph, and THAN we can say if it's MBD or not..


But when he is doing fine,.. I wouldn't be worried

Climbing:
you can also give wood or cork to climb on

He eats his meal and worms every time I offer it.
I give calcium + D3 on Fridays, as well as a multivitamin that does not contain calcium.
I provide UVB 12 hours a day.

He poops regularly as far as I can tell, since I can find pieces of poop once or twice per day.

Can anyone make suggestions for the background? I use an exo terra foam one, and there are 3 open sides of the terrarium.. This is likely part of the issue.

Would simply putting fleece lining around the outside of the glass work enough? Just so he cant see outside.
Also his hide is fairly spacious, so I may need to make adjustments there too, I will get some cork bark or something..
Currently, he goes in the cave and just burrows entirely under aspen bedding. Is that not good enough for a hide?

Here is a picture of his cave:

cave-BTS.jpeg

[Linnea]

it looks pretty good :/
you can put anything you want on the sides, as long as its not close to the heat lamp. fire is something you do not want.
i went to a regular pet store and got aquarium background with rocks.


just to give us an idea about the dimensions, what size is the tank?

[TGC7]

36" by 18" by 18" is the terrarium size.

I would like to get a 4'x2' but that wont be for a while.

The idea I had with that cave is that is bassically doubles the usable space becauase he basks on top and eats and drinks on top and he also burrows underneath.

[Katrina]

There are lots of tiles in the tank - that's probably wearing his nails down which is why you don't have to cut them. Providing slate or other scratchy surfaces to naturally wear the nails down is much easier than trimming them.

Diet sounds good - at 10 months and judging by the size, you can easily cut back to once or twice a week for feedings.

Like Ken said - you can provide a piece of driftwood or cork bark to climb. I haven't dealt with blueys that climb so much they cause back bends, so I can't help with that. Good luck!

[Spindown]

Those are great pics, Jos, but if they are that long they have passed being long and are now WAAAAAY too long and probably painful!
OP, think of dog nails.