Mystery illness killed my skink

[sapphire]

Today I lost my skink to this "mystery illness ". She was a 2 year old Indonesian Halmahera. She had been fighting this infection since early October. I had 3 vets taking care of her and they tried 5 antibiotics to kill the infection but none of them worked. I modified her enclosure by raising humidity and heat. Gave her warm baths to hydrate and help with shedding problems. Gave her multivitamins and minimal handling but she just couldn't fight any longer. She was euthanized this morning. There is definitely something about this species that doesn't do well in a low humidity environment. Symptoms she was showing were mucus from eyes and nose. It would block her eyes and nostrils . She would need warm steamy baths and a soft cloth to remove crust. She stopped eating so she lost weight. I force fed her a couple of times with omnivore meal replacement I think it stressed her out even more. Her feet swelled and she couldn't walk well. When tried to remove soften skin off her toes many layers came off and the tine bone was exposed. This morning while in her bath a tiny piece of skin was coming off her toe. When I touched it, her toe came off. It was horrifying. She was barely alert this morning and didn't move when I picked her up so I headed to the vet. We then decided there wasn't anything else that we could do for her. I miss her terribly and so do my kids. I hope this info helps anyone who has a sick skink. If I find out anymore info about my skink I will post it here.

Thank you

[alichamp]

I am so sorry for you to go through this and my heart goes out to you and your kids for your loss. Thank you for posting your story so that others can read this along with other advice on this forum to understand how necessary it is to understand the needs of particular skink species and in the hope that it won't happen to others.

All the best.

[Susann]

Sapphire, did you know it was M.I. all along? Or did you recently learn about it? Did you ever try the shot combo? Do you mean she got ill a month ago, or a year ago last month?
Most of what you are describing do indeed sound like M.I. but some things do not sound so much like M.I. as it does a bacterial infection --which can certainly develop after an animal has been fighting this condition.

I am so sorry for your loss.

[skinks101]

sorry for your loss