im helpless and need advice

[Red]

I was looking at this I've had my first bluey for 3 days and she came so upset I realized the next day after crying about her hissing at me that she was sheading. today she started climbing on her soaking bowl and scratching at the walls, does she hate me! she currently is in a green sterilite 55 gallon encloser with eco earth I don't know if that has anything to do with it but every time I try to pick her up she snaps at me, hisses, or runs. so I don't know how to take her out if she wants out plus she's sheding. will she be more docile after sheading is over since she got here she's been mad. should I leave her in there till after she sheds. being completely honest she tried to bite me and since I've been terrified of her and don't wanna pick her up I'm scared she'll bite me. any tips?

[BeckyRRR]

Any reptile will often be hissy when you first get them.
She does not hate you. See it from her point of view: she is somewhere new, everything is unfamiliar, and you are much larger than her. She's much more afraid of you than you are of her! When you come close, she's thinking "I'm under attack and need to defend myself!" That's all she's doing. She sees you (a much larger creature, a potential predator) and thinks you might see her as a tasty meal! So when she hisses, she's saying "back off, I won't go down without a fight" sort of thing.

First you need to give her time to get used to her new home. Leave her alone for about a week. Offer her water, food, but don't pick her up or touch her! Make sure you keep the vivarium clean if she goes to the toilet. Keep checking up on her. She might just sleep and be shy for now.

After a week you can very, very slowly start interacting with her. A good way to do this is feed her with tongs. This gets her to associate you with food, which will make her see you as a friend, not a foe. Speak to her quietly and get her used to your voice.

Remember the key is to get her to associate you with good things. Food, warmth and exploring are all things skinks enjoy.

If you can, upload some pictures of her and her enclosure!

[kingofnobbys]

Give her the space she needs, and while she's settling in and getting used to her new home , new surroundings , new people, new sights, and sounds , and new foods and new routines - all very unsettling and stressful to her, especially if she was wild caught and trafficked illegally before winding up in pet shop.

Just for now let her be for now, just feed her as per her needs for her age and size , spot clean and clean up AROUND HER, change her water daily, and just let her see you doing these things and keep the handling to the absolute minimum for now, only picking her up to take out of her tank if it's absolutely necessary FOR NOW.

Then when she settles down and adapts she'll become more curious about you and then you can try placing your hand where she check it out (maybe with a tempting food treat on it and let her come to it in her own time ..... EVERYTHING WILL HAPPEN WHEN SHE IS READY , she is not going to tame up on your agenda ,

DO NOT FORCE YOURSELF on your essentially wild skink , this will only reinforce her fear of you.

DO NOT CHASE HER ABOUT in her tank, she will only see a huge looming scary thing and a terrifying 5 headed snake-creature chasing her , and will only reinforce her fear of you.

DO NOT GRAB HER , this will traumatize her , when you pick her up eventually , choose a time when she is likely to relaxed / sleepy and slip your hand under her body and make sure her entire body (front and back legs) are supported , and place on you lap or chest / tummy so she is able to look at face and then simply gently rest hand over her body so she feels secure.

[Leigti]

Just give her some time. I know it’s very hard to do that. I didn’t try to pick mine up for the first two weeks although it almost killed me :-) and then when I did he would poop on me every time. But now he’s not doing that. Just give it more time and you’ll be fine.

[Red]

Its been 1 day over two weeks if you look at my page it shows what I posted about her now having a bent back and she is more upset now then ever I haven’t picked her up or anything I clean around her and change her water she’s usually hiding so every once and then I’ll check underneath her hide just to see how shes doin. I also started putting my hand in the enclosure not to close tho and I think she might have been abused either by previous owner or siblings. She came from backwater reptiles she was labeled as a baby northern. She has also stopped eating along with the bent back

[kayla990]

I'll see if I can pitch in a little:

She came from backwater reptiles she was labeled as a baby northern.

