Poop

[sndavis9311]

Hi!

This past February, I got an adult blue tongue skink. I think his poop is a bit off. He is a very picky eater and I was told by his last owner to feed him wet dog food. He nibbles on it sometimes but I don't leave it in there longer than a couple of days. He liked it when I gave him an egg to eat. He's had one other egg since then. He's active and friendly. His poop is just very odd. It's very smelly and runny. Last time it was brownish black but this past time cleaning the cage, it was green. I have green moss substrate in his hide box. Is it possible he's eating it? He won't eat any veggies I give him.

Thanks!
Stephanie

[Linnea]

The thing about having an omnivore as a pet, is that they need to eat both veggies and meat to have a balanced diet, and having a balanced diet means the stomach will also be in balance.

The diet you are providing your skink is giving it a lot of protein, but little for his guts to "grip", is lacking in vitamin content and is not a full diet.

So, from now on, you go buy good veggies, mash them up and mix well with the dogfood. your bluey will look better, smell nothing at all, live longer and have more energy - and better looking poop.

You may consider looking over the caresheet provided on the forum to get a good idea what veggies to start with and which to avoid. Squash is great to mix in, aragula salad....and so on

EDIT: i forgot to mention, nearly all bluey will avoid veggies as if it was a disease. its completely normal, and you should just ignore their constant craving for pure meat diets. never give up, and your bluey will get a good image of his/her favourite veggies and greens as well, in time.
After all, your bluey has been fed only meat for a long long time, so he will have to get accustomed to it.

[Richard.C]

i dont know why people think dog food is so bad to feed by itself,ive used it for years and never had issues,think its based on the old days when minced meat was fed predominantly,but if u want to wean him/her onto vegies,mixing them into the dog foods a great idea,they still try to reject it sometimes though,another option is to wizz up the veggies add to dog food to hide the fact its in there,or some folk go as far as wizzing the veg dogfood mix together,making a decent bacth,make it into patties,and freeze the excess in portions for future feeding

your guy doesnt seem to be eating much dogfood either though,,might still be adjusting though,runs can be a number of different things,including getting used to a new diet,if your worried he /she isnt eating enough u could try snails,the love them and rarely reject them,if they are hard to source,u can get tinned snail meat which they sell for human consumption,rinse off the liquid its marinated in,its a briney liquid that helps preserve them

welcome to the forum to

[Katrina]

Welcome!

Like Richard said, runny poop could just be an adjustment to a new diet or something. I'd give it a few weeks, see if it continues. If it last more than a few poops then definitely get it checked for parasites - I had one that persistently had runny, smelly poop from the time I got it and it turned out to be parasites. It was easy to treat and poop is completely normal and a lot less runny and gross now!

Dogs are omnivores, so dog food has quite a lot of veggies in it anyway. I still mix fresh veggies and greens in, but dog food isn't all protein.

[Richard.C]

and kat,if lizzie isnt eating alot,but drinking ect,can be runny poop to,especially if eating raw egg,forgot to ask if its cooked or raw,is brad still doing free fecal exams,might be a good option to rule out possable parasites

otherwise just see how he goes,hes still possably getting used to a new home and eating may pick up,which in turn may return nice formed poop,hmmmm poop and nice doesnt really go together,lol

[sndavis9311]

Thank you for all your responses. This is my first skink. I've only had leopard geckos before him. It was a raw egg but it was runny before that. How do I get a hold of Brad?

[Katrina]

Thank you for all your responses. This is my first skink. I've only had leopard geckos before him. It was a raw egg but it was runny before that. How do I get a hold of Brad?

Brad is ReptileKing on here - just PM him and he can send you details on how to send poop. It is a great deal, it normally costs me $55 for a fecal check but Brad will do it for the cost of a stamp.