Questions on: Summer heat, eating and behavior.

[LennyB]

Suddenly I have a bunch of questions but I'm sure you all can help.

This will be my first summer owning a reptile! Lenny's take is usually around 90-95 degrees (warm side) and at night goes down to around 70. My room is upstairs and in the summer it gets really warm...at least until my parents turn the air conditioning on anyways it's been pretty warm the past couple of days and I noticed the tank temperature has been at 100. I checked at night after his light was off for awhile and only went down to 90. I don't want him to be uncomfortable at night with it the temp not cooling down enough or during the day with the temp being too hot!
SO my question being how do you guys handle summer temperatures?

Lenny turned 1 in March, and I've started feeding him every third day. I got Lenny when he was 9 months old, and when I would feed him he would eat everything. Lately he barley eats at all. I'm just worried that he's not eating much. Especially since he's only eating every third day. Initially when I put his food dish in his tank he goes right to it but only eats a few bites and walks away.
Is this normal?

My last question (sorry for so many!)
I notice that Lenny get's "bursts of energy" after I put him back in his tank after I've had him out or I'll come home to a destroyed tank. Do younger skinks have more energy? This burst of energy consists of him making circle after circle around his tank, climbing over his hunt, through his water and repeat. He also tries to climb the glass or the vine I have hanging on suction cups, which usually results in him pulling the vine and suction cups off the glass. The other day he again was trying to scale the glass and he kind of plopped over sideways and bumped his head on the tank! He's fine but of course I was concerned but I am a big worry wart when it comes to anything happening to my animals. I just get concerned that he's going to hurt himself. I wonder if he does that because he wants to come out to explore my room? Or again is this normal?

Thank you to everyone who can answer my questions, I apologize for the long post and multiple questions but I appreciate the time and help you all have been in the past and now!

[Susann]

Are you talking about the whole tank being around 90 degrees? You mention warm side, what's the cool side at?
The warm side rising up to 100 degrees is no big deal IF he has a cooler area to retreat to. I know it can be hard in the summer to offer a cool side lower than low 80's, but you really need to try somehow to achieve it.
If your room stays hot enough in the summer that the cool side rises much above mid 80's during the day, then you have to either turn the lights in the tank off during the day and light his tank through some outside means, or try to find the coolest spot in your room if turning lights off is not enough. If this is still not enough, you may have to find other options of where/how to keep him during the hotter summer months.

If he seems uninterested in food then the easiest thing to try is to add a few days between feedings; go from every third day to every fifth day. It can be, and likely is, totally normal. I think you're just feeding him too often for his activity level. Let him get a bit more hungry.

Don't ever apologize for asking lots of questions; we love owners who care and are concerned!

Younger skinks absolutely have more energy. And adult males seem to be more active than females (at least this holds true with my Meraukes), and especially in spring time. Lenny having turned 1 may be having some hormonal surges and may be looking for a woman.
He may also be too warm if he's no longer able to find a good place to cool down enough. We all know a warm skink is more active than a cool one.
Even though it's normal in and of itself, skink that is constantly cruising, scaling the walls, and/or scratching the glass is usually a skink trying to tell you something, usually they are looking for something that they need in the tank. Most common reasons are: male looking for girl, or a skink not able to find a place in the tank that is comfortable temperature-wise or safety-wise. If he has no place in the right temperature zone where he can feel safe, covered, comfortable enough, he'll keep trying to get out to find something better.

If you have an all glass tank, the easiest place to start is by covering as many sides as you can; see if that calms him down. If you already have and it's not enough then you need to start looking at providing better places in the tank with right temps for him to be at least somewhat covered.
If you have a good temp gradient then start adding hides (can be boxes, tubs, tubes, homemade stuff), add grenery he can hide under (if he keeps pulling the vines down, maybe leave them down, or add some to just lay on the ground for him to crawl under), maybe change to a different substrate, or make existing stuff deeper, where he can more easily burrow down. Making the substrate on cool side slightly damp will also help cool the substrate down for a cooler spot to dig under.

I hope this has given you some ideas of where to make possible changes. Please keep us updated on how things go, and always ask questions.

[LennyB]

The cooler side is around 75, I also have a shoe box on the cool side that he can go in and he usually goes in there at night to sleep. The vine that I have hanging is also on the cool side, I will try and leave the vine down like you suggested. Are there any real plants that are safe to put in the tank? The vine I have is fake but the leaves are really soft and I like that a lot better than the plastic plants.

You mentioned adding more substrate for him to burrow under; however, he actually moved the majority of the bedding out of the shoebox. He always rearranges after I clean his tank...after all my hard work haha. I use the eco earth bedding which is what they used at the place I got him, so I figured since he's used to it I would stick with it.
Sometimes when I take Lenny out he feels warm, and other times he's cold. Is that a sign of anything?
I feel much better now though knowing 100 degrees is nothing to worry about. He actually spends most of his time on his rock which is right under the heat lamp, until of course he gets his bursts of energy. So I'm thinking it's a mix of energy and maybe searching for a girlfriend

His tank is all glass, and I don't have anything covering the sides. If I were to cover some of the tank would you suggest buying a habitat background that they sell at pet stores?

I will try waiting a day or two longer before I feed him to see if that'll start to help. I was worried that I was starving him making him wait every third day haha

Thanks for your help, I will keep you updated and also I promise to not feel bad asking questions!