BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Skeeter came out of his tube hide when he heard me in the room (usual reaction) and I looked over and my heart stopped! I saw red (later giggled at myself) on his side! I jumped up, to see it was just the way the light was hitting him (combined with a shadow) but I tell you it scared the dickens out of me!

Being a former field medic in the military - my first reaction to the red coloration was...blood. What color is BTS blood/hemolymph? I just hope I never see that again

So it got me wondering if any other BTS caregivers have had heart stopping moments.....

and you can see by his pic how this could have happened - the brownish orangish coloration on his side..

My heart stops all the time. Whenever I see a skink who normally hides laying in the open asleep. That's what they do to die. Terrifies me every time and I have to wake them up or watch them breathe. As long as they're hiding, I'm okay.

Fatal_S , what do you mean "that's what they do to die" ? :O

In my experience (which has sadly been too much experience) a skink who is ill or dying will come out into the open. At no point have I had a skink die while hidden. Every skink I've had die is laying in the open, semi-curled up, with sunken in eyes. So when I see a skink laying in the open, I get worried. If a skink died in hiding I'd have to assume it happened quickly or the skink was too cold to get into the open.

Oh no!! :/ I can't imagine how upsetting that must be, but at the same time it's very interesting, behavior-wise.
Your post honestly made me wonder, what could drive them to come out in the open like that to...well, pass on?

Last ditch attempt to warm up and recover I think. Natural instinct. Just my thoughts on it.

I don't doubt that one bit. They're such intriguing animals!

I can definitely understand why you'd think that as well Fatal. D:

lol my reptiles are always getting poked when they lay weird, or are "too still" etc. I worry and wake them up for no reason...they get pretty annoyed at me, but I have to check on them