Very sick skink

[Keytal]

Hi guys!

One of my skinks is experiencing some illness that started in the winter break. She is alert but not that active and the biggest issue is she stated to have diarrhea and vomits food back. I tried to get an appointment to the reptile specialist but because of Xmas and New Year's the earliest I could get is first week of 2018. I am really worried cause everywhere I read about skinks having bad diarrhea and vomiting ended losing the skink eventually even with getting treated with antibiotics etc.

Is there anything I can do to make it better for the animal till I get her to the vet?

Thanks in advance!

[kayla990]

Sorry to hear your Bluey is sick.. Glad you'll be taking her to the vet soon.

Difficult to say what would be the best approach until the vet visit.. however if I was in your situation, I would personally check on the following:

1) Food routine. If you have a baby, then I would continue to try feeding. But use more solid food - such as lean cooked chicken for proteins, and more solid vegetables/leafy greens. Try to avoid more mushy things such as banana (as hear that alone; or raw egg can cause diarrhea). Have a check on if you've changed any products recently, could be related.

If an adult, depending on the weight - may be able to either not feed, or similar to above with cooked chicken (I use chicken as an example, as a vet I once worked with mentioned it works for a lot of species in recovery.. can't say the validity behind this though). Make sure there is always a fresh water source.

Does she always vomit after eating? Check if perhaps the food pieces are too big for your skink size.

2) Double check your setup. Is your heating still good? As the illness started around winter, check for night time temperatures too. If it's too low they can have problems digesting (or may start to go into brumation..)

As it's not mentioned if you have an Australian or Indonesian - also make sure humidity is correct for your species.

3) Gather as much information to use at the vets. Try to get a stool sample - they may want to check for parasites (or you can request if you suspect your Bluey is wild caught.. or if just wanting to do a checkup). Make a note of your setup for the vets (the temps/humidity on the cold and warm side) as presumably if your going to a reptile vet, they may be able to give ideas. Other information such as how long you've had the Bluey and where you got it from could be useful.

[Janella]

I am so very sorry to hear about your skink being sick. What day is your appointment? Is there an emergency clinic that you could take it to sooner if needed? How is your skink doing now? I hope they can figure out what is going on with your skink. Keep us posted!

[Keytal]

Hi guys! First of all thank you for your replies and thank you very much for your information.

My skink is an Indonesian and I keep her at 30 ish ambient temp with 38 degrees basking and 26 on the cool side. Night time temperatures drop to about 23 degrees. Humidity is fluctuating between 55-80% depending how far away from misting. I mist twice a day.

Well usually I make "homebrew" to my skinks so it is pretty mushy but when she threw up I gave her locust and dubia roaches and the second time she got apple pieces. The problem is even the food is completely mushy it just comes out almost undigested.

But guys here is a story that if someone else tells me I don't believe:

So I called the specialist (the only one I know and trust 100% in the city) but they told me that I might not get an appointment even for this week cause they are already full. I left my name and phone number in case someone cancels. After 2 hours of my initial call I got a call from one of the vets who told me that someone cancelled and I could bring the animal right now. I was at work but what the heck I took half a day off and went to the clinic. I got told that not the doctor himself will examine my animal but one of his coo-worker who turned out to be my high school classmate from 18 years ago. There was only one girl I hated from the class and that was her ... She was actually very nice! She checked my skink, took stool sample and gave some medicine (which we have to do 2x more in the next two weeks)

It was so freakin surreal unbelievable ...

However she told me that it could possibly be 2 things: One is something that she got the treatment for and it will go away without any problem, the other thing was something crypto.... something I don't remember but I remembered that crypto-infection is pretty terrible. I heard if one of your animal gets it and dies (cause probably it will kill your animal) you better throw out even the enclosure itself ... Is it true? Anyone who came across with this?

[kayla990]

Sounds like your conditions are good!

Oh wow, wonder what the chances of that happening at the vets are! But glad your class mate is no longer mean, and that you managed to get your Bluey checked!

Ahh, likely referring to a condition known as Cryptosporiosis - which is a deadly parasite. It can spread between reptiles quickly and there's no cure at the moment. As it's so difficult to manage, most keepers do throw out anything the infected reptile has touched (to be on the safe side, since it spreads so easily). I've not seen it personally, but heard a lot of horrible stories about it..

Fingers crossed that it's not the case here, as I believe it's pretty rare to come across. Hope your Bluey will recover well with the treatment you've been given

[Keytal]

Oh Jesus ... I search for it after I read your answer and well now I am really worried cause I have like 30 animals in the same room ... Not all skinks, have many many monitors, tegus etc. I keep them very clean, always trying my best to keep them happy and healthy. I really can't think what I did wrong to get this ...

Also this is my favorite skink from all 8 I have ... she is really a nice one. The vet "tortured" her for some feces, drove a thingie into her stomach to get the medicine down and still she takes the treat from my hands 2 hours after the examination.
Well I can't really do much now, the vet said I can feed her as I've been doing before and we will continue the treatment. On Friday I can call them for the lab results, hope it's not going to be crypto :S

The reason I am so afraid is I keep my animals very close to each other like this:

Terr1.jpg

[kayla990]

Uff.. luckily it's not confirmed it's the cause... but can't begin to imagine the worry! I don't know if it's any comfort - but I've been trying to find articles on whether it can occur randomly in a collection, or if it's mainly from new animals. So far, I can't find it happening without it being transferred from an already infected reptile (and oddly, can't find any posts/articles mentioning it happening to Blueys). Just thought I'd throw it out there, in case it helps a little with nerves until Friday!

