Bluey eating substrate???

[mandu]

So today my 3 month old northern was busy burrowing under her substrate, which is currently a mixture of shredded aspen and cypress mulch (I had some leftover aspen from my snakes so I threw it in).

I look away for a moment, then look back and see her chowing down on a long piece of mulch! I freaked out and tried to figure out a way to take it from her without hurting her. Thankfully, when I reached my hand in, she huffed and dropped it on her own. I picked it up and examined it; it was too large for her to swallow, thank goodness, but there was no food on it, no feces, nothing. I don't even feed her in the enclosure so I don't know how it could have smelled/tasted like food.

I've never seen substrate in her poop, and I'm pretty sure I've got her diet down right. Should I not use cypress mulch? I'm just afraid that this wasn't the first time she's tried it and that it won't be the last...

Have any others done this? Is it just because she's young? Do they stop when they get older?

[Dood]

How often, how much and what are you feeding her?

[mandu]

I feed her about a full tablespoon 5 times a week. I was feeding her everyday, but I feared I was overfeeding her.... and she is 3 months now (I'm following the amounts on this chart: http://bluetongueskinks.net/foodchart.html)

Her protein is either wet grain-free dogfood, chicken breast, and/or mealworms and nightcrawlers.
She gets a mixture of dark greens (not sure the specific kinds.. I got a "spring mix" from the grocery store) and veggies, including carrots, kale, red bell pepper, and celery. Fruits include guava, apple, nectarine, banana, and pomegranate. I've only had her for about a month so I haven't tried a huge variety yet. I use the 50% protein/40% veg/10% fruit juvie ratio.

Oh, and I was recommended by the breeder to occasionally give oats too, so I give her a little bit of that once a week (soaked in water, then drained).

Does that sound okay? She does eat each meal completely in one sitting, and pretty fast.

[Dood]

Feeding 5 times a week is more frequent than every other day do you mean you feed her once every 5days?

It sounds like she is very hungry if she eats every bit very quickly and I would feed her larger meals and as much as she wants every other day.

[NickBrahz]

No Dood from what i read he used to feed her 7 times a week but now feeds her 5 times a week, at that age my bubs even when fed every day/second day would devour all the food as soon as they saw it, and though personally i feed them more towards 2 tablespoons not the 1.

A couple pictures of the bub would help to see if she is underweight or anything like that, and also i love pictures of skinks regardless!

[mandu]

Feeding 5 times a week is more frequent than every other day do you mean you feed her once every 5days?

It sounds like she is very hungry if she eats every bit very quickly and I would feed her larger meals and as much as she wants every other day.

No, I said I used to feed her everyday, like Nick expained (7x a week), but I thought I was overfeeding her so I cut it down.

Okay, I could try just feeding her more! Here are some photos:

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I don't have any recent top-down right now but I could take some later if necessary!! Does she look okay?

[NickBrahz]

She looks to be a good healthy weight, good looking skink aswell lucky, i've seen a few posts over the months about skinks eating moss i can't remember what the conclusion of those was though, sometimes they just get curious and bite/eat things to inspect it, one of mine used to try to eat a paver for awhile.

[splashy07]

When my Northern was young (under one year) she even tried to eat her water bowl. I caught her a few times after eating a good size bowl of food wiping her mouth on the substrate. I'd pick up in that area, but may have missed a spot as she returned and tried to eat the substrate around her dish. Young Northerns are a hungry sort, and will test just about anything. She's over a year old now, and have to get her weight down a bit, I confess I overfed her. Yours is a beauty!

[mandu]

Thank you for your repies! I fed her a little more than usual today, she seemed pretty happy about it. I'll keep a closer eye on what she shoves into her mouth...

[Dood]

Oops not sure how I miss read "every day" for "every other day" but I'm glad she seems more satiated and hopefully she stops eating odd things