BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

I have had my lizard 2wks the pet shop told me it is 6months they sold tank sand (yes i have read that sand is not good) a heat pad and I am waiting for my lite on back order... the told me to feed snails soft cat food and soft fruit... she has not pooped the dark poop for 3days now just the whit stuff today the white was harder than it had been she ate alittle cat food and some apple sauce i didn't offer snails as i was worried about her so kept to soft food.. i also gave her alittle olive oil and agood soak in a warm bath... her tanks hot spot is around 25-35d cold around 15d.. I have removed sand she is now on tiles and dried moss she (im think of it as aher) seems happy came out for awalk around did the white poop but again no dark one... she usually poops out of her tank and havent seem any in tank apart from the first few days.. her stomach doesn't feel hard or swollen whatelse can i do? i doubt there are vets that know anything about lizards here.
I am mad the pet shop sold me $70 sand that could harm her GRRRH

the sand seriously costed that much? o__o ouch......

I was told not to be afraid even if they only poop once a week : ) ( which my lizard does, especially the week before shed)

fruit is an occasional treat ( once a week or so ? ).

read the caresheet to find good veggies, which is important. i think they often recommend something named collard greens or mustard greens. this should be about 50-60% of the food.

make sure you have a fresh water bowl though if he eats and drinks, then hes probably okay.

i am still rather new at this as well, so you should probably wait for some more advice too : )

Great advice Lightchii, exactly what I'd have said.

well she or he was looking around like she wanted something else to eat so i poped in a snail wham gone in a matter of seconds.... yes the b***Y sand cost nzd $69.95!!! special sand... Ive tried a few type of vegies but she always leaves them... grated carrot and other greens the cooked apple the only fruits she touched too.. had alittle diced beef mince as well..

put the veggies in a normal drinking glass, wash them, take out a scissor and cut them i nthe glass to smaller pieces. take the wet dog food and make it into smaller pieces, mix well. then he cant avoid all the veggies. and add the calcium dust of course : )

if he doesnt eat it, dont care. if he gets hungry, he will. If hes about adult size then he can probably go off food for a month before you should worry. as long as he has water. how often you wanna feed is up tp you. i feed every three days, and some here feed only once or twice a week, while younger i think should be fed more often.

snails are treats too. how often you feed a treat is up to you. But a good pointer is to make sure your pet eats the nutrient food before getting candy : D

hes in a new home too, some dont eat well when theyve had an environment change, but some are gluttons : D

anyways, caresheet reading : D again and again ~~

and if its just poop you want from your skink, fatal S had a great advice i tried on my skink when he'd not pooped for 1,5 week. Give boiled egg and banana. the 'ultimate' treats makes the stomach the worst.

they said it's around 6months... all the feed in pet shop is snails and cat food... wil keep trying the greens!

Snails and cat food? Wow, they actually feed really well for a petshop! (normally they just feed crickets...)

But that sand 0.0 I am presuming its calcium sand?

They can go for quite a while without food, so as Lightchii said, just chop/ grate the veggies up finally and mix them in with the meat, and just leave it for a while - the smell should eventually draw him in =D

yep reptile one calc sand... was recommended to be the best thing for her.... have removed most of it and covered what was left with stones have moss and tiles down (old fire tiles which hold the heat nicely!) getting some bark then will do a complete tank clean... they also sold me a heat pad and a lamp plus the tank all up I spent around $600. not happy about the sand thing!

happy to say she just pooped had her out for a wander and she did pass apoop it was a bit harder than the ones she has done in past didn't seem to have much sand in it but a couple of largish bits of shell.. so hopefully she will be all good.. she had a couple of drops of olive oil ytdayand again today.. don't no if that did the job or if she would have gone any way.. she really seemed to like the soaks in the warm water too her scals feel alot smoother now too

How to help an impacted lizard
-Nice luke warm baths
-Decent water supply
-Good basking spot
-Take of sand and put on paper towel,repitle carpet,or some other non-loose substrate

sorry to hear about the problems, poor thing.