I'm sure you'll already be planning on this already - but I guess washing hands between handling and not sharing equipment until you get the results could be an idea. Really hope you'll get the good news soon that it's not that!

[Janella]

Wow Keytal, I am glad to read that you were able to get your skink into to be seen. I also glad that your were able to possibly get a diagnosis. I pray for your sack it isn't crypto. That is an aweful little bugger to get rid off and it can spread like wildfire if you don't quarantine and use very good sanitation techniques while cleaning and handling your reptiles. Please let us know what the final results are and keep us posted on how your skink is doing. Your set ups are amazing and it does sound like you are doing everything correctly. I am not sure how your pet would have gotten cryto if it is indeed that. Again, I wish you the best of luck.

[splashy07]

I've not heard of crypto in a blue tongue, but I'm sure it can affect any reptile as it is a parasitic organism often passed in fecal matter. Have heard of geckos and recently imported monitors and tegus being affected. Have you any new acquisitions? Hope to God it's not that, but if caught early can be controlled. Please keep us posted. Good luck.

[Keytal]

Hi guys!

Thank you for the info again, you really keep my mood up with your support. I really hope she won't be the first documented skink with crypto then I have Tegus, Savannah and Ackie monitors and 2 leopard geckos but all of them are here for more than 3 years and they are 100% healthy. I bought all of them as babies and as I know they are all captive bred. The only newcomers are the skinks themselves.

Today when I came home the sick skink seemed to be a bit more energetic, she was keeping her head up and was moving around which I rarely saw her doing lately. I offered her some food and she ate like a pig however in the end she left a piece of feces which contained undigested food material again.

I think she is getting better even tho I don't want to get ahead too much ... it is only one day since she got the medicine and the vet told me we need to do this again for 2 more occasions so it is still a long way to go.

[Janella]

Thanks for the update and definitely keep us posted on how she is doing. We all are praying she gets better soon.

[Keytal]

Hi guys!

We got the lab results and now I am clueless ... it was negative to bacteria or parasite too. The only thing I don't understand is why my skink started to get better after she got the first dosage of medicine. I couldn't talk to the vet cause she got sick I could only ask about the lab results.

Got another appointment for Saturday but until then I have to wait.

Any idea what it could be?

[Janella]

Hmm, very weird indeed. I am glad she is negative though. You will have to let us know what the vet says when you see them Saturday. Is she still doing ok? Depending on what medication she was given, it could be helping with not only parasites, but GI symptoms as well. Most will cover everything. Please keep us updated as things go along.

[Keytal]

Just checked the medical paper I got after the examination and it says she got 5 ml of Klion. She is actually doing very well. The reason I am so surprised is she got better after the day she got the medicine so I thought she is reacting well to that.

[aza]

Klion is a drug used against infections. Some countries use it in humans against yeast infections in women, even.

Can you ask them what type of tests they ran? If the skink had a different type of infection, would their tests have found it? If it was an infection, it could make sense that Klion could help a little even if it wasn't the type of infection they thought it was.

I might recommend thoroughly disinfecting everything and keeping the sick one on paper towels for substrate for now, to help keep everything easy to disinfect. I'd try to disinfect the sick skink's things every week at minimum.

Good luck and keep us updated!

[Janella]

Hey sorry to take so long to repond. Klion is used for infections, antiparasitic, and antibiotic. Your skink is probably responding like I said because it covers everything and if it had a GI issue, then it would help them. Is your skink still doing ok? Let us know what they say on Saturday.

[Keytal]

Hi there!

My skink is SO MUCH better now. She is eating like a pig and actually bursting after live food. The vet couldn't say with 100% certainty what it could have been but since the lab result also showed blood cells in the stool sample (I actually forgot about that completely) her best guess was that she ate something that disturbed either the stomach or the intestines. She told probably a piece of bark or dry hay might have scared her and the scar got infected somehow. (I always offer food on a plate but she likes to actually take pieces out from it and eat it from the ground)

Also I would like to thank you guys for keeping my spirit up and giving me advises, actually increasing the leafy matter in her food sped up the healing process for sure so thank you for the tip. It was really a stressful week but seems the ending will be a happy one.

I will give a last update in a week but I really hope she is ok now already

[kayla990]

Yay - So glad to hear she's much better now

Hope she'll continue to be healthy, a shame they don't know for sure what the cause is. Pretty interesting how increasing leafy food seemed to help the healing process!

[Janella]

I also am very happy to hear that your skink is doing so well. That is wonderful news. I also wish they new exactly what it was, but at least your skink is better.

[Keytal]

Thanks guys? Btw, may I ask something?

What is the consistency of your skinks' poop? I mean most of mines are pooping pretty firm and very dark/blackish. This particular female is now much better as I said, pooped black and firm but every time I give them dog food she has a runny poop (now I start to see some pattern). Right after I wrote how happy I am I went to the room and saw her pooping a runny one again. Now I start to think her digestive system has something against dog food. I feed only premium level dog food (select gold/royal canin) and none of my skinks has any problem with it only she does.