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New bluey doesn't seem to be pooping?

Posted: Tue May 12, 2015 10:28 am
by lupegirl8
So this may be a stupid newbie question as I just got my skink a few weeks ago. He is a 2 year old Northern that the seller told me was male (not sure if he just guessed this or had any solid evidence to prove he was male). I'm a tad worried because he doesn't seem to poop very often. I've never found his poop in the cage, though I have seen him poop a few times when he was out of the cage.

However for the last two weeks I've found no poop and he didn't poop the one time I took him out. This makes me worry that he is somehow impacted or maybe eating or burying his poop? How often do blue tongues usually poop? The only other herps I keep are aquatic turtles and you don't really get a feel for how often they poop because it all dissolves into the water.

He gets about two tablespoons of food twice a week (with a few snacks in between) and he is on some kind of mulch-type bedding (it came with him in an unmarked bag so I'm not sure the exact brand). He seems to be behaving normally, though I don't know what is normal for a blue tongue skink. Throughout the day he alternates between his hide on the cool end and his basking spot (about 100 degrees) with some breaks in between to drink water and explore. He takes frequent naps in his basking area/warm side (or maybe he is just closing his eyes because the bright light bothers him).

Thanks in advance for your help! And sorry if this is a silly question.

Re: New bluey doesn't seem to be pooping?

Posted: Tue May 12, 2015 8:49 pm
by Susann
If he has already pooped a few times out of the tank in a couple weeks then he's perfectly normal!
How often they poop can be very individual to each skink and be influenced by how often they bask and how active they are.
Many skinks do bury their poop, and because it's so warm in the tank, even if it doesn't start out buried, it quickly dries and ends up working it's way down from the surface, and if your substrate is dark it quickly gets camouflaged.

And there are no stupid questions here! If you're concerned, we want to hear about it. :wink: