My guy suddenly became extremely active and won't eat

[Kilplix]

As the title says, I don't know what's up with my Skink. I recently cleaned his tank out and put in new bedding and it seems like ever since then he's been active as heck, he's all over the place, totally unlike him.

What's worse though is he's just not eating, I've tried feeding him a billion different things to see if he'd eat, nothing, he just burrows around, tips his water over constantly, climbs on his basking box and just wanders around all over.

I really don't understand what the heck's going on, the bedding I used is the same brand as the last and everything so I don't know how that could be a part of it.

I've had him almost a year, I got him last October, I'm unsure how old he is, maybe a year old now.

Anyway thoughts? advice? I appreciate any

EDIT: It's been around two weeks since this started

[Hopeful_Herper]

I have no idea, maybe just feeling good?

[Katrina]

Where are you from?

It sounds like you might be in the southern hemisphere and have a male...

[Richard.C]

kat may be spot on there

[Scotts1au]

are you saying we all have one tracked minds in Australia? haha

[Kilplix]

I'm in the US, Utah

[Richard.C]

lol,scott

Id say with the new substrate its lost its familiar smell and its just investigating

[Katrina]

:-) are you saying we all have one tracked minds in Australia? haha

Silly southern hemisphere. Scott - did you remember to eat today??

[El Lobo]

I guess being in Utah rules out Antipodean philogyny as the principal modus operandi.

I have seen similar behaviour but it usually doesn't last more than about 24 hours after an enclosure has had a full clean and substrate replacement. I mentioned it to a herp vet a few years ago who told me it wasn't unusual behaviour but one remedy is to keep the most recent faeces when you know you are going to do a full clean and place it in the cleaned enclosure prior to returning the skink. When a full clean is performed all scent traces are removed which can slightly disorient the skink so including the older faeces for a short while will allow them to smell their own scent.

[Richard.C]

my lot usually delight in pooping as soon as im done cleaning,especially the stumpys,fresh bowl of water,hey lets poop in it and make a mess,lol

[Lauriek]

Well I was also going to say if you're in the Southern Hemisphere I'd be inclined to think you have a boy skink looking for a girl skink However you're in the northern hemisphere so that doesn't follow. If you've cleaned your cage then all the 'old' smells have gone and your skink probably feels like he's not in familiar surroundings. Sometimes they just want out. My theory is a) they're bored b)they like exploring c)they want the exercise d)it's a ploy to drive humans mad & confuse them, and, e)all of the above.

[Fatal_S]

Not sure here, but if the skink is an import-type from Indonesia, could it be it's a male and still used to the Indonesian mating time? Two weeks of mad activity definitely seems like it would be about mating to me.

Other thing would be make sure there's no mites or bugs on him, as those can cause them to itch enough that they keep moving.

[Kilplix]

I just gave him a plate with the usual mix (from the skink sheet or whatever from this site) along with some turkey, cat food on the side and banana's.

he ate a few pieces of the banana so I'm happy with that, still not a ton of food though.

And yeah I've checked for mites, he's had them before so I definitely know what to look for, he def doesn't have any.