Can't get my skink to eat new foods

[Sagebeasley]

I just got my skink about a month ago from people on craigslist and they had only been feeding him baby food. He's a year and a half old and I don't think baby food is nutritionally complete but I have been having trouble getting him to eat anything else. Any suggestions?? I've only gotten him to eat wet cat food but when I mixed it with fruit to trick him into eating some fruits too he wouldn't touch it.

[MattFab]

For now you can look at blending up fruit or mainly veg to mix in with wet dog or cat food?

[Scotts1au]

Foods that normally induce a feeding response that may help you:
- raw fresh mushrooms
-raw meat (human grade steak, or lamb) is good to start with.
-snails (even some snail juices dripped over food or snails incorporated into the meal).

Particularly with males coming out of brumation - some of these help to get eating started.
Note they must be well incorporated into food, or just mix in some blood from a steak tray. mmm yum :-)

[Susann]

There are some good suggestions here viewtopic.php?f=24&t=20387 on how to help a picky skink who won't eat.
To begin with I wouldn't even worry about mixing veggies and greens into the dog food, I would first worry about getting him switched off of the baby food and consistently taking wet dog food instead; down the road when you have him eating consistently, start mixing a little bit of very finely chopped veggies and greens into it, then slowly increasing the amount over time. Fruit is not something in my opinion that you need to mix into every meal; I generally offer them as treats or something I sprinkle on top of occasional meals or something I put next to meals, to give them the option to eat it or not; some of mine are much more excited about fruit than others.

If he "turns his nose up" and won't eat, wait a week before you offer a helping of dog food again, and offer him no treats in between. He is adult and will not be harmed in any way from getting good and hungry.

[Sagebeasley]

Thank you guys!

[aron77]

Have you tried putting meal worms in what you are trying to get him to eat? Or even letting him chase a cricket around might put him in feed mode and get him to give it shot. When my baby wouldn't eat at all I let him chase down a few crickets and after that I stuck a food dish I front of him and he at least tried what I was offering, he didn't eat much but he at least did more than ignore the dish altogether like before. That is one thing I love and hate about Bt's. I love that they will eat an easy diet but I do miss watching an animals predatory response kick in, these guys as far as I've seen are pretty bad hunters lol.

Are you using UVB lighting? He is eating so I don't know if it would make much difference for yours but it is known to help stimulate eating.