baby skink bump/ bend?

[MidoriTheAwesome]

I recently got my first blue tongue, and I've been really excited. I've had him for about a month, and I figured it was an okay time to start letting my friends see him. Unfortunately, I wasn't thinking quite straight and let my friend hold him over a tile floor...and she dropped him. Not very smart on my part. He seems completely fine besides this bump, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't there before the incident. Any suggestions to help him out would be great, including suggestions about using forums because I'm a total noob when it comes to them.
Thanks!

[Dakota]

It appears to me that he may climb the walls to his tank often. When they are constantly climbing, it malforms their spine to look "humped". I had a baby with this issue, and it was from me not feeding him as often as he'd like. I recently moved him to feeding every third day, so he took it upon himself to go look for some food on the third day or so. I finally caught on, and went back to regular feeding, and he has stopped doing it completely. My adults do it sometimes when they are bored with their enclosure. I rearrange everything, and they stop doing it.

Pretty Indonesian.

[Susann]

Hmmm... generally the "hump" from climbing is not in the middle of the back... If there's anything in the middle of the back, it tends to more often be a "dip".
And it's also a very small skink for being over a month old...

How is he acting otherwise?

[Dakota]

I have only had one skink to get it, but it was definitely in the middle of the back. It humped up in the middle, then dipped down towards the backend, just like this picture shows. It only showed just after he has been climbing, though. Once I fixed what was causing him to do it, he stopped, and you can't see it anymore — or else I'd get a picture.

[Susann]

That may be, but I worry that in this case, it possibly is not from climbing...

[MidoriTheAwesome]

Okay then some of you mentioned he was small for his age do you think he is not eating enough? I don't see him out from his hides so I don't know if he is climbing. I can try to get him to eat more, but the only time he ate in front of me was when I first got him. He definately eats though, but I don't think he eats all that much and he mostly picks out the mealworms from the rest of the food.
I thought hiding was normal for a baby is it not?
Thanks so much guys, I'm sure you can tell I'm pretty inexperienced when it comes to skinks.

[Dakota]

Yes, hiding is normal. Especially for new animals.

What exactly does his diet consist of?

[MidoriTheAwesome]

I use a Sun dried omnivore mix (has mealworms, silkworm pupae, bok choy, peas, etc.) Mixed with different things I've tried feeding him like fresh greens (never get touched) and meat like chicken. I suppose that could be a pretty unbalanced diet if he is just eating the mealworms... Do I need to mix it together better?
I've also tried feeding him small dubias but he didn't really react to them.

[Dakota]

Chicken has a poor calcium to phosphorus ratio, and is known to cause MBD in skinks. I've never heard of sun-dried omnivore mix, but I would consider feeding wet dog food. It is already well-balanced, and they usually like it quite well.

[MidoriTheAwesome]

Okay I will definately try that then. Are there any tips about making sure he eats since he won't come out from under his hide while I'm there? I'm a little worried about the fact he wasn't even interested in dubias, but maybe he felt too exposed (I left him in a tub with some when I tried)

[Susann]

Try taking him out from his hide and setting him down so his mouth touches the wet dog food; try holding him there until he licks it --or flicks his tongue at it, then see if he'll start eating when you take your hand off of him. If he's just dashing off when you've tried it a few times, then just leave him be with the food in the tank (I generally like to put it in front of whatever hide they prefer).

[Susann]

...but I'd like to know if his movement seems different in any way since you noticed the hump after the fall.

[MidoriTheAwesome]

Sorry! Actually all of his movement seems completely normal. Immediately after the fall, he was dazed, but he recovered pretty quick. he still wiggled around like there's no tomorrow.

[MidoriTheAwesome]

Okay so I got him to eat wet dog food so I'm feeling pretty hopeful. I will keep you guys updated, if you want. I'm just super happy that he decided there was something he would eat. He even ate it with calcium powder. I am still going to try to give him more variety than dog food, but I am happy that I may have found some sort of staple to make sure he is getting proper nutrients.

[Susann]

For now, I wouldn't even worry about adding variety --I would concentrate on getting him a bit bigger before worrying about adding anything to the dog food. Dog food is balanced for an omnivore diet, which is perfect for our skinks. Your little guy looks so tiny; if he's eating it, I'd just stick with it as is until you can get him to grow and put some weight on.
Just my opinion.

[MidoriTheAwesome]

I agree, and I'm really glad I posted on here because I had no idea he was so tiny. I will keep feeding him the dog food.

[MidoriTheAwesome]

I'm thinking he looks better already

[Dakota]

That's great! Being so young, he should grow out of the hump. Glad he is looking better.

[Richard.C]

Good chance that is from the dreaded climbing at cage walls

Often the dip is down the back part of there body and it can make the mid section look humped

Its not so much from climbing at the sides,its more when some do they have a very bad habit of leaning right back on them selves that if they do that a bit they tend to develop the kink

When leaner it stands out ten times more,when they put weight on it often becomes alot less to not noticable,but often they keep bending in that same spot when they climb for rest of there lives

Juvies are most at risk of getting it because there bones havnt fully harded from birth

[Y33T]

My 2 month old has this. Its easily noticeable when he's basking or laying flat anywhere else. Definitely caused by constantly climbing around in the cage. My older BTS once did the exact same thing when she was small and she never had a bend in her back, well I haven't noticed it but she didn't have it now. I think that's what babies always do. They're a lot more active than adults.