BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

I made a thread of my first blue tongue skink Shorty.
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=24358


We went to the vet November 12 about his right eye that appears to be bulging out. He's been taking his antibiotics everyday and his eye hasn't improved or worsened. However something VERY interesting happened two nights ago.
I had him out with me on the couch, I usually lay on my side and he snuggles next to my body and takes a nap. When I moved the blanket off his head, I saw that his eye looked COMPLETELY normal. Yeah! Normal! Just a few minutes ago it was bulging slightly. I couldn't believe it! I then started talking to him and gently pet his body saying that I couldn't believe his eye is normal (yeah, I talk to animals like they can understand me lol!). About 30 secs after I noticed his eye looked normal, it bulged out again. VERY weird. Luckily the vet called me yesterday, asking how Shorty was doing. I told him what happened that night with his eye. He
wasn't sure what to say at first, but he said that now he doubts that it's an abscess at all. He's thinking that it may be more of an abnormality in his skull that forces his eye lid to push his eye out slightly. Or it could still be some trauma to that eye that hasn't healed. But knowing that his eye looked completely normal, then all of a sudden, just bulged out again, he's thinking he might have been born with something like a lazy eye. (Doc didn't say this exact, but he does think it might be more of a cosmetic then actual health problem)

So just wondering on what your guys opinion about this?
I'm really dumbfounded. I have no idea what's going on, but a lazy eye could be a possibility, at least I think so. I mean, is something like that possible with skinks?

I was also slightly tempted to contact the past owners, they were nice and all, so I'm not sure if they would respond to my questions or not. Do you think this would be a waste of time?

Here's a pic of his eye.

Did the previous owners buy Shorty as a baby? If so, they should be able to tell you if his eye has always been that way.

On the listing, it said that they got him when he was 2. If his eye was like this since the age of 2, do you think he was just born with it?

How old is he now? If the previous owners didn't have him for very long, it may not have been there since birth.

He's 4 years old now, so they had him for 2 years.

Isn't an empyema the same thing as an abscess?

I don't think the vet and I considered those. (cyst or empyema)
But he will call me next tuesday to see how he's doing and I'll bring it up.
Would X-rays show if it's a cyst or empyema?

Now THAT is what I call a good post!

Mel (Fatal_S) had a skink with similar eye-bulging, that turned out to be and infection/absess inside the mouth.

viewtopic.php?f=19&t=19210

Lea you are actually my idol that was amazing.

Sorry for the super late reply, been busy here!

But man, I just read your post Lea and my brain is tired! So.. many big words... Haha!
Well I tried contacting the previous owners, no word yet, but it's only been 1 day. So not sure if I will get a reply back or not.
But he's looking great otherwise, he does real good with letting me open his mouth. Which the vet took a look at when we saw him, but his mouth looked very good. So I'm kinda at a loss and I feel that blood work would be the next step to find out if there's something wrong.
But if it comes clean, then it would mean he's just born that way??

So I got some word back from the past owners, they said that they never noticed his eye being different. So he probably had this going on for 2 years.
But here's some more pictures of him, his eye hasn't changed at all. It's not worse, nor better. But I will be talking to the vet about blood work, I'm waiting for him to call me back tonight.

Also just to add, I measured and weighed him last week. He's 22inches long and weigh 2.5lbs! I really thought my scale was wrong, but after weighing him multiple times, yeah, he's 2.5lbs! Quite a heavy skink!

Huh, never thought about the amount of food I give him. I feed him once a week with wellness beef & lam, turnip greans. One day I decided to let him try an egg for the first time, which he loved! He ate one raw egg with a night crawler.
So maybe I am feeding him too much?

How much do you give at each feeding? http://bluetongueskinks.net/foodchart.html has the amount you should be feeding. Also, what is your ratio of meat:veggies?

No not at all, the previous owner mosy likely did. He is a chunky monkey.

Oops, I forgot that you just got him! He really doesn't look unhealthily obese, but he is chunky. Feeding more veggies and less meat will trim him down a little.

That would be chunky for a Gigas. I dont think its overweight at all for a Northern. If thats what people consider chunky then im never posting pictures of my Intermedia ever again