Stay away from all sands, calcium or not. They are not desert animals, so leave calcium sand to the bearded dragons, etc.

Be very selective of the type of cat food you use! Many contain substantial amounts of ash filler, and are also very high in sodium. Does your BTS sneeze a lot? They sneeze out salt.

Go with a more bland but stew mix of high moisture dog food, or some mushy ground turkey. That will help them go.

When impaction is in question, stay away from all hard foods such as snails. It could make the situation worse.

Hydration is extremely important, as well as normal environment humidity.

The white excrement you saw is not poop. It is the impurities from urine. They pass it separate, so the urine actually comes out as mostly clear water. The white will come out soft, but then get rock hard when it dries, however you can tell from the frequency and hardness, how the diet is working and if the bluey is dehydrated.

Please keep us posted.

she sneezes ocasionally. yes i did understand that the white poop wasn't poop but solid wee... she did one hardish white one early ytaday withnot water before that she had always done water soft white and a poop all at once...she has abowl of water will check the cat food.. she seems to like the gravy more than the meat it was a whiskas casserole type.. she likes slugs mite feed her thoses for a few days until any sand passes.. thanks

unreadjewel wrote:she sneezes ocasionally. yes i did understand that the white poop wasn't poop but solid wee... she did one hardish white one early ytaday withnot water before that she had always done water soft white and a poop all at once...she has abowl of water will check the cat food.. she seems to like the gravy more than the meat it was a whiskas casserole type.. she likes slugs mite feed her thoses for a few days until any sand passes.. thanks

I would be a bit cautious of feeding slugs, they can carry some nasty parasites.

To the original question.

Slowness in passing faecal matter and impaction are not the same. Reptiles can often take some time to pass wastes due to the slowness of their metabolism. We shouldn't always expect to see anything the day after they have been fed.

True impaction is life threatening unless it is treated promptly. It is normal for a skink to raise its tail and pass liquid and urate but no faecal mass. However, if it keeps its tail raised and makes motions such as swinging the tail from side to side whilst walking and appears to be distressed, then it could be impaction.

Impaction is caused by a complete blockage at some point along the gastrointetestinal tract, usually as a result of eating some indigestible food source or ingesting sand with food. The reptilian gut relies on movement of the body to pass ingesta through, with less reliance on peristalis than with mammals. The large intestine is the least muscular part of the tract so is more prone to impaction.

thanks she did antother big poop today not as hard as the one last night so she must be fine.. I now have her on coconut fibre and tiles... she has started to shed isn't eating as much.. loves her baths in warmwater is it ok to keep giving them to her??

Glad to hear she is doing well. Soaking in warm water is fine. It is normal for them to not eat when they are in a shed cycle.

Great advice everyone. I too am impressed they fed her thay "well" at the shop...the shi**y shop I go to for live fuzzies has had a bluey baby for at least six month's and I think they must be starving him or only giving crix because he still looks like a newborn
Makes me so *darn angry...they are cagey about what they feed him too. I wish I could rescue him but I know better *cry*

Not sure what slugs you have there but here we mostly have leopard slugs which I don't offer to the blueys, based on observing the wild blotchies avoiding them.

raredesign wrote:Be very selective of the type of cat food you use! Many contain substantial amounts of ash filler, and are also very high in sodium. Does your BTS sneeze a lot? They sneeze out salt.

What? Please be very, very careful about giving out advice that you aren't sure of.

Katrina wrote:

raredesign wrote:Be very selective of the type of cat food you use! Many contain substantial amounts of ash filler, and are also very high in sodium. Does your BTS sneeze a lot? They sneeze out salt.

What? Please be very, very careful about giving out advice that you aren't sure of.

I thought that was marine iguanas

read on the packets the cat food had less salt than the dog foods i looked at she is well into her shed now... she is a funny thing doesn't poop in her tank waits for me to gt her out.... have started grating her vegies in to the meat...