Skink not eating.

[skinkerdinker]

My skink hasn't touched her food for about eleven days and my mom and are getting a little worried. I usually feed my skink every five days and when I gave her her meal she still had not eaten it by the next morning. I left it in her cage for three days until my mom told me I was not really supposed to leave it for more then a day anyway, I have been trying to get it to eat for about four days and she has not eaten anything at all. She seemed a little interested when I put her food in today, but when I checked a while later she hadn't eaten anything. Should I take her to the vet?

[Roarschak11]

What type of skink do you have? I ask this because you posted in the off-topic thread. Also reptiles can go long spans of time without eating. Adult BTS usually eat only one to two times a week. Also what is the age of the skink, what are the temps in your cage? (Basking spot, hot side, cool side) and roughly how old is your skink and how long have you had it?

[skinkerdinker]

I think it's either a northern or an eastern. I have had her for about a year,and she is four years old.

[Susann]

I moved this to the General Discussion forum since we are talking about a BTS.

A skink that doesn't eat is usually not a concern in itself for several weeks as long as the skink is acting normal otherwise. Especially this time of year when weather fluctuates from warmer to colder, and especially if your skink is generally just choosing to stay asleep or in its hide more.
As long as the skink is still moving around, curious, and "normal" when he is out and about or when you get him up/out.

If you are worried, by all means, take him to the vet, but, like I said, just not eating for several weeks can be perfectly normal from time to time.

[skinkerdinker]

Ok, thanks!

[MELUCHJA]

I'm glad I read this thread. I have been having similar occurrences with my eastern BTS. Is is the the middle of autumn here, and even though his temps are normal during the day, it is cooler at night around 15-20 celsius. So maybe it has slowed down his metabolism, makes sense when I think about it. But I didn't know they could go several weeks, wow they are amazing.

Susann, my boy is only 6 months nearly 7 months old. How long could he conceivably go without food at this age? I'm still offering it to him every 2-3 days but he is only eating it once maybe twice a week. I'm not really concerned about it at this stage as he seems well otherwise and still roaming his tank and coming out to bask. But he is spending more time burrowed down sleeping, but I'm guessing this is also normal for this time of year but I'm just guessing.

[Katrina]

This question is so common we made a FAQ about it: viewtopic.php?f=24&t=22406

MELUCHJA - I'd go down to feeding once or twice per week only. That is all that is needed for healthy blueys. He might be slowing down for winter, if he stop eating completely then do a search on brumation.

[Susann]

This question is so common we made a FAQ about it: viewtopic.php?f=24&t=22406

I'll just say that to occasionally refuse to eat even though conditions in the tank are normal, i.e. temp gradient and basking spot are at non-brumation temperatures and nighttime temps aren't dipping too low, is no cause for worry if he’s otherwise acting normal. A healthy 7 month old can go several weeks without eating for no apparent reason.
It’s always good to keep an eye on weight and demeanor, and double check all the temps in the tank whenever their behavior changes.

I only own Gigas so I don’t know a whole lot about brumation.

[MELUCHJA]

thank you both very much

[dsteamn]

I kept two babies from last year's litter. One stayed up and ate all winter. The other dug down in the substrate and disappeared. Throughout the entire ten or twelve week period, she was awake a total of about ten days and MAYBE ate 1 - 2 tbs. of food. It's almost as if they don't even recognize things as edible. They look at the bowl like it has rocks in it or something. Very bizarre in our book but very normal for them.

[skinkink]

Same with my skink I'm not too concerned, hes been acting normal