Sorry to hear your Bluey was labeled as a Northern, it's an Indonesian type. You need to get humidity up . There are signs of a bad shed - on her front leg, she's still got a 'glove' on, and can see patches on the back/ear of scales. Have you got a big water dish? Make sure it's big enough for her to lay in (but not too deep, so she can get back out safely). At this point, I'm presuming she didn't start shedding over night?

She has also stopped eating along with the bent back

What have you been offering? How long has she stopped eating? It could be related to shedding. With the back: saw the image you posted, and personally think it's because she's squished herself between the object. They are pretty flexible reptiles (and based on the image on this post, can't see signs of bending).

I also started putting my hand in the enclosure not to close tho and I think she might have been abused either by previous owner or siblings

- I'm presuming you mean from the hissing behaviour? It's not more common for juveniles to behave like this, especially when new. It's not necessarily a sign of abuse (did you see the response in handling before? gave some tips on this subject on your other post).

- In general, juveniles are prone to hiding. I can understand checking on her, as it can be concerning when you don't see them! Where possible, see if you're able to look inside the hide, instead of fully removing it. As the 'safe' spot is exposed, she'll be concerned. Perhaps lifting it up very slowly (or using a semi-transparent hide that is partly covered; if you're really concerned).

Mostly: get humidity up, this is important

[splashy07]

Sorry to hear of your issues, the reptile dealer (as they often do) mis-represented your animal, first of all, there is not a baby northern to be had in the US this time of year.
Northerns are seldom sold through commercial dealers anyway. Irian Jayas (Indo sp) require higher humidity levels as previously mentioned. As far as behavior, she (or he, no way to tell) is more than likely a recent import and has not had any favorable interactions with humans, especially her being uncomfortable shedding and all. Pay close attention to leftover skin around the toes, if unattended they can be permanently damaged. Standing in lukewarm water should help loosen it. As far as the back issue, was she like that when you got her?

[Red]

Sorry to hear of your issues, the reptile dealer (as they often do) mis-represented your animal, first of all, there is not a baby northern to be had in the US this time of year.
Northerns are seldom sold through commercial dealers anyway. Irian Jayas (Indo sp) require higher humidity levels as previously mentioned. As far as behavior, she (or he, no way to tell) is more than likely a recent import and has not had any favorable interactions with humans, especially her being uncomfortable shedding and all. Pay close attention to leftover skin around the toes, if unattended they can be permanently damaged. Standing in lukewarm water should help loosen it. As far as the back issue, was she like that when you got her?

Shes been shedding since I got her (THEY SENT HER WHILE SHE WAS IN SHED I KNOW ITS HORRIBLE) I am a little disappointed to find out shes not what I wanted but its okay I wont love her any less I just liked northern cause they usually grow the largest. She has a beautiful pattern still. The shed on her feet came off now (some of the pics are from a week or so ago and yes she has a large bowl to go into for ‘luke warm’ should I move it to the geat side or just put luke warm water in there for her and hope she goes in while its still warm. She did not have the back issue when I got her I noticed it inthe past 18 hours and became concerned. If this is a indonesain blue do they have different care I need to know about besides humidity levels, concerning diet enclosure stuff like that (Im planning on changing from eco earth cause it gets caught in her eyes what should I change to that holds humidity

[Red]

I'll see if I can pitch in a little:

She came from backwater reptiles she was labeled as a baby northern.

Sorry to hear your Bluey was labeled as a Northern, it's an Indonesian type. You need to get humidity up . There are signs of a bad shed - on her front leg, she's still got a 'glove' on, and can see patches on the back/ear of scales. Have you got a big water dish? Make sure it's big enough for her to lay in (but not too deep, so she can get back out safely). At this point, I'm presuming she didn't start shedding over night?

She has also stopped eating along with the bent back

What have you been offering? How long has she stopped eating? It could be related to shedding. With the back: saw the image you posted, and personally think it's because she's squished herself between the object. They are pretty flexible reptiles (and based on the image on this post, can't see signs of bending).

I also started putting my hand in the enclosure not to close tho and I think she might have been abused either by previous owner or siblings

- I'm presuming you mean from the hissing behaviour? It's not more common for juveniles to behave like this, especially when new. It's not necessarily a sign of abuse (did you see the response in handling before? gave some tips on this subject on your other post).

