Does your bluey keep you up at night?

[phaemas]

Mine does. From his obbsessive scratching at the floor of his hide to the fact that he wants to kill his food dish in the middle of the night.

Also he did something un-usal yesterday. I reached my hand in to grabb his food dish and he gapped at me. Boy was I supprised. I know he's a bit cage aggressive but he's never done that the most he's done is huff.

[Linnea]

you sure your bts isnt gonna shed soon? they can get quite grumpy.

i usually take out the food bowl and clean it directly after the bts has eaten. this way you will avoid unnecessary bacteria growth, and give your bluey more space : D

litchie moves sometimes in the middle of the night, not outside his hide, just kinda...not laying still? but yeah, he moves enough for me to hear it.

[Coomassie]

Coomassie doesn't make a peep after his light goes out. He is usually already asleep. On a rare occasion I will hear him sneeze in the middle of the night but that is it.

[Bird_Brain]

Mine are the same as Coomassie. Bts are not nocturnal so a bts that is moving so much to keep you wake or to wake you up, i would be looking at husbandry. Temps, lights, external stimulii (fans, music, etc), etc as that is not normal bts behavior, imo

[PlinkoPachinko]

My BTS never stirs after we're ready for bed. She barely stirs at all

[phaemas]

He just shed so its not sheding and its not like his hide is small. I was shocked at his behavior so I used a popsicle stick to heard him back into his hide so I could get his food dish.

[WanderingChai]

I agree with RK. Check the water, and temps especially. Sometimes, Tea Cup will scratch the sides, but I just take her out for about 10 minutes so she can run around and get that last bit of energy out. Then she immediately goes into her favorite hide and sleeps.

Also... I personally don't keep a food dish in there all the time. I take Tea Cup out to eat and sometimes I'll leave the plate in if she doesn't finish it. It comes out the next morning.
Try taking him out to eat, like on a bed or just the floor. It might stop his food-defensive-ness.

[phaemas]

But How can I if he started eating at night?! And its not just now its along time since this started:(

[WanderingChai]

...Huh?

How old is your BTS? Even if it's a baby, it doesn't need to eat everyday. Try mixing up his/her favorite food together and feeding that 3 or 4 times a week. If he/she doesn't eat, just wait two or three more days. Then try again. If they are hungry, they will eat.

[wrath]

Mine is out cold once the lights go out. No noise whatsoever.

[Bird_Brain]

I treat all my animals like kids. I do not allow them to become picky eaters. They will eat the food I offer or they will not eat that day/meal. My min pin was a picky eater as a puppy. She always wanted to eat what my bouvier was eating and wouldnt eat her own food. So I simply feed them all at the same time, stood in the middle of the bouvier and min pin. After the bouvier finished eating, I would leave the min pins food out for a little longer (5-10 mins). If she still had not eaten it, then it got put up until the next feeding.

I guess its just tough love. If you dont eat when I feed you, then you aren't going to eat until the next meal. Most animals learn pretty quick and dont play these types of games for very long.

[Susann]

Don't feed him in the tank. Make anything that is positive/fun to him involve you picking him up.

So from now on, take him out of his tank to eat. Pick him up, put him down in front a plate of food. Let him eat. When he is done, put him back.
If he is not interested in eating, put his food in the fridge. A couple of days later, warm the food up to room temperature, and put him in front of it again. If he doesn't eat this time, throw the food away and give him some new food a couple of days later. Take him out, put him in front of it. Keep doing this until he eats his food.

Sounds like ReptileKing and I subscribe to the same methods.

Only feed him in the morning, or very early in the afternoon at the latest, that way he has plenty of time to warm his belly to digest his food. And he won't be all energized right before bedtime.

If he is digging around a lot at night, give him hides without bottoms. Jazz used to dig at night too, and he had a cardboard box for a hide, so very noisy. I cut the bottom off of the box. Helped the noise a lot.

[phaemas]

I feed him every second day. His cat food on top of his veggie/fruit mix. Can they eat apples? he's never gapped at me before. And I have never had somthing like this happen with him.

