Babies not eating

[3yazy3]

Hi all
Im new to the forum and so this is my first post. At the moment i have 3 bts, 1 juvenile Irian Jaya and 2 baby Indonesians. I haven't had them for long, in fact i have only had the babies since saturday and sunday (I bought them a day apart) and the the other bluey i have had since June.
I have a question to do with my two babies about food. They haven't eaten anything. The babies are siblings and were only kept in the pet shop for a day and a half before we bought them and had only had one feed of locusts so i don't know how they were feeding. It has now been 3 days since i got baby number1 and two days since i got baby number2. We have put locusts and crickets in the viv and we have also put minced lean turkey and spring greens mixed up on a shallow lid of a box that live food comes in, into the cage to see if they would eat any of it. But they won't eat it and it is starting to worry us if they will eat. One of them has pooed what appears to be stomach bile a couple times now, and the other one I don't think has pooed at all. Because of this, I'm guessing that there is no food in they're stomachs. If this is the case then I would really like to know how to get them to start eating. If any one could give any tips that would be really helpful.

[mdeford09]

With all reptiles it can take several days to become comfortable enough to start eating.


I recommend you try some superworms. My BTS won't touch crickets or locusts. I think it is the speed that makes them not think they are worth it... But the slow crawling Superworms make an easier target. Of course, Superworms have a pretty high fat content so I don't know if I would want them to be the staple.

But, the Turkey surprises me. All BTS I have seen LOVE turkey. Mine will literally try and jump for it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gi_hPcL ... e=youtu.be


let me ask you a few questions... What are their temps (hot side and cool side)? Are they housed together or separately? What size cage are they in? How many times have you held them since you got them?

[3yazy3]

Thankyou for your reply,
I have thought about giving them super worms but I was aprihensive because I have been told and I have read that super worms can become addictive like you said. The babies are being kept together, they are very small and are about 4-5 months old. The cage size is 4'x2'x2' we were hoping that they could grow into it. I have held one of the babies once, but I was moving it next to the food to see if it would eat, and the the other one I have not held apart from when was putting them both into the cage, although yesterday I lifted up a hide to see if it was under it and it was, so then I it moved into the bigger hide with the other bts on its own. The hot side of the cage/basking spot is about 35 degrees celsius and the cool end is around 27 degrees celcius the ambient temp is around 31 degrees.

[mdeford09]

thanks for answering.... I'd still give the superworms a try.


Where do they tend to congregate in the cage?... Often by just looking at where they sit can help determine what they are feeling... If they stay away from basking and hide in the cool side, it means they want it a bit cooler. If they stay under the basking all day, it means they want it a bit warmer.

But, your temps sound a smidge on the high side. Not too bad and honestly better than mine. But, babies can't regulate their own temps as well as adults and mine spend so much time roaming around the house, our house is pretty much their cool side, lol


The cage is is ok for them now but when they get older, that is going to be a tight squeeze for two and may end up causing some fighting between them. Just keep and eye on how they are doing with each other and if you see them becoming territorial or showing aggression, separate them. They are not very social animals and typically do better alone when not breeding. Though, if you HAVE to keep them together, as long as they are not both male, it shouldn't be a big issue unless they start fighting.

[3yazy3]

Some sad news one of the skinks has just died

[mdeford09]

I would most certainly take it back to the store.. It sounds as if they have some issues.


Skinks are hardy. It takes a lot for them to just die.

[3yazy3]

Yes we will take it back it died quite suddenly but we still have the other skink which will hopefully thrive.

[mdeford09]

Honestly, I would do one of the two things.


Return both... Chances are these guys are sick. or Return the dead one, get refunded, and get the second one to the vet ASAP.


personally, since they are still so new to you, I would return both and then order from a reputable dealer online. You will get a healthy established animal. But, MAKE CERTAIN that you wash everything with bleach and water and then rinse it and let it dry for at least 7 days before ordering the new baby.

[3yazy3]

The shop doesn't like to refund. They told us that it may have died because of the temperature being too high. But the older bluey is doing very well in the same conditions so I think that they are just trying to fob us off.

[mdeford09]

They are MOST certainly trying to just fob you off.

Skinks are super hardy and will deal with a lot. They may not like it and it may not be their "happiest" settings but, they can live in 85-90F temps all day long as long as the nights get into the 70s. They most certainly just sold you a couple of sick reptiles and don't want to take the fault.


Post pics of the remaining one?

[Susann]

Get the other one to the vet ASAP.
I would forego any more bugs or raw meat (don't know if you cooked it?) and go get a can of good quality wet dog or cat food and stick with that until you see him eating and pooping consistently.

So sorry you lost the little one. They are likely either recent imports or born to a recently imported female; they could have any number of parasites and infections on board.

[Richard.C]

another thing to keep in mind,not including the fact there likely recent imports is if conditions ect arent right ,juvies can go down hill fast

i strongly suggest you check your temps,eg basking spot right down to cool end of cage,what feels hot to you can easily be to cool for them,and you can also easily go the other extreme and have it to hot

id be trying wetdog food personally, and equally important,especiallu for young is making sure they drink to,if dehydrated to they are also likely not to be to interested in food

can u pop some pics up of uour enclosure and give us a more detailed overview of set up and also perhaps some pics of the skinks in question


one pet hate i have is folk are quick to want to bring animals back to the shop and put blame there,yes i know some shops do sell mediocre animals,but once you buy them,they really are your responsibility,whats the benefit in putting them back into shops hands for them to flog off to the next person,with some tlc and a little understanding it can be quite rewarding to get them back into shape



one of the posatives of buying from a reputable breeder is avoiding all this in the first place,but again,if your conditions are off even cbb babies can and will go downhill rapidly

[Scotts1au]

Possibility that they were fed and not given adequate heat somewhere in their handling. They can die within 48 hours if not able to digest food, particularly babies.

[3yazy3]

The remaining baby has just done a solid poo so this is hopefully a good sign. It has its head over the food bowl now but we haven't seen it eat anything yet, but it looks like there is less food in the bowl so I'm hoping it has eaten something. I am hoping that the second baby will make it through, and we will try the dog food. Through the day I will try and get it to drink. We have cooked the turkey. Thanks for all the replies I want to make sure that baby is healthy even if we do end up taking it back to the shop, but I don't really want to take it to the shop because they won't be keeping such a close eye on it. Also it would be nice to see it grow into an adult and have it for the rest of its life.

[mdeford09]

one pet hate i have is folk are quick to want to bring animals back to the shop and put blame there,yes i know some shops do sell mediocre animals,but once you buy them,they really are your responsibility,whats the benefit in putting them back into shops hands for them to flog off to the next person,with some tlc and a little understanding it can be quite rewarding to get them back into shape

I most certainly agree getting them back into shape is VERY rewarding and I have done so with many different types of amphibians and I would do it in a heartbeat. BUT I disagree with just anyone should be forced to take on that responsibility. especially not a new owner of reptiles. I have never seen a BTS die within 48 hours. I have seen them show symptoms of issues within 48hrs but never completely die. Which means that the issues started before they got in his care.

It is a petshops responsibility to offer healthy, able to survive, animals to their customers. Maybe I sound cold but, if the animal is already too sick to survive on its own, it should NOT be sold to customer and it is the petshops responsibility to provide you with at least that.... Now, I will most certainly say it is also the customers job to pick healthy animals to bring home. But, there is just no way for a new BTS owner to know every single sign of an unhealthy animal.

Now, I agree it sounds like I am just letting the animal suffer a terrible fate and a terrible life until death by not wanting to keep it and try and nurse it (I personally would. But, I would never instruct a new owner to do so). But, when you return it, it puts the unhealthy sick animal as the shop's problem. Meaning, they don't make money off of it. They don't get to order more sick babies in because the last 2 were kept too bad off and they died.... By you keeping the animal, you're just supporting the bad practices of the shop. Do you really think because you called them and told them it died that they are going to order from somewhere else or start caring about them more and provide better settings? No. They got a sale, which is all that matters to 99% of all stores.... Yes, taking them back put 2 defenseless animals in harms way. But it also saved countless others from being put in harms way.

Not trying to start an argument. I am just trying to shed some let on the other side and why you should never keep an extremely sick animal that came to you that way just a few days prior, unless you know exactly what you're doing.

[mdeford09]

dang, I just realized that I never explained why I jumped so quickly on ragging on the shop.

Any good petshop will refund your money after only 2 days. Any GREAT petshop would refund your money AND ask to see your cage setup with as many details as possible to help you in every way possible. A bad petshop will jump right to blaming your care and then avoid a refund at all costs.

I have owned dozens of reptiles and hundreds of amphibians and currently own 5. 1 BTS, 2 beardies, 1 sunburst pacman, and 1 green pacman.... During my 30+ years of herp keeping I've seen my share of pet stores come and go and been forced to catch on to several bad practices of pet stores over the years and from what he said, them blaming his care and not doing a refund, is exactly what I would expect from a bad one.

[3yazy3]

I do agree with what you are saying and I will take the alive baby back to the shop, however if there is a chance that the baby isn't as sick as the other one was, then I would like to try and get it as healthy as possible whilst it is in my care. I realise that I am not very experienced with blueys but I would like to at least try and give this one a chance of life. This one isn't showing symptoms like the other one was e.g how the poo looked so I have a bit of hope that this healthier.

When I was buying the one that died the only difference between it and the other two was that it was more docile. Also it looked slightly flatter I didn't know that this was a sign that something might be wrong with it so we bought it. The one that is alive doesn't look flat what so ever it looks like a small different colour version of our older skink.

[3yazy3]

Yes that is very true e.g when we bought the older blue tongue, the bulb that we got was broken, so we phoned up the pet shop and the manager came to our house with 2 spare free bulbs and a free can of snails. Very good service.

[3yazy3]

They even gave us a different type of bulb for another lizard that we had which hadn't even been bought from them. I think it was just a bit of shop rivalry though because the shop that we bought the other lizard from had a falling out with the manager that came to our house. It was still nice that he did that though.

[mdeford09]

Awe, I hope I didn't offend you with the things I said.... I was just explaining why some people would rather blame the store verses taking on a crazy amount of responsibilities and costs because a store sold them a "lemon".


But, if what you say is true about the second baby, I would recommend keeping it.... But, I would clean the cage VERY thoroughly.


can you post pics of the cage and the baby??