BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Hello there.

I got my skink, Igor, a couple of months ago (posted here, if anyone remembers), and since then he's been a very finicky eater. Thanks to the advice of other members of this community I've tried spacing their meals (about once a week) and he's STILL not eating, or eating an extremely small quantity of food.

He'll outright refuse vegetables and will only ever touch either 1) sweet fruit (mango, banana, etc.) or 2) the high quality wet cat food we've been giving him. I sprinkle it with vitamins/calcium, but even then he'll pretty much only eat a small spoon of it.

He doesn't look thin or anything but I'm quite worried.

Oh, he also shed his skin two times during these 3 months.

Here are some pictures:






(Also, unrelated, but I was told by the guy at the shop where I got him that he was a Tanimbar, but recently someone else told me he didn't quite look like one. Opinions on that as well?)[/i]

If he is eating (be it only a little or a lot) and NOT loosing weight, why would you worry? Id skip the fruit and just mix the veggies and greens in with the canned food.

It does appear to be a Tanimbar and "he" maybe a "she". Have you seen any sperm plugs? Id love to see some full body overhead (birds eye) view.

It just doesn't seem very normal. And it's only been 3 months or so, I'm afraid this will eventually lead to a weight loss.

Is this picture better? Haven't found any sperm plugs, I believe.

Im fairly confident that you have a female tanny, but of course, visually sexing is not a guaranteed science . Beautiful skink that appears healthy.

Thank you for the reply! I'm glad he/she looks healthy.

How old would you say he/she is? She's around 35cm (13 inches) at the moment.

Oh and I'm going to try buying some snails (if I can find them in any shop), maybe that'll tempt his/her hunger.

Okay, apologize for the double post but I made some minced meat with veggies for dinner and decided to try giving him/her some of the meat (lightly cooked).

Surprisingly! Igor took it right from my fingers and ate 3-4 well sized chunks of it. He/she pretty much chased my fingers with an open mouth and gobbled it down.

My only concern is that a bit of the substract (orchid mulch) got on one of the pieces and Igor dropped it because picking it up again, and I think he/she swallowed a bit of it. >_< (I took the figger pieces of mulch out of his mouth, though)

Reptiles have very slow metabolisms and don't need to eat all that much. If you are concerned, but a scale and monitor weight... but yours looks a healthy weight. A tiny bit of substrate won't be a problem.

Other than a tiny bit of shed-constriction on the tip of the tail, looks very healthy to me.

He (...athough my un-educated eye also would say SHE...) may have been in a quasi brumation, and is now waking up fully? 'Tis that time of year.
Hopefully Igor will now keep eating well and not worry you as much anymore.