New Northern, concerns about weight and greens

[Tourmaline]

I've had a Northern that I bought off a website since February 23rd. He came in great health, alert, hungry, and already used to being handled. I've named him Nova, I'm unsure of gender but I've been referring to it as a he.

I'm concerned about his weight. He won't touch greens at all, I've tried my normal tricks of mixing it in some cat food with no luck, I've tried putting bugs with the greens as well and that didn't work. He will only touch bugs and cat food, which I rotate throughout the day. He's gotten more plump since I've owned him, he's too big for my gram scale so I'm not sure of actual numbers but he's definitely more round. He eats consistently twice a day split into half feedings. I'll give him BSF usually in the morning, and then at night he gets half a can of Wellness chicken and beef cat food.

Is his weight okay? Any advice to get him to try greens and not only eat straight protein? He will eat fruit but I only give him them as a treat.

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And here's just a cute picture I took of him sleeping in my shirt. He's adorable and I love him.

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[bartholemew]

well, I read this post and found I didn't know enough to help. But I've just stumbled across a post by Janella about how they get their skinks to eat everything so I've copied and pasted it below.

I pre make all my food. I use a food processor and blend everything together really really well. Then, I scoop the mixture into ice cube trays and freeze. When it is feeding time I just use one cube size serving. That way my skinks can't pick out the things they only want to eat. They eat everything altogether. Skinks need 50% protein (insects, dog food, egg, snails, ground lean turkey, or small cut up bites of chicken). Then vegetables need to be 40% (dark leafy greens, cactus pads, squashes, zucchini, carrots, sweet potato, green beans, and peppers are all good examples. The last should be fruit and that is 10% (bananas, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, mango, and peaches are some examples).

Thanks, Janella for your infinite wisdom haha. Hope this helps. Oh and remember that the ice cube part is the portion for a baby BTS.

[Janella]

Hello guys, thanks for the kind words. Your skink doesn't look bad to me at all. Looks good. I would just keep trying to offer a wide variety of different greens. I always rotate what mine get so that they never can get picky. So on time when I premake food I will use collard and say mustard greens. Then perhaps the next time I will use endive and turnip greens. My base is usually butternut and yellow squash, zucchini, carrot, green beans, cactus pads (when I can get them-they LOVE these), +/_ sweet potato, and +/- bell pepper. The KEY is to blend/process the food really well so they can't eat just what they like. I hope this helps.

[splashy07]

I really wouldn't be too concerned...I have an 11 year old that has never eaten a vegetable in his entire life. Proven breeder for six years running and a very healthy animal. Some just plain won't eat them.

[Janella]

Yes, you can try and try with some and they just won't. So as long as the weight looks good, just keep trying and if it still refuses, then don't worry about it.

[splashy07]

Just a suggestion....frozen/thawed peas and carrots
Believe it or not, some of mine love them, and not even mixed with anything else.
Mix with a little Pangea or a rotten banana and they go nuts.