BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Hi! I'm new to the forum and I'm really hoping someone will be able to answer my questions. I've got a whole description of my skink but you can just read my questions that are in bold if you'd like.
So my Blue Tongue's name is Emerson. He's 2-4 years old and I got him May 10th 2014. He was being rehomed by a shop owner in my area and I decided to get him after tons of research. When I went to the shop to get him he almost bit the man a few times and grabbed a hold of the box I was bringing him home in. After I took him home he probably huffed at me 6-7 times and that was it. Not tongue display, no huffs. He was a perfect little angel. When I got him I did realize almost all of his toes were missing, falling off, or completely dead. He was in the worst shed ever (SCAlE BY SCALE) and I gave him baths every day until it was over. I got a lot of stuck shed off of his toes but even then he never even huffed at me.
Here's some more about Emerson.
He's an Irian Jaya.
He is 21"
He's on a 50:40:10 diet. He eats mostly collards but sometimes romaine, mustards, or kale. He also eats veggies like celery, bell peppers, squash(he loves it!), green beans, or carrots. The protein consists of mostly ground turkey, beef, chicken, good quality dog food, beardie bites, or eggs. And he likes bananas, cantaloupe, strawberries, and blue berries.
He'll only eat every three days and sometimes he refuses to eat until the 4th day. He eats OK amounts. I make a lot so he always has the chance to have more. Another thing is he NEVER eats in his tank. I don't know why, I just prefer feeding him out of his tank.
His tank, by the way, is a 30 gallon breeder (same floor space as a 40 gallon). He basks regularly and has a giant water bowl. I use shaved aspen as bedding and he spends a lot of time burrowed in it. Let me get to the story!
So tonight I was petting Emerson's back while he was basking and everything was cool. I left the room for a while and when I came back he was exploring so I said hello (yes, I do talk to him!!)in a very cute but unnessesary baby voice. I reached my hand in and started touching his back and then I touched his head (like I normally do!) and out of no where his mouth opened up real wide. I took my hand out and put it on the glass and he started trying to eat the glass. And then I had a green stick next to me so I put it next to him and he opened his mouth up again. After that he started shaking his head "no" and then just turned around and walked away. I understand the opening his mouth is a threat display but what does it mean when he shakes his head like that?
ANOTHER THING! He's scared of all bugs. Anything live and moving he flinches and tries to get away and hide.
I've tried crickets, mealies, waxys, and supers and he wont take anything.
Does anyone know why he's so scared of bugs?!
I'm really curious as to what made him do this! I'm so intrigued! Not to mention his attempts at scaring me are the cutest things ever!!
He hasn't eaten in 3 days so could it be because he thought I was feeding him?
If you have any BTS behaivor info, I'd love to hear it!
Thanks so much!

I don't know enough about blueys to give an accurate answer, but I would think that if you've ever hand fed him anything, and he's hungry now, he might have opened his mouth thinking you had food??

With my baby skink, I do hand feed him often. When he's hungry and hasn't eaten yet, he'll be super alert to my hand movements. If I move my hand towards him, he'll follow with his head pretty quickly, almost as if he was going to reach up and grab a nibble (even though I'm not holding anything).

I've never hand fed him. He just did it again and he ate yesterday. This time he hissed really loud but wasn't sticking his tongue out. Only opening his mouth.

joan wrote:I don't know enough about blueys to give an accurate answer, but I would think that if you've ever hand fed him anything, and he's hungry now, he might have opened his mouth thinking you had food??

With my baby skink, I do hand feed him often. When he's hungry and hasn't eaten yet, he'll be super alert to my hand movements. If I move my hand towards him, he'll follow with his head pretty quickly, almost as if he was going to reach up and grab a nibble (even though I'm not holding anything).

I replied in the comment above. I've never used this site so I'm not sure if you got it

If he's afraid of anything live, plus is missing most of his toes, it could just be a general anxiety to other live things. He might have been kept with other Blueys at some point, and got nipped a lot. So he may have made the association that anything his size or smaller that's alive and moves, might hurt him.

Obviously, this is just an assumption, and it's hard to say for certain without knowing all the details of how he was raised and kept before you got him. But it shouldn't be a problem, since you don't have to give him live feeders.

The mouth opening seems like he might've wanted food, or was just being huffy, as some Blueys can be. I'm no expert, either, but his behavior doesn't sound too horribly strange compared to other things I've read.

Carnivale wrote:If he's afraid of anything live, plus is missing most of his toes, it could just be a general anxiety to other live things. He might have been kept with other Blueys at some point, and got nipped a lot. So he may have made the association that anything his size or smaller that's alive and moves, might hurt him.

Obviously, this is just an assumption, and it's hard to say for certain without knowing all the details of how he was raised and kept before you got him. But it shouldn't be a problem, since you don't have to give him live feeders.

The mouth opening seems like he might've wanted food, or was just being huffy, as some Blueys can be. I'm no expert, either, but his behavior doesn't sound too horribly strange compared to other things I've read.

That makes a lot of sense! He did seem very anxious when I put him in a tub of crickets. Now whenever he's in that tub he paces around(not normal behavior for him) and jumps when I touch him. He just bit my phone while I was taking pictures hahahaha . But after he let go he shook his head and walked away lol. But thank goodness Blueys don't need live!! Thanks for the help!