BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

I've had my lil' buddy Daisy since February, and up until about a month ago he was doing great! But now he hasn't pooped in over a week, and he isn't very hungry anymore. He's always been on the lazy side, and when i take him out of his tank, he acts like the Daisy I know and love! but I know somethin's up. Every day now, I've been giving him warm baths and tummy rubs, and cut down on his feeding drastically, giving him a few bites of zucchini squash once a week...I've given him a bit of olive oil, which usually opens him right up, but it's not doing the trick this time. We just dropped a decent amount of money in the past weeks, and really don't have the budget for a trip to the vet. Is there anything else I can do to help my skink?

Have you tried feeding banana and egg?
What kind of substrate do you have? Many times they actually do poop, but get creative with hiding it. In the summertime sometimes if the tank is warmer than usual the poop can dry up really fast and disappear into the substrate.
If he is still active when you get him out, I don't think I'd be overly concerned, especially since you've cut back on his food. I might try the opposite if I were you. Give him a good, big meal with some egg in it, and the next day keep him out of the tank and active as much as possible, so you don't miss when he goes. But from what I hear, after feeding eggs, you may very well not need to see it to know he's pooped.

We are going shopping tomorrow, so i will definitely put banana on the list! he lives in "Repti-bark" substrate, and i frequently check everywhere to look for the slightest bit of excrement, because right now, every bit counts!! the last time i fed him, (two days ago) i gave him quite a helping of squash with a hint of olive oil, but so far I've seen nothing in exchange..i will confess, I overestimated the power of light bulbs, and the warmest his tank gets is in the upper 80s-lower 90s. His UVB bulb burned out a couple of days ago (two weeks after i got it!!) and right now he is under a 75 watt day and night lamp. I would love to get a Powersun bulb, but the 100w bulb is 60 bucks! yeowch!

Reptibark hides poop really well. But to make sure you could put him on paper towels until he goes --beats paying for a vet.
The low temps may have something to do with him not pooping, if he really isn't. Upper 90's to low 100's is recommended for proper digestion.

Oh, and don't get me wrong, I'm not saying there's nothing wrong; we could be talking about obstruction/impaction, which can be extremely serious.

A week really isn't too long. I would suggest waiting another few days to a week. This happened to my indo once, and after about 10 days, a normal poop came out. Remember, their metabolisms are slower than ours, so things can happen a lot slower in terms of their digestive and excretory systems. Susann is right though, the temperature on the hot side should really be 90-100 (preferably on the higher end of that spectrum). If you had him roaming outside the cage, can you think of anything that he might have eaten? I know that once someone's skink ate a camera wrist strap.

Oh, shoot, I missed the part about it only being a week; I just read that he was doing great up until a month ago, and was thinking it had been a month! A week, even a few weeks is generally absolutely nothing to worry about.

donkeybuff wrote:A week really isn't too long. I would suggest waiting another few days to a week. This happened to my indo once, and after about 10 days, a normal poop came out. Remember, their metabolisms are slower than ours, so things can happen a lot slower in terms of their digestive and excretory systems. Susann is right though, the temperature on the hot side should really be 90-100 (preferably on the higher end of that spectrum). If you had him roaming outside the cage, can you think of anything that he might have eaten? I know that once someone's skink ate a camera wrist strap.

I keep a very close eye on Daisy when he walks around, it's usually only in my bedroom and in the yard. The only thing he could get into are the socks laying around this is my first Blue-tongue to own, and I figured a lil over a week is a long time to go without a bowel movement! (according to us humans, that is) and I guess I'm just being extra careful with my baby!

if it hasnt been eating alot its got nothing to poop

I use a higher wattage halogen bulb, I think it's 75 w, for a basking bulb. They get hotter than regular bulbs and don't cost that much. I got a 2pk at the grocery store for under $15.

I am having the exact same worry with my little Malygos right now. I will try the banana idea and keep an eye on him. Thank you for posting! I had the exact same thought about the length of time, however it seems I may just be over worried.