Potential Infection????

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rilwy15
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Potential Infection????

Postby rilwy15 » Mon Dec 18, 2017 9:38 pm

A few months ago I got a young irian jaya bluey who seemed to be perfectly happy. As of now, she is active, eats fine, poops fine, sheds fine, etc. but she had some signs of infection. For starters her eyes are very frequently crusted shut and are just generally messy looking? and she has a small bump on the side of her mouth that initially made me think mouth rot but i’m not so sure. she also has about three scales on the top of her head that are a significantly darker brown and puffy. Attached are three photos of the problem areas. Please let me know if you have any ideas of what could be happening to my Sagey!
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kayla990
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Re: Potential Infection????

Postby kayla990 » Thu Dec 21, 2017 11:40 am

Good she's active and seemingly normal otherwise! We've only had our skink for 3 weeks so can't say for sure - but the eyes do look sore (and in the first picture, the mouth scales look a little reddened in the corner?). If her eye seems to be getting worse since your post - there could be a chance of infection (from it being puffy/red compared to the other eye).

Are the dark scales on the head still there? It looks like stuck shed to me (hopefully another owner can confirm though!). Have you double checked your setup recently? Especially the humidity since she's an Indonesian type. If she's easy to handle, an option could be to use a damp cotton swab gently on the head scales to see if they loosen up a little.
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Janella
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Re: Potential Infection????

Postby Janella » Thu Dec 21, 2017 8:35 pm

The scales on the top of her head are for sure stuck shed. They will need help to come off. As for the eyes and mouth, is she wheezing, or sound funny when breathing. I am wondering if your skink has a possible upper respiratory infection. I would personally recommend a vet visit. I would also recommend doing a stool sample check to make sure it doesn't have any internal parasites. Where did you get your skink from? Alot of them are wild caught and not captive bred. Good luck and let us know what the vet says.
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Re: Potential Infection????

Postby splashy07 » Thu Dec 28, 2017 6:28 am

Ditto Janella's post, and I'd like to add that stuck shed and RI's could indicate improper humidity for this species. Should be at the very least 50-60 percent. What type of substrate are you using?
rilwy15
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Re: Potential Infection????

Postby rilwy15 » Wed Feb 14, 2018 8:07 pm

I have yet to take her to the vet and she goes through days where she looks fine and then days when she still looks sick. I use repti bark and I try to keep the humidity up but i’m thinking that may be a big part of it. Her stool seems very normal and when I get her feeding on a regular schedule her issues seem to get a bit better as well.
rilwy15
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Re: Potential Infection????

Postby rilwy15 » Wed Feb 14, 2018 8:10 pm

Also, her head scales cleared up fine and the mouth scabbed up and came off when she shed and not it’s barely there. I also got her from a local breeder I met at a reptile expo.
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kayla990
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Re: Potential Infection????

Postby kayla990 » Wed Feb 14, 2018 11:41 pm

rilwy15 wrote: I use repti bark and I try to keep the humidity up but i’m thinking that may be a big part of it

Do you have a hygrometer to keep track of humidity? That will help to keep an eye on things. For any Indo species, always recommended to be able to see humidity, as it's near impossible guessing what level it is.

Do you happen to have a comparison image of the mouth in case it has got worse? :)

Glad she's still eating well! As there are still days she looks sick, I'd always encourage a vet check from a reptile expert (and I'd say to double check your setup of temperature gradient, diet, humidity etc in case things have changed).
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Re: Potential Infection????

Postby Janella » Thu Feb 15, 2018 4:30 am

I agree with Kayla 990. Good advice

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