- In general, juveniles are prone to hiding. I can understand checking on her, as it can be concerning when you don't see them! Where possible, see if you're able to look inside the hide, instead of fully removing it. As the 'safe' spot is exposed, she'll be concerned. Perhaps lifting it up very slowly (or using a semi-transparent hide that is partly covered; if you're really concerned).

Mostly: get humidity up, this is important

She does have a big water bowl to get in (when I received her she was in shed its been two weeks and since I got her and she had shed left on her head thats all I know of I found one ear plug but I couldn’t find the other so I checked it doesnt seem like its on her but again I can get the shed of her head she wont let me. Its okay to hear that shes a different type ill get over it a little disappointed but I wont love her anyless than I do now

She did eat during the shed she just wuit eating with the back bend she hasnt eaten in 3 days and I feed her everyother day but I have been offering food to her everyone of the days cause she looks a little thin in my opinion I know she’ll eat black berrys (mashed) so I offered her those she wouldn’t take it I left it there to and she wouldn’t eat so I came back and decided to cut up some collard greens and hide them in there cause she refuses to eat greens and I have yet to get her to eat sum when I first got her I gave her cat food and she seemed to like it but ive tried to feed her chicken and beef and she wont take it I dont want her diet to be mainly cat or dog food I know thatleads to mouth rot


Its not just the hissing she kinda moves back as I take my hand out even if its onthe other side of the cage and looks up and is ready to run/ bite me and then starts hissing. She isnt hiding all the time when Im not there watching her I walk in and see her climbing up the sides of the wall or on the edge of her water bowl kinda walking around it she hasnt been on the top of the log hide alot for basking

I will get the humidity up I had just been misting twice a day but I presume that wont work I will go buy a mister today I dont keep a lid on this cage for light reasons how is that going to do with humidity?

[splashy07]

Cat food and dog food does not lead to mouth rot. Mouth rot is an infection most often caused by an injury or poor husbandry. And you absolutely must put a cover on your cage. You will never achieve proper humidity levels without one. Put the lamp to one side and cover the rest of the screen (if that's what you use) with foil. Use humidity friendly substrate (See my post 'for humidity lovers' ) And if you are looking for size, I've seen some IJs as big as northerns. I don't understand the back issue just appearing out of nowhere.

[kayla990]

Agree she's a pretty little Bluey Food wise it's pretty much the same as a Northern, and humidity is between 60-80% (do you know what she looks like underneath? for example, spotted black belly - or no spots with a peachy/pink colour? may help us to find out the subspecies). Temperatures are pretty similar, but with a Halmahera types - it's slightly higher temps/humidity than others.

With the question on the large water bowl, I believe it's fine to keep it in the cooler side (as the cool side should still be around 75f); as if it's too warm I've heard they avoid drinking it.

With the eating, it could be possible she'll be going into a second shed. Yours looks a similar size to ours (based on the pics!), and it took two weeks before ours shed again - which is a similar time frame to yours (whereby they eat less for a few days before shedding/during).

When they are young, it's good to provide protein sources (as you have been), how has the chicken and beef been prepared? As adding a little bit of basil/herbs to the meat can sometimes encourage them to eat it. But an easier choice (as Splashy mentioned) is to use wet cat/dog food (try to find grain-free versions where possible). As it's quite smelly, it can also encourage them to eat. And it's good to use calcium powder with D3 in it (I'd recommend small amounts of the powder 2-3x a week when young). If she likes blackberries you can mash it into the cat food/greens and see if she'll eat it all. Otherwise she may pick out just the berries - which isn't too good long term.

Aww, goodluck with finding the mister today - hope you're successful!

And.. quick question on something:

I dont keep a lid on this cage for light reasons

Light reasons - for the lights in the tank? or do you use room lights? sorry just a little confused there as I'm guessing you have a basking light for her that's above the tank?

I hope things will be less stressful soon!