3 year old Merauke not eating much

[trex]

I have a male, as stated in the title, that is 3 years old and not eating much anymore.

He used to stop eating entirely when the colder months hit and would not restart until it warmed up. November to May here in Texas. Occaisionally he would drink. Once the warm weather hits again, he would pass his first stool of the new year and resume a daily eating schedule.

This year is different. He waited until about June to pass his first stool. Ate on and off (2-3 times a week) and would pass a stool after each meal. It is now August, and he has only eaten once, maybe twice all of July. He has passed stools maybe once or twice, but since his last meal, he has not passed any. He does not seem to be losing any weight as he looks as thick around as ever before. He drinks water on occaision

Activity is normal (not high, not low), and he will accept water when given. I haven't changed any of his temperature settingseither. He does not stay on one side of the cage only. When the basking lamp is on, he lays under it. During night time, he can be anywhere.

I offer food every third day and put morsels in front of his face. He licks it, acts disinterested and walks away.

I know reptile slow down their eating when reaching adulthood, but this is starting to worry me, as my last ectothermic pets never refused food like this. Any thoughts?

[alichamp]

If you think he is otherwise healthy and his temps are fine I think most likely you are feeding too often. An adult only needs to eat once a week and if he is having a lick and then not eating he is likely just gotten fussy and not hungry. What do you mean when water is given? How often is this and is there a reason you don't give him constant access to water?

A current photo would help though.

What are you feeding?

[trex]

I try to give him constant access to water, but he ends up flipping the water dish more often than he actually drinks from it. I do make a habit of continually refilling it. He just doesn't always drink.

Here is a picture of him, as of yesterday. As you can tell, he is not skinny at all and does not seem malnourished. He just doesn't have an appetite for anything I try to give him.


His main diet is wet dog food, which in the past he will greedily chow down on. I have tried giving pieces of strawberry, but again, he will lick and turn away.

[alichamp]

He is definitely overweight and overfed. That's why he "has no appetite". Overfed skinks can be more fussy, because they are not hungry they can hold out for something better (ie treats).

Offer food only every 7 days, of your wet dog food (use red meats as a staple) with a little finely chopped green or veggies mixed in. If he doesn't eat what you offer, take it out at the end of the day and offer a fresh batch of the same food (dog food with a little veggie mixed in) again 7 days later. Keep offering these same staples the same time apart, a lot of people would start to offer different types of foods that they know he likes if he doesn't eat what's offered. I strongly advise you don't do this. He doesn't need the amount of food you have been offering and you want him to eat his staples rather than being fussy and choosy.

Read through carefully the following threads.
Diet Chart
Feeding your BTS

Replace his water bowl with something more heavy set so he can't flip it over. I keep my water bowl on a ceramic tile so that it is not sitting directly on the substