How long should food be left out?

[trex]

I am feeding wet dog food with calcium sprinkled in.

I know wet food is a haven for bacteria. I dont want to cause any problems for my new baby.

So far, i am holding pieces of food in my fingers and putting it front of the baby's nose so that it will be accustomed to human interaction. I place the animal on my lap before i do this. Usually, he will eat a little bit before exploring around and ignoring the food.

I want to get him used to me putting food in a dish in the cage later. But i dont know how long it can stay out without spoiling. I know winter is coming and skinks start to slow down their eating volumes, but I have a baby, so what should i do?

[Jeff]

Many skinks will eat all of it within 5 minutes, but for those who don't, I usually leave it in there for 24-48 hours. You will get various opinions from other people, but I have never had a single problem with this.

[donkeybuff]

If there are leftovers, I usually leave them in the bowl in case the skink decides to have a midday snack. In Australia, they have been seen eating dog poop. If I remember correctly, one member on here said that his skinks actually preferred a nasty chicken carcass to what we would consider higher quality meat. Some 2 day old dog food won't hurt

[Dakota]

I wouldn't mind leaving it inside for 2 days or so.. some like it smelly!

[trex]

Ive never had to feed a reptile in the way that skinks are fed. With my past pets, i physically take out the animal and place it in a feeding tub.

When i place a dish of dog food out, the skink won't instantly come out right? Mine tends to burrow a lot under the aspen, and i am not sure when he will decide to come out to eat. Obviously i prefer being able to see them

[Dakota]

Generally, no. I have never had a skink sit by the food dish waiting for a meal- but hey- every skink is different. I usually sit them next to the food dish, and they have a go.

[donkeybuff]

My indo, although he may be an exception with his insane feeding response, does sometimes wait by the bowl when he hears me open a can of dog food. They usually come out and investigate as soon as they smell food.

[Toria Dawn]

My IJ generally comes out when i put food near him. He happily finger feeds his treat foods in his tank or wherever he happens to be.

However I feed him on a cutting board outside his tank. I take the food away when he is no longer interested, though he generally eats almost all of it. I feed him his main supplemented meal once a week, if not every 10 days, but I also treat him every day or every other day with a few worms of some sort (whatever the geckos are eating), or some bell pepper (or carrot or cucumber, etc) I'm using for a salad.

I know they have stomachs of steel but I've spoiled mine so much, I worry about him not having the proper bacteria to digest certain past meat? This is completely unfounded , keep that in mind. He also always walks through his food, which is why I don't feed him in his tank or leave food there. I'm worried he will get food literally everywhere and swallow a bunch of substrate when he goes to snack on his mess.