BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

There is a family emergency and I have to leave this morning. I'll have to leave Thora here at the house for a week or 2. I need to make sure I'm not missing any of the essentials:

I'm going to keep the house temps around 82 or 83 while I'm gone.

I'm going to leave extra water. I'm going to put some water in a water dispenser (Repti Reservoir). I'm wondering if I should tape the water dispenser to the inside of the tank??? I would cement it to a piece of slate but there isn't enough time to do all of that.

I'm planning to leave paper towels down because I had a problem with a substrate and because of the family emergency I won't have time to replace it.

Is there anything that I'm missing? I'm not sure if I'm thinking really straight right now so I'm just wondering if there is anything else I should be doing.

Justin

To start off, make SURE that someone can check on Thora at least every 3 or 4 days or so. She will only soil her water if you give it to her. Have someone be there to offer her water every time they come.

WanderingChai wrote:To start off, make SURE that someone can check on Thora at least every 3 or 4 days or so. She will only soil her water if you give it to her. Have someone be there to offer her water every time they come.

I don't know if I'll have anyone in the area to check on her. Hmm... She might soil the water because she will be mad that we aren't here... I am considering having her boarded at a pet resort but it will cost $10 a night.

unless you are really tight on cash go for the pet store and she definitely needs someone to checkup on her every 3 or 4 days at the very least

leaving her alone for a week or two will leave you with a really nasty water bowl and possible illness contracted from the water

i agree with chai, and the water will get bad if left out like that really quick. I never leave litchies water unchanged for more than 2 days when im not at home.

pet resort sounds better to me, but its up to you.

not cleaning up the poop etc for a week or two is also a infection risk for your skink....

Those are all important things to think about. I think I will be going with boarding. I used to leave her with my Mom when I went on a trip but I don't have anyone around who knows how to take care of her since my Mom died I would take her with me if I could but we are probably already going to have to take the dogs (dog boarding is looking like it's going to cost 2 or 3 times as much). That and I'm not even sure what city we are traveling too yet. Laila's Dad was airlifted to a hospital in Birmingham late last night for an emergency blood change procedure...but he might be back at the hospital in Pensacola, FL soon...so we might be traveling back and forth. This sucks.

Justin

Sorry about your father in law and I wish we could help! I would go ahead and just have the skink boarded. Like others have said, Thora could contract something while you are gone. The cost of boarding will be cheaper than a vet visit,

Well said.

boarding will be best for all

Sorry to hear Justin, hope he gets well soon. If I were you I would go for the boarding plan for your skink. No worries on top of the ones you already have...

I may already be too late to input, but if the skink has heat and has had water recently, two weeks doesn't really mean much. If she soils her water, she just won't drink it. Normally I'd say cut the heat too, but chances are she's eaten recently, so she'll need the heat to digest whatever is left.

Also, any chance you could leave her with Ray?

I'd be worried about boarding a reptile with other unquarantined reptiles. This seems like a bigger danger to me than leaving it safe at home for 2 weeks. Reptile store issues like mites, RIs and parasites travel quickly if the reptiles aren't quarantined. However, if it's a good place with good, knowledgable people, then it might be worth the money to not have to worry.

Best of luck with whatever you decide to do.

Fatal_S wrote:I may already be too late to input, but if the skink has heat and has had water recently, two weeks doesn't really mean much. If she soils her water, she just won't drink it. Normally I'd say cut the heat too, but chances are she's eaten recently, so she'll need the heat to digest whatever is left.

Also, any chance you could leave her with Ray?

I'd be worried about boarding a reptile with other unquarantined reptiles. This seems like a bigger danger to me than leaving it safe at home for 2 weeks. Reptile store issues like mites, RIs and parasites travel quickly if the reptiles aren't quarantined. However, if it's a good place with good, knowledgable people, then it might be worth the money to not have to worry.

Best of luck with whatever you decide to do.

+1

Just a general observation that there is often lots posts just agreeing or restating something that was said earlier, and I'm not certain that everyone agreeing with the consensus has experience relevant to the situation / question.

Some good points have been brought up, but please remember that if you don't have any experience or anything relevant to add (other than just agreeing with something previously said) it might not be worth posting. I know I'm being nitpicky, but tons of posts just agreeing with something that 'sounds' right isn't really helpful and generally if enough people agree then it is accepted as truth rather than just something that sounds right...

Katrina wrote:Just a general observation that there is often lots posts just agreeing or restating something that was said earlier, and I'm not certain that everyone agreeing with the consensus has experience relevant to the situation / question.

Some good points have been brought up, but please remember that if you don't have any experience or anything relevant to add (other than just agreeing with something previously said) it might not be worth posting. I know I'm being nitpicky, but tons of posts just agreeing with something that 'sounds' right isn't really helpful and generally if enough people agree then it is accepted as truth rather than just something that sounds right...

Excellent point Kat.

As Mel said, I don't think that boarding is necessary at all in this case, and poses its own risks. I would have double checked lights, timers and temps, added fresh water and just left them be.

Thank you everyone! Someone was nice enough to offer to watch her for me I haven't been on here in a week because I didn't have Internet access while I was gone.

Excellent

I hope everything is ok~

Everything is OK. And my Father-in-law survived. I'm still in shock at how close it was. I'll post about it in the off-topic section...

Nae wrote:Excellent

I hope everything is ok~

Glad to hear things are better and Thora got a sitter!