He's 3.

[Bird_Brain]

he's never gapped at me before. And I have never had somthing like this happen with him.

What has never happened before? His aggression? Didn't you make a post that he bit you?

Regarding apples, I believe the caresheet covers this. Id say in moderation, but then again, I dont feed fruits.

[Katrina]

I feed him every second day. His cat food on top of his veggie/fruit mix. Can they eat apples? he's never gapped at me before. And I have never had somthing like this happen with him.

He's 3.

Phaemas - a lot of these questions, like whether or not they can eat apples, can be easily answered by reading the caresheet. I'm sure you have read it, but it might be worth rereading it. Yes, they can eat apples.

At 3 years of age, you can feed one to two times a week - every second day is too much, just feed when you have time to remove the dish well before the lights are out.

You say you have never had him gape at you before, but he just recently bit you - it sounds like you are startling him or making him feel defensive. They don't gape or bite unless they feel threatened, since this has happened twice there is definitely something you can learn from this. Always let him know when you are coming - don't scare or startle him. Try not to handle or reach in when it is dark. Remember, you are much bigger and seem like a predator to the poor bluey. Try to be patient and gentle and see things through his eyes - he is scared you might eat him, and that will take time to overcome.

[phaemas]

When he bit me there was no warning at all. And He seems to be looking slimmer than before so i'm going to try to weigh him and get him to gain weight but to be honest i'm worried for him

[Susann]

If he is showing a lot of agression, it may be because he is stressed about something. That may be why he may be losing weight too. How long have you had him now? Was he this unpredictable from the beginning?

You may want to go through his tank again, and make sure everything is, not only good, but OPTIMUM. What kind of tank do you have, and where in the house/room is it? What kind of lighting? What are your temperatures, and how are you measuring them? How low does his temperature drop at night? What kind of substrate do you have him on? What kind of hides, and where in the tank are they?

If you could show us a picture of your set-up maybe someone can see something you could change...? To help both of you out. It's not good for him to be stressed, and it's no fun for you having a skink you have to be worried is going to bite you.

Those are just some thoughts I had.

[Katrina]

Yeah - it really does sound like he is very stressed. Can you post pictures of the set up as well as of him? That would help.

[phaemas]

I've had him for about 3-5 months now. He was very friendly at the begining. Hes in a 30 gallon tank while his old one craked right down the middle and started to look dangerous but that was months ago I am trying to find a new tank or build one. Any one know how to cut tempered glass?

[Susann]

I've had him for about 3-5 months now. He was very friendly at the begining.

That's what's making me think he is stressed. If he was friendly to begin with, about 4 months ago, and now he's attacking you and even biting you, then it's probably more due to him getting nervous than that he is an agressive skink. If he was a grumpy skink who never learned that people are nice, then he would have been MORE agressive in the beginning with you.

I unfortunately think that there is something in his living conditions that is stressing him out.

Hes in a 30 gallon tank while his old one craked right down the middle

Unless the crack was spreading open to where he could cut himself on the sides of the crack, a cracked tank is really fine. Lots of us use tanks with cracked sides because we can get them cheap and they work just fine as long as you don't need to put water in it.
So if he had more space in the other tank, and you still have it, I would move him back over. It may be that the lack of space is stressing him out.

If it were me, here's what I would do. Which ever tank you are using, check the temperatures. Make sure he has a warm enough side (that's not TOO warm) and a cool enough side (that's not TOO cool). Make sure he has a GOOD hide where he can feel safe and surrounded, on BOTH the warm AND the cool side.
If I were you, I would leave him alone. Unless you are feeding him I wouldn't pick him up. And feed him outside of his tank. Do what I suggested earlier. Teach him that something GOOD happens EVERY TIME a human picks him up; he gets FOOD!!! And when he starts to act a bit calmer when you pick him up, start holding him a little while before you put him down in front of his food.

Give him clean water and do whatever cleaning needs to be done in his tank while he is outside eating.
When he has learned to trust, you can start holding him more.