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Eating slowly/not normally

Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2015 8:19 am
by bluetonguegirl09
Hello all!
I am new to this forum. Decided to create an account a while ago in case it would come in handy, and I'm glad I did!
I have a 3 year old Irian Jaya blue tongue skink. CB, pretty, and well fed! Lol. The last two feelings I've noticed he's been eating abnormally. Very slowly and carefully. He'll ever so slowly open his mouth and get a big chunk of food in, then just sit there for a while before very very slowly swallowing. This is very different from his normal eating habits, as he usually inhales his food! I haven't looked closely, but just from watching him eat there doesn't seem to be any irritation. Maybe a little redness, but not much. And he eventually does eat all/most of his food. I'm just worried something may be wrong with his teeth or mouth.
Thanks for reading!

Re: Eating slowly/not normally

Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2015 9:01 am
by Alexis_M
It's possible that he's slowing down, due to brumation. It's just an idea, as I don't know much about Brumation. (:

Re: Eating slowly/not normally

Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2015 9:18 am
by Dakota
Hi! Welcome to the forum!

It does sound like either brumation or a male going off food for his change in mindset. :hehe: It is very normal for skinks at this time of year. As long as you are not neglecting temperatures to cause lethargy, I would not be worried. It is a very natural process during this time of year.

Re: Eating slowly/not normally

Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2015 1:46 pm
by bluetonguegirl09
Ok, thank you all so much! It got me very worried, lol! Temperatures have been maintained, so must be brumatjon.

Re: Eating slowly/not normally

Posted: Mon Nov 16, 2015 10:49 am
by Susann
Any chance you could take a look in his mouth? It could easily be just normal slow-down, but the first thing that came to my mind is some kind of soreness in his mouth. As long as he still eats I wouldn't worry too much about it, but maybe see if someone can give you a hand with taking a peek inside his mouth.

Re: Eating slowly/not normally

Posted: Mon Nov 16, 2015 12:32 pm
by aaronhouts
^^^ This was my thought as well.
When we first got one of ours (a T. gigas), we noticed his mouth looked like it had sores in it and was red. He would eat with his mouth at weird angles.
He also seemed to be suffering from lack of humidity (shed problems etc.). I suspect this was from being kept too dry at the store we got him from.
We dewormed him which included an antibiotic and corrected his humidity and the redness we saw in his mouth improved as well as his eating behaviors.
I agree with Sue: get a peek inside his mouth if you can.

Re: Eating slowly/not normally

Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2015 8:48 am
by Edward
:btsnet: