BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Well Sherlock (that is what I decided to name him) is out every day now basking on his rock. He still isn't to sure of me. He lets me sit in front of his tank and talk to him through the door. He also lets me open the door a few inches while we talk. But any more than that and he runs away. But its progress! Oddly enough he was not phased at all by the storms we had roll through or even someone right outside cutting the grass. Hes also picked now to start shedding and I noticed he has some really dry scales on top of his head.

My concern is he is shedding on his feet and toes. Since he wont let me near him yet how do I make sure he gets this off or help him if I need to?

I also got some ground chicken this week and was wondering the best way to cook it. I figured out his preferred eating schedule so I am going to divide it up into little baggies, freeze it, then thaw and cook it fresh as needed.

Here are a few photos of the guy!

Peeking out from behind his greenery. He loves sitting back here and watching what is going on.


Basking and hanging out. You can see the dried scales on the top of his head. I am wondering if during his first week he bumped or scraped it on something in one of his attempts to hide as much as possible.

Sounds like good progress!!

The damage on his head looks like an old injury, they won't hurt themselves from bumping stuff, it could have been a previous fight or something. But it is healed, nothing to worry about.

Shedding isn't as big of a concern as most seem to think... if a bit of shed is on his toes for a day or two, the toes won't fall off. It isn't really a huge concern - if you provide good conditions you won't need to help them at all. They shed just fine in the wild, so if yours still has shed on his tail / toes etc consistently 5-7 days after each shed then look at adding a humid hide, maybe switching substrate to something that holds more moisture, or adding more stuff into their enclosure. Really rough, scratchy surfaces like driftwood or porous / textured rocks help pull bits of shed off the toes as they walk over it and keep the nails down as a bonus.

Where shedding becomes an issue is if they have these little shed problems with some on the toes and some on the tail but it doesn't get dealt with for many sheds. Health concerns and toes issues become a problem after many bad sheds - so many months of these issues not being dealt with. It isn't going to become a problem after 3 days or a week. I find that if you give them good conditions, they shed perfectly on their own 98% of the time. Sometimes a little olive oil on the toes helps moisturise and get the last bit of shed off, some people like giving them lukewarm baths to ensure it is all gone... But they shouldn't have lots of issues shedding and shouldn't require your immediate help every shed. If yours isn't comfortable being handled, then just keep an eye on it. If there is still some shed after a week, quickly rub some olive oil into the toes - you can do it quickly and it won't stress him too much.

Sorry - this isn't necessarily directed at you, there have been quite a few questions about shedding lately so this is more general info for anyone interested.

Thanks! I am just being a worry wart. The shed on his feet has been like that for a few days. I have a humid hide box I use for my snakes when they need help shedding so I will put that in for him in a few more days if he needs it. I am just glad he is warming up to me, though a bit slowly.

What do you suggest as far as cooking the ground chicken?

Any way you can cook it without oil or seasoning. I sometimes boil / steam in a little bit of water.

And being a worry wart is good - it means you care. Adding the humid hide will probably work great for shedding. If you have to handle him quickly to put some olive oil or even if you want to give him a 10 minute soak it won't be a huge deal. Just be quick and confident and 20 mins later I'm sure he will have moved on / forgotten.