Not sure if I have harmed the progress of my new Skink getting adapted

[Taliats]

I have had my skink since last Wednesday, at first she constantly hissed whenever I went near her, after some time it turned into slowly backing away.

Today there was feces in her vivarium and I had to move her hide and plant out of the way to clean it up, she didn't like this at all and started running around the vivarium in what appeared to be a panic.

When I put her hide back, I gave her a grape to try and calm her, she ate it almost instantly but then backed up and raised her head with her mouth open in a manner that looked kind of threatening, naturally I backed away and after a few seconds, she put her head back on the ground.

Was this mouth opening actually some sort of threat like I assumed or was it something else? I read that they show their tongues when they feel threatened.

[kayla990]

Heya!

It's possible what you saw was a feeding response; if they try to swallow something quite big (or dry) sometimes they stand tall with their mouths open in an attempt to get the food down easier.

I believe that if it was a threat, it would be tongue 'flicking' (basically looks like they are trying to lick their lips quickly, accompanied with deep breaths/hissing). I wouldn't have thought you've hindered progress, sounds quite normal to me during adaptation

[Taliats]

Ok, an update, I put my hand down in the vivarium to see how she would respond to i being in there, she was kinda curious, mostly probing with her tongue but then she went to bite me, not in a "go away and leave me alone" kind of manner, it was more like she behaves when she is eating food where she edges towards it slowly and bites down on it, I jerked my hand away for obvious reasons but again, I am unsure if this was defensive or just curiousity.

[aza]

Sounds to me like she is confusing your hands with food. It happens sometimes, with all sorts of reptiles that eat live prey. I had a Bearded dragon once who thought fingers and wax worms were the same thing.

Maybe try offering a bit more food than you have been? If she's hungry, giving her more food could make her less likely to go after your hands.

[Taliats]

Sounds to me like she is confusing your hands with food. It happens sometimes, with all sorts of reptiles that eat live prey. I had a Bearded dragon once who thought fingers and wax worms were the same thing.

Maybe try offering a bit more food than you have been? If she's hungry, giving her more food could make her less likely to go after your hands.

I have been feeding her snacks every day of mainly grapes, she is getting a big meal tomorrow so that might make a difference.

[kayla990]

snacks every day of mainly grapes

While I'm guessing it's to try tame her down, grapes are pretty sugary - it could be worth rotating between different food snacks if you still want to go down the route of fruit: raspberry, blueberry or blackberry have a lot less sugar ratio - and very accepted too! Personally, I'd also say throw in little bits of meat, veggies or even eggs in snack/taming rotation. Otherwise if focusing on fruit only it's possible she'll become a picky eater, just wanting the fun stuff

[Taliats]

snacks every day of mainly grapes

While I'm guessing it's to try tame her down, grapes are pretty sugary - it could be worth rotating between different food snacks if you still want to go down the route of fruit: raspberry, blueberry or blackberry have a lot less sugar ratio - and very accepted too! Personally, I'd also say throw in little bits of meat, veggies or even eggs in snack/taming rotation. Otherwise if focusing on fruit only it's possible she'll become a picky eater, just wanting the fun stuff

I have also been giving her a tiny bit of ham whenever I make a sandwich.

I am going shopping today so I will buy some other small things for her to eat.

[splashy07]

Ham is full of salt. No good. As far as meat use a good quality dog food. No people food as far as meat goes if it is processed. Absolutely NO salt.

[Taliats]

Ham is full of salt. No good. As far as meat use a good quality dog food. No people food as far as meat goes if it is processed. Absolutely NO salt.

Huh, the pet shop owner said otherwise, I have been looking into giving her dog food but I am not sure which brand would be best, I live in the UK and there are no real guides for it here.

[kayla990]

No worries - it won't have had any affects for the moment; but agree that too salty/processed food should be avoided where possible. I believe the low salt is because kidneys are less effective in reptiles (but feel free to correct this if I'm wrong! Edit: just had a look around for info on this, don't suppose you know of any articles splashy? would be good to get more on this, but can't seem to find anything yet!).

Oh, had difficulty finding European grain-free brands too - but one that works out really well is Nature's Menu (we are currently using the cat version of 'complete food pouches' since our skink is still young, but plan to try out the grain free dog food once an adult). In my opinion, it has one of the best textures and feels 'real' vs a lot of other choices. I don't know how easy it will be to find in supermarket/pet stores there (here it's quite rare), but I know you can get it on amazon UK.

Generally, we get poultry and meaty versions - and avoid the more fishy types.

Sadly can't recommend many dog food alternatives just yet, but if you're looking for additional cat food options (can't recall how old your skink is!) - Felix sensations is grain free and relatively low in sugar vs some of the others. And I believe Gourmet pate should be an option (though be careful with high fish bi-products/added sugars/grains when deciding).

[FluffySkink]

Ham is full of salt. No good. As far as meat use a good quality dog food. No people food as far as meat goes if it is processed. Absolutely NO salt.

Huh, the pet shop owner said otherwise, I have been looking into giving her dog food but I am not sure which brand would be best, I live in the UK and there are no real guides for it here.

I would not rely on advice you get from pet store staff. They are not required to have any qualifications and often have no idea what they are talking about.

[Taliats]

A bit of unfortunate news.

Today while I was changing the water, I turned my back for 1 second and the Skink saw that as an opportunity and darted out of her vivarium in the direction of the kitchen where my German shepherd is. The dog is trained not to enter the living room without permission but if my Skink had gotten to the kitchen, she would have probably been a snack for the dog right now.

The issue is that I grabbed her before she could get very far (Thankfully she is not very fast and I grabbed her before she even got out of arm range) and put her back in, she didn't like this one bit, I understand that while I did it for her own good, it looks like i grabbed her in a hostile way from her point of view.

She is currently hiding at the back corner of the vivarium and hissed really loudly when I went to check if she had calmed down and she is refusing to move.

I know Skinks remember people and I am scared that this has done some permanent damage to her trusting me.

[Y33T]

i had grabbed my skinks in a hostile manner when they try to run away and they still trust me and never avoided me.

[Hannasue]

Can your skink burrow? She might not have a place to really wind down and always feels exposed. It might help to give her some substrate to burrow in.

[Taliats]

She spends most of her time hiding either in or behind her log, only coming out to bathe, bask and eat when there is food in the dish. She does have substrate, not enough to burrow in mind you but it's still quite a lot.

[Taliats]

Bit of an update, mainly out of Concern, I came home today to find her in her log in the exact same place that she was when I left this morning, I felt her and she was freezing cold so I manually picked her up and put her under the basking light, she sat there motionless for a good 10 minutes (Picture attached)

After a while she seemed determined to get out of her vivarium so I picked her up and placed her on my lap, she sat there for a good few minutes before crawling inside my jacket and hiding there.

I do not know what is going on, maybe the fact that it is winter has something to do with it? I live in Northern England where it is really cold.

(Also I wouldn't mind a confirmation of species, the pet shop owner said Northern but I am starting to doubt that)

[kayla990]

Awww - glad you posted a picture - while I'm quite confident you've actually got an Indonesian type - the pattern on the side of the body is making me wonder if it's a hybrid? ... I don't suppose you have more images available?

In regard to the cold - it does seem concerning to me - especially as she felt physically cold. Now that it's colder outside, don't suppose you know your temperature gradients on the cool/warm end? (and any idea for overnight temperatures? - as this may drop too low once the basking light is off, perhaps causing some of her unwillingness to move). In the meantime (if you're able to) - keep on house radiators until you know the tank is able to heat up comfortably to a good level by itself.

If that's not possible, maybe a smaller temporary tank can contain the heat better. Alternatively you could try to insulate the tank with polysterene sheets/blankets etc.. or maybe move the whole tank a warmer room.

But yeah - I'd also try to get humidity up - as heavily suspecting the shop was wrong with ID..

[Taliats]

The ambient temperature in the Vivarium is 30 Celcius During the day and around 25 During the night, will get specific measurements on both ends later.

I can keep the heating on pretty much 24/7 and can move the vivarium to the warmest room in my house (The upper back room)

Here are more pictures, my camera is kinda sucky so I apologise for that.

[kayla990]

Ahh that's good you're able to keep up the temps at night! Quite surprised they felt cold with that range.. Maybe they found a cold spot in the tank? that'd be good if you're able to check later

Hmm, still leaning towards a hybrid.. but will let another keeper confirm!

[Taliats]

So, mini update, I moved her vivarium to a much warmer room in my house and her attitude changed almost instantly, even to a point where she was eating from my hand.

I think it was the low temperature of the living room that was bugging her.

She has buried herself in the substrate now but she feels warmer to the touch, still cold, but the temp in the viv at the moment (9:31PM) is 25 degrees C so the temp is fine.

She has a large pond for humidity (Don't worry, it isn't too deep)