weird live food question and WEIGHT LOSS help?

[Rani-May]

So my baby bluey use to LOVE live food, went crazy for it. I started a roach colony and he has only eaten one roach over the last week (i use to feed him daily or every second day due to being only young) he has barely eaten at all for a week now, and ive offered live foods every day but she just treads all over them or past them. I have even tried mealworms which he used to LOVE but i dont feed anymore, still wasnt interested yet he would eat a blueberry or dog food when i offered to make sure he would eat at all. Then i tried the mealworm and a roach in his tank, he was for some reason interested then, but not enough to chase them down and catch them even though i slowed them down in the fridge they still buried before he could get to them (bad hunter) he has also lost 6grams since i last weighed him on the 5th of october, which is worrying me t this age. should i give up on the live foods and the roach colony and just feed him other food or is there something i could do to get him to be interested in the roaches? I was really hoping he would like roaches since i got everything to make a colony and was so excited to feed them to him... and its kinda hard to even give away roaches in Tassie if he doesnt ever like them. Any suggestions?

im worried about the weight loss, give in and feed other food or anything else i could possibly try?

[Rani-May]

I should probably add that he is 3-4 months old and now weighs 90 grams, was 96 grams on the 5th, and length 24cms

[Richard.C]

Roaches are quite agile,hide well to,maybe they dont appear big enough to bother trying to chase,blueys arent the most agile of hunters at the best of times,always the chance he doesnt like there taste,roaches and mealies arent the best as a staple diet,especially for tiliqua,better to use as part of a varied diet

If dogfood ect was being eaten with out issue,not sure why you would stop it,especially in favour of roaches and mealworms

If it aint broke no need to fix it,you could try adding food to the dogfood if it concerns you,you could feed alot of veg with just a bit of dogfood,or even try other things to mix it up,lots of options and each animal is different in what it likes and dislikes

[Rani-May]

I always change what i feed, I think variety is the best thing for them, so i was interested in feeding roaches as well. I definitely do not feed any mealworms any more as they are difficult for them to digest, especially younger blueys. But when i use to feed them they were always his favourite and went nuts for them. Im just confused as to why he is not interested in ANY live foods any more. and now not too sure what to do with so many roaches when you cant even give them away down here XD

Maybe he became lazy after me hand feeding so often lol

[El Lobo]

Something I think is at times overlooked when caring for young skinks is that from the moment they are born they are ready to go as the complete package. In their native habitat the mother drops the young and immediately leaves them to fend for themselves. They receive no maternal nurturing, their immune system doesn't need to be kick started with colostrum and unlike puppies and kitten for example, they don't need to be weaned onto solid foods. Obviously their gut already has the right pH and balance of beneficial bacteria.

I had my first two from when they were very young and like most other carers made sure they had a balanced diet of meat protein, vegetable matter and a supply of additional calcium and D3. I also was concerned that they ate a minimal amount of anything except the meat protein. I came to the conclusion they knew more about what they needed than I did so just kept supplying the balanced meals and let them eat what they wanted. From the time they were about two years old they started to eat more of the vegetable portion of the meals and now they are four years old they eat more vegetable than meat. There are occasions when they will eat all the meat and only pick at the vegetable and then there are other times when they will eat all the vegetable and leave some of the meat. They know what they need.

I also have a colony of woodies and have given away hundreds of them as the Blotchies only show interest infrequently. They did eat them when they were young but only 3 or 4 at a time and only every 1-2 weeks. Nowadays they aren't particularly interested in woodies very often, but they will never say no to snails.

[Rani-May]

mmmm, he loves snails also. looks like the roaches are a no go then. Im still going to be feeding them different things all the time because thats how ive always raised my skinks for the last 10 years. ive just never had a baby before. Always at least 12 month old ones. Thus so many questions in regards to my baby. I do like feeding snails and worms already, so perhaps thats all i really need live food wise. Never had a problem with any of the other skinks or partners skinks or any other foods so maybe i was getting a little excited to start a colony XD Thanks for the help guys

[Richard.C]

You need whites skinks or mountain dragons,lol,even she oak skinks,all able to be kept in tassie,all would happily devour your roaches right through to adult hood

Its funny but as blueys grow alot seem to lose interest in insects,my kimberley northerns and blotchies dont bother with crickets,when they are bigger,yet go nuts for it when young,perhaps babies can expend more energy chasing,or they learn they dont have the harsh times like in nature,being optimally fed in captivity

Who knows,what i find odd is stumpies still go out of there way to chase down and eat insects,takes them a while sometimes,but they percivere,centralian blueys are even worse,they get more lively and are quite adept at running down crickets,used to have a pr in with a trio of northerns

With blotchies,being born so late in the season as a rule,theres a mad rush to put on growth before the onset of winter,so possably they are less fussy,they are generally big eaters,only skink ive seen out do juvie blotchies at feed time is juvie stumpies with amount consumed

[Rani-May]

Mine was born in July, so i think anyway, i got her august and she was only 25 grams... her, him. not too sure yet ;( vet assumed female but wasnt 100% sure because she was so young then.

How odd that stumpies continue tochase insect and others do not, and i thought they were the laziest of the blueys XD lol I desperately want one of them hoping the law will change mid next year as it is in question at the moment.
I've advertised the roaches on a southern scalies facebook page, giving them away for free as well as the tote bin, the water crystals and set up etc and still nobody is even interested Either way i feel much better now after feeding her some dog food loaf, grated carrot, green beans and silverbeet She is very fat and full now haha

[critterguy]

Just a hypothesis.

Adult scincoides in the wild may shift to being more smell oriented hunters as they grow older. They likely start feeding mainly on larger, slower moving prey, such as beetle larvae, molluscs, etc. An important dietary component for adult scincoides seems to be small amphibians-they have been hard hit in areas where the cane toads have become abundant.

Shingles, Centralians being from the desert may simply be programmed to take whatever comes along.

[Rani-May]

hmmm, makes sense. learning all this is making me want to take a couple reptile courses we have here to learn more. Thanks for the info