BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Hi guys, I got a really terrifying phone call this evening. Bandit, my PTS, is very suddenly not doing well. He is lethargic and not really able to support himself. His limbs and tail respond to touching but he is moving pretty erratically and not able to really get anywhere. He is on cypress with a gradient from about 85 to 75. He doesn't have a direct light on him. His enclosure has been sitting around 80 degrees or so for the past couple of days as the temperature has been dropping. We just turned his heat mat up. I saw him this past weekend and he was fine. He ate dogfood with collard greens and a bell pepper (same food I feed Coomassie) this past weekend. He didn't eat any more on Wednesday when I provided more food. My husband went to check on him this evening and he was lethargic. I tried to feed him a little and he bit the spoon but didn't really take any food. He sort of rolled around. Our normal vet is on vacation and the other exotic vet isn't in until tomorrow. Even then, I don't think they have ever seen a PTS. I'm hoping for some advice about what to do tonight and what to talk to the vet about tomorrow since they probably haven't seen a PTS before. Thanks.

I just saw a vet for the first time w my bts and he researched. He had documents printed out for me, most of which I knew but he went and researched it himself. Can the vet available to you look into what he is dealing w first? I mean, vets usually are very educated, if he can research something first he might be able to give you some insight we can't. My only other totally inexperienced thought is could your babe be sensing colder temps and be brumating or hibernating?

So we went to the emergency vet last night. I didn't update last night because we didn't get home until midnight. The vet was not an exotic vet but she was very nice. We decided to do an xray to determine if there was loss of bone mass to establish MBD. The good news is he has excellent bone density. The bad news is he ate a bunch of substrate and has a partial impaction. When I got home last night, I cleaned out his enclosure. No more cypress for the little guy. He is on paper towels for now and I'm sure he feels pretty awful. We did a vitamin injection and we have oral calcium for him (just in case) as well as subcutaneous fluids. I'm including the xray because I got a picture of it and I thought other people would like to see it. The vet said he should be able to pass it on his own but we will be turning up his heat and soaking him to help it through. I think I'm also going to try to get him to eat a couple of bites of banana or egg to try and clear his system. If anyone has any other advice for helping him, I'm open to any and all suggestions.

Poor guy! I'm glad the vet was able to help!

keep us updated on how he goes

pink tongues like a milder warmth than tiliqua,whilst a earm spots still advised they like to be able to escape warmth as well

one of the more heat sensitive types of skink

fingers crossed for the little guy

Good news! He finally pooed and is looking much better. He is in shed right now but I will be calling the vet's office this morning to make a follow up appointment.

Richard, I usually have the warm end at 85 but we bumped it up to 90 to try to get things moving. His cool end is consistently in the low 70's (which is where he spends most of his time). He did bask quite a bit until he pooed yesterday. After the vet, we will turn the heat back down assuming he has passed the blockage.

low ends fine,i thought u meant whole cage was in the 80S or had cooled to that

glad hes doing better,hopefully vet gives the all clear

So, we had a follow up with the vet last night. Bandit has now pooed 3 times (once on the vet last night) and he has the all clear. He is back on substrate and back to his normal ornery self. We are supposed to keep an eye on his calcium and vitamin levels but other than that, he is good to go!

good to hear

Yay Bandit! Very glad to hear he's doing well. WTG being an awesome skink-parents