A Spoiled Skink

[debbieg]

I got my bts, Babe last valentines day. She has the sweetest disposition, has never bitten, rarely huffs and puffs and is very tolerant about being held by me. She is a very fussy eater however. I have found that she does eat baby food voraciously and I liquify collards and baby bok choy to sneak greens into her diet. She likes chicken and vegetable and squash the best. She is healthy according to the vet but I wonder if feeding the baby food is OK. I get carrots, squash, chicken, mixed veggies. She eats from my hand and licks my fingers - it's very cute. Apparently when she was at the pet store where she stayed for months before I broke down and brought her home, she was fed lettuces mostly and was a good veggie eater. I have spoiled her with banana, papaya and other treats so she turns up her nose at chopped greens of any kind. She has one weird habit and I'm wondering if anyone else has this happen or knows anything about it. Hand feeding seems to be one of the things I have done to spoil her. When I put her food dish down (it's a plastic lid as suggested in the care sheet here) she often walks thru her food getting it everywhere except her mouth. If I am standing there and tip the dish toward her and my hand is right there, she will eat her food, otherwise although she eats a good deal, she walks thru alot of the food. I know this is silly and probably a minor problem, but I am curious if others see their bts do the same thing. She is housed in a 40 breeder with heat lamp and UV lighting. SHe spends a good deal of time under her substrate and is taken out daily for handling. I dont' know how much of her fussy behavior is my fault but she has such a good disposition and has had since day one.
Debbie

[Katrina]

Welcome!! She sounds lovely.

Does she get any protein in her diet? Baby food is ok if there isn't any added preservatives or sugar etc, although a diet high in fruit isn't great. What types of baby foods do you feed? Most people would recommend adding more solid food to the mix to give the jaw a bit of a workout. Here is a link to the diet chart, there are lots of options there: http://bluetongueskinks.net/foodchart.html

[debbieg]

I have looked over the food chart many times - she has never liked to chew food and that's a worry of mine. She eats little fruit - more vegetable and meat/chicken and squash is her favorite, chicken and vegetables is another one she loves. I give her Gerber Nature Select. I am concerned because she won't eat greens that I prepare --I've tried collards, mustards, bok choy, and other mixes of greens and the only way I can get her to eat them is to puree them in the blender and mix them with the food. She is active and healthy looking - just very gentle. I am wondering if the fact that she has never been a biter - she is an Indo - and the other one I had was extremely aggressive - could be that she can't. However, when I first got her and had to give her the meds for parasites, she had no problem biting down on the med dispenser. I just want to do the best by her - I have several other reptiles - bearded dragon, and snakes. I dont' know if I should withhold food until she is hungry enough to eat them? Or will she become anorexic and starve. The only real fruit she eats is squash and apple or a little banana for a treat. She does like mango and papaya but I don't give them to her often.

[El Lobo]

First thing to not worry about is they don't chew as in masticating. The teeth are more used for crushing as in eating invertebrates or for clamping food items to tear manageable portions. Walking through food is almost a pre-requisite with my three blotchies before they eat. Maybe they think walking through their food adds seasoning.

Fine chopping greens is another option to liquifying. I am in line with Katrina's thinking on the firmer food being benificial for exercising the powerful jaw muscles as well as for oral hygiene. Mine are all but 4 years old and apart from the occasional scrambled egg have always been fed firm non-liquid food. Not too much fruit but papaya is a good choice. The blotchies like theirs and papaya contains an enzyme to aid digestion in mammals so I guess would also hold true for BTS.

[debbieg]

So, should I withhold baby food in the hope she will get hungry and eat her vegetables? She's the cutest thing ever and I want to keep her around for a long time - I want only the best for her so any suggestions will be welcome.

[debbieg]

I did see that mealworms are on the list. Should I try them?

[xxmonitorlizardxx]

Mix the veggies with the dogfood or squeeze some berries on the veggies, or mix the berries with meat, or mix it with raw/ scrambled eggs. Just to make the veggies taste better.
Mealworms aren't that nutritional for BTS so you dont really need to feed them. If you want to feed them to the skink, go for it. But the skink will be completely fine without them.

[Spindown]

Mine have decided they wont eat superworms, but they loooove roaches!

[Susann]

I would start by swapping the baby food out for dog food (ounce per ounce, MUCH more nutrition and vitamins!). Offer it to her once a week until she eats it. She will not become anorexic and she will not starve. When she gets hungry enough she will eat the food given to her. Do not offer her anything else in between. No fruit, no treats, no baby food. She can go for months without food and be just fine. Keep telling yourself that until she eats.
Once she starts eating the dog food, start chopping up veggies and greens really fine and mix it into the dog food. Again, offer it to her once a week until she eats it. Gradually mix in more veggies until the meal consists of about 50-60% veggies and greens, 40-50% dog food. Then gradually leave the veggie chunks bigger.
Problem solved!

Do not forget to add calcium to her food.

[debbieg]

Thank you - I will try that - I was just afraid she would starve herself. It's so stressful when a beloved pet won't eat. I went through switching my snakes from live food to frozen/thawed after I rescued them and even though I knew they would survive, I still worried when they wouldn't eat. Also, should I just feed her once a week? i feed her every other day now...
She has been getting calcium dusting on her food regularly.
Deb

[Katrina]

Once a week is perfectly fine for adults. They can go many months without food, so no fear of starving her!

[El Lobo]

We have found with our blotchies that feeding every 5-6 days seems to be the most effective balance. Around every third feed they will not eat almost all, whereas the other two feeds result in a mostly clean plate. They are almost 4 years old and for the past year or so have ceased to pick out just the protein source and eat the vegetable as well in a balanced proportion of around 40% protein to 50% vegetable and 10% fruit. The fruit is always fresh and mainly consists of papaya or paw paw with the occasional treat of strawberry. The meals are always dusted with calcium with each alternate containing D3 as they have UVB lighting.

[debbieg]

Ok - so I did what I was told - I fed once last week and Babe licked up all the gravy and left the chicken and the veggies...so I waited another week and she was right there by the food dish - did the same thing. I guess trying a dog food without gravy? A pate? But I'm trying to get her to chew and exercise her jaw some. She just isn't interested in the food. I bought an all natural farm fresh selects with pieces of chicken, and some veggies with a nice gravy. It smells and looks like human food. No additives, I added her calcium and vitamins. I'm worried she's not getting all she needs - she's very spoiled and I know that's my fault. She will eat from my hand - again my fault. I have withheld all fruit and treats. I have read the caresheets and am trying different foods but now that I understand she wont starve, I am doing the advised once a week feeding. I saw 2 blue toungue skinks today at the pet store and they look so miserable - no burrowing place - they were huddled together. Broke my heart. And the food in the cage looks like a lettuce spring mix - no nutrients at all. But as for Babe, she has the best of everything I can offer and still wants to be finicky.
I just want her to get what she needs.....

[Katrina]

Two weeks isn't very long at all to go without eating much. I'd keep at it, offer similar foods next week or try another healthy option. I just woke mine up from brumation, my male hasn't eaten since beginning of October and he hasn't lost weight. Two weeks is nothing - don't panic, and don't give in. If she is healthy, she can go for a very long time without eating (and they would in the wild).

Maybe next week mix a small amount of baby food in so that she has something familiar. That might help. But don't worry about her not eating - a bit of tough love and a few missed meals to get her to eat a bit healthier diet will do a lot more good for her than just giving in and giving her what she wants so she will eat.

[debbieg]

She seems to be healty - alert, active, climbs all over me! She's very loveable and gentle. She's just sooooo spoiled! And I know she's ok not eating - it just stresses me out!