BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

One day while I was watching my baby bluey, Rudie, walk around I noticed that when he is walking, he uses his wrist as his hand. It is only like this for one leg. It is his front left leg by the way. Is this normal? If not, What is wrong with his leg?

Any chance of a short video showing what you mean with the leg?

I have one with a back leg that dislocates when she is walking a lot but it can be manipulated back into place.

Yes, I will try to get a video up later on!

He seems to walk with his left wrist instead of his hand?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VCZGHXC ... ture=g-upl

I see what you mean. It reminds me of my MBD (Metabolic Bone Disease) skinks, who's leg bones are deformed because of calcium problems. The diet is improved now, and they're doing fine, but they don't all walk normally, and one is movement-impared.

Since yours is a baby, perhaps it's a birth defect? What kind of diet does it have? To be clear though, it doesn't look like a bad limp for yours, it just reminds me of my guys.

Well i will usually feed him Pedigree dog food: Beef (wet), chop up some veggies and put into it, and sprinkle it with calcium dust. Today he had cut up hard boiled egg (with yolk), some mango, lettuce, and sprinkled it with calcium dust.
Also, he has different colored scales on his upper lip and a ring of different colored scales around his eye. This is only on his right side. Is this normal?

does the arm extend out?

The different colours might be old shed?

It doesn't sound like your diet is lacking at all. And your skink looks very good. I would guess it's a minor birth defect. Maybe someone else will have a suggestion.

His arm does extend out and he will sometimes use it, but most of the time he sticks to walking on his wrist.

If he's climbing over things, does he use his hand or his wrist?

The darker scales are likely just retained shed, though I can't say definitively without seeing photos of what you're talking about. Mine arrived with most of the head scales darker than the rest of them, but he's managed to pop most of them off except for a few around his lip.

When he climbs over things, he sometimes has a little problem but manages to get over. He uses his wrist. His wrist is also more curved and fatter then the other ones.

I wonder if the leg got injured somehow. Has he had any falls or anything since you've gotten him or was he walking like that right out of the box?

He has not had any falls since I have had him. I think he was walking like that right out of the box because I remember seeing him tucking his leg in a lot.

[quote="xXmisscarcarrXx"]When he climbs over things, he sometimes has a little problem but manages to get over. He uses his wrist. His wrist is also more curved and fatter then the other ones.[/quote]

thats since he uses it improperly. any constant, or reoccuring, bad use of any mammals, reptiles, birds or fish limbs, will cause the areas to harden and look funny. ballerinas for example, will have very different looking feet after a while, and this cannot be fixed for them.
old people are more prone to show these things, as they for example have used their fingers for machine writing a lot, but also young people with bad feet or legs that keeps walking improperly will also have visible "fatty/curved/hard" tissue like this, or skeletal injuries. the last example being the most alike your skinks case.

it may be your skink has a birth defect, like the others said. i suggest a vet visit for taking a closer look at the foot, if he continues. there might be something that can help him move it more properly, or there may be nothing for lizards.....
you can also let your skink grow more and see if it straightens out by itself. sometimes elephants are born unable to walk on their feet, due to excessive oversize while still in their mothers tummy they are unable to stretch their feet out, so when they come out, they walk on their knees. this usually fixes itself, but may be a bad example.

If, however, it is swollen, warm and such, it could be the wrist is broken or has a small crack in the skeleton there. it would naturally hurt a lot and be swollen, but he seems to be moving his toes well, so it shoulnt be broken. i cant say though.

im sorry if my explanation lacks medical words, i find myself at a total standstill on some rare topics of the english language, this being one.

That was a great reply! Thank you! I am going to give it some time and see if it effects him as he gets older. As of right now, I can touch the arm and he does not seem to mind. Thank you so much for all of your replies!

xXmisscarcarrXx wrote:One day while I was watching my baby bluey, Rudie, walk around I noticed that when he is walking, he uses his wrist as his hand. It is only like this for one leg. It is his front left leg by the way. Is this normal? If not, What is wrong with his leg?

Hello hello!! I know this is an old post and I hope you see this but I was just curious if you can give me an update on you BTS. I am also new to owning a blue tongue as well as this forum, but I just got a blue tongue about as old as yours was when you originally posted this and he/she has the same thing going on right now !! Should I seek veterinary assistance or was it something that worked itself out on its own?