Brumation and poop?

[trex]

My 1.5 year old male skink hasn't eaten in ~4 weeks (start of december). I've stopped offering him food since the second week. I know that this period is called brumation and happens to a lot of skinks, but this is my first esperience with it. A year ago, when my skink was still a baby, it would eat, even through winter.

In addition to him not eating now, he hasn't passed a stool since the beginning of december. No urination either. I know that since nothing is going in, nothing is likely to come out, but i just wanted to check if anyone else has this happen.

I can't be the only one? I know this is likely normal, but still am worried.

[Susann]

What kind of skink is it? Did you lower the heat after you stopped offering food? Just the fact that it seems to not be eating is not always equal to brumation; when they brumate they are seldom if ever moving about, stop eating, stop basking, and are staying away from heat. I'm not speaking from experience here as I don't have skinks that brumate.

No, if it's not eating then it wouldn't be pooping either so that part has got to be normal.

There's a great thread in the FAQ section on brumation:
viewtopic.php?f=24&t=20337

[trex]

He's a merauke.

Ya that's the weird thing. I haven't lowered the heat since the ambient temps went down. Everything else is normal except the eating/pooping. The only difference is that he is a little bit more sluggish than normal. He doesn't bask on the logs anymore. He does stay in the heated/lighted end of the cage for most of the day.

When i used to offer food, he would lick it, then turn away and go somewhere else.

He has not seemed to have lost any weight as he is still normal fat like other skinks.

[Susann]

If he's a Merauke then this is totally normal behavior. Meraukes don't really "shut down" the way the Aus species do, they tend to just slow down. My females generally keep eating, the males are usually more hit and miss except for Milo who doesn't eat hardly at all from about Oct to about Mar, and my ambient temps don't change a whole lot.
I doubt you'll see him go into full brumation; what he's doing will likely be it for another month or two.

[trex]

Ok thanks. From what I am gathering, as long as he isn't losing drastic amounts of weight, everything should be fine, correct?