New Baby and Concern

[SmaugTheBluey]

Hello there, recently I got another little guy from Tula_girl. She eats very well, and passes it very well. She's also completely mobile but there appears to be a slight concave in her back. I've been letting her settle in and I recently noticed it.

[Dakota]

There are two main factors for this.

One, and typically most common, is what is called a "saddleback". This is when the skink spends much of its time trying to escape the cage, climbing the walls, etc. I'm my experience, my skinks only did this when the cage was bare and boring or the setup was not changed for a while. When you mix things around, they will go explore the new surroundings. I do not have experience with "saddlebacking", though.

Two, is metabolic bone disease from a poor diet. Usual culprits are chicken breast based diets. Make sure you are feeding a complete diet. Dog food is an easy route to go.

It looks more like a saddleback problem to me, but a vet should be able to tell from the bone density.

[SmaugTheBluey]

Ok great I was worried about possible broken bones and other things so that's a relief. She's had a proper diet since birth so mbd can probably be ruled out. Thanks for the reply.

[Scincoides]

Definitely looks like a climbing dip. Very common in Northerns, in my experience it seems to be especially common in males. It's the result of an animal climbing the corners, or sides of the tubs in an attempt to escape. It rarely has anything to do with how boring the animals enclosure is, anyone that's ever bred Northerns can tell you that males, especially in breeding season, just want to roam. Instinct tells them to wander in search of a mate. This wandering instinct kicks in long before the onset of sexual maturity. Its usually easily stopped by housing the skink in a much shorter enclosure such as a tub, that doesn't allow the skink to climb the sides. If caught early, loading them up with calcium and making sure to feed a proper diet will prevent it from getting worse, it even starts to look a little better as the animal grows.

[SmaugTheBluey]

I'm glad that's what it probably is. I was worried that something could've gone wrong while shipping and she was dropped or something. Thanks for the reply and taking weight off my shoulders.