Lathargic blotched blue tongue

[Blotchedskinks]

Hey all,
A few months ago I bought a juvenile blotched blue tongue. At first he was active but within a week he went into his hide and buried himself in they substrate. He has constantly been doing these for the past months only coming out occasionally and that's usually when I disturb him. He also went through his first shed a month ago and he is still having trouble shedding the skin on his tail. I was just wondering if this is normal behaviour or should I increase or decrease something eg. Heat, humidity,etc.

Any recommendations would be much appreciated.

[Fatal_S]

You're in Australia, so it's probably middle of winter. During winter it's normal for skinks to slow down and brumate - so lethargy and constant hiding are common. As long as the skink isn't losing weight it's usually not something to worry about. If the skin on his tail isn't constricting anything I would personally leave it until the next shed (if it is constricting, a shallow lukewarm bath and some gentle rubbing should probably get it loose). You may need to up humidity a bit, but I can't say what the best humidity is for blotchies - hopefully an Aussie member will chime in soon with more info for you.

Please do let us know what your temperature gradient is though. If the skink doesn't feel it can get warm enough, it won't bother waking up or eating. That's fine during brumation, but it's best to have the gradient close to perfect so the skink can decide what it wants to do.

[Scotts1au]

He is brumating for those o/s our winter is defined as June/July /August, depending where you are blotchie swill brumate from March till September (or august) from Sydney Northward. The only real way to prevent a blotchie going into brumation is to maintain a heated environment that they can't escape by maintaining constant heating to a min of about 23C at the cool end. It is possible to wake them up by maintaining a constantly heated environment but the outcome - whether they will start eating again shortly would be whether male or female. soaking it to remove shed won't affect it, it will simply go back into brumation once you are finished. It could take a week or two to shake it out of brumation if you decide to go that way, I can give you some instructions on that as we'll.

[Blotchedskinks]

Scotts1au that would be great if you could give me some instructions. By disrupting the brumation does it cause any health risks.

[Richard.C]

do u know what yor temps are?

i agree with the others,id say its trying to brumate,some of my indoor blueys started to in april this year,even with heat

[Scotts1au]

Potentially there can be health risks of trying to wake a bluey from brumation, generally if they stay in limbo, being active but not eating. generally this will only be a problem if the blueywent into brumation in a thin state - for which there could have been underlying issues anyway, such as infection, or liver disease. generally I only do it if here is a problem with a bluey outdoors, such as finding an emancipated baby outdoors the is unlikely to survive the winter without intervention.

in general you would need to limit the size of the enclosure, or introduce heating at both ends that is maintained day and night to a min of about 23C this can be achieved through a centrally located Low wattage ceramic heat emitter- note that the bluey won't want to go through this process and may burrow to avoid the heat. If you don't see the bluey out and about in the first week, you may need to get the bluey up and place it's face near a water bowl daily - biggest risk at this stage will be dehydration. after several days introduce foods like raw meat (human grade steak) or small snails, they generally can't resist. Once they are eating this and their metabolism is starting to fire, introduce a small paper plate of dog food daily (I prefer loaf varieties) and once eating introduce normal dietary needs.

You should note that of your bluey is a male this process may take several weeks and the bluey will return to brumation if you allow the temp to fall again. you should note that allowing the temp to fall when a bluey has eaten can be fatal for the bluey As it's ability to digest food rests on adequate temperatures, so once started on this route you can't stop straight away.