Skink breathing

[Roarschak11]

My skink has had a "habit" of sneezing a lot ever since I bought him a year ago, I've never seen any discharge or anything like that, and on the multiple vet visits I've taken this little problem child on, the vet has always said his breathing sounds regular and clear. My question however is what does normal not labored breathing appear as, and if anyone has any good clear video of it that would be awesome. It seems like I'm the only person with a blue tongue in my area for about 30 miles so I've never seen another live one other than Roar in my life to compare. All and any help is appreciated!


Oh, and his sneezing is about once every 10 min. And he does it in his cage, out of his cage, in his hides, in my lap....the only time he doesn't is when he's sleeping.

[jdheff1982]

This is normal since they like to burrow around in the substrate. As long as there isn't any discharge, your skink should be good to go.

[Susann]

I will put up some links in just a bit, I shot some video for you. I don't know how "normal" their breathing is on it as I'm reaching in and sticking a camera in their faces... Actually I think I shot Sam for a total of a whole minute and I didn't see a breath in that whole time which is normal too, just shows what a fraidy-cat he is.

[Susann]

The videos are long and rather boring...
I ran out of space on my first memory card, so switched to another camera.
For those of you interested, 1st video you see JJ, then Rosy, Xyla, and last Maddie. Next video starts with Sam, then Milo, then Sam again to see if I could get a good breath on camera; nope.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xaap3Iiv ... e=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCJq9N-U ... e=youtu.be

Then when I was done shooting, I saw Maddie was doing her heavier breathing like she did for a while last time she was gravid; I hope this is a good sign... So I added this video too. (Sorry about all the poop in her tank... and I didn't want to slide her door open thinking she'd go back to her "normal" breathing if I did.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlooigTt ... e=youtu.be

[Roarschak11]

You have beautiful animals!! And thankyou so much for taking the time to do this! It actually helped a lot especially the vid with your little girl!! I am not longer worried as much about Roarschak thankyou so much!

[Tom]

What species have you got and how are you housing it? What are the temps and what do you use for bedding?

[Roarschak11]

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=24916

That has pics of his setup, it's changed a little but not really. He's a halamerah indo the substrate is "jungle mix" and "forest floor" mixture. I had him on chipped aspen and he had a lot of problems with it being to dry, so I moved to this mix to keep in some humidity. That link has most of his other info on it too.

He's such an odd little skink and I got him from (regrettably) a really crappy pet store that didn't take care if him properly so I'm very paranoid. I have many other reptiles so I'm experienced, he just has so many odd quirks that scare me sometimes.

[Tom]

Here is a possibility to consider: In the pics I see an open screen top. Unless the room where you keep that enclosure is very humid, I have found it very difficult to maintain any sort of humidity in an open topped enclosure with a heat bulb. I don't see your hygrometer, but if I had to guess you probably have one of the stick on dial types? Correct me if I'm wrong. If so, I have found those to be extremely inaccurate and unreliable. Try measuring humidity with a remote probed digital unit. These can be found for around $20 at any garden center or hardware store. They are not "lab grade" accurate by any means, but I find them to be close enough for our purposes.

Either way, here are some suggestions that might help with humidity issues:
1. A water bowl with a large surface area.
2. Cover most of the top, or better yet use a closed chamber instead of an open toped one. I prefer to prevent the loss of humidity, rather than try to replace it as it evaporates into the room. This allows me to maintain dry upper layers of substrate while still maintaining high ambient humidity for those species that need it.
3. Make a humid hide by drilling a properly sized hole in the end of a shoe box, or something similar, and filling it with damp substrate. I've been using these for decades in my dry climate for many species of reptiles to help prevent the very issues you are seeing.

[Roarschak11]

I'm actually going to be building him a custom made enclosure in the next few months because of this reason. On his current cage however, I have put a glass top on half and a screen on the other half. I need to get him a proper humidity gauge like you said, but the room is kept pretty humid wth the humidifier and multiple fish tanks I have. He has gotten a lot better lately too, now I'm just waiting to move him to his custom home, which includes a filtered waterfall and a large soaking area and an enclosed humid hide with a reptifogger to make sure it maintains the necessary humidity. I do have a question though, to keep in humidity but also have sufficient air flow for him, should I put a low power fan where the screen is? I feel if I completely enclose him he won't get enough ventilation...

[Tom]

Each enclosure and home is different. I have some enclosures that are all closed up with no vent holes and I have no problem. Humidity stays right where I want it, no mold or mildew. Just the daily opening of the sliding doors and any air gaps provide plenty of ventilation. Other people need to add some vent holes or just not keep the substrate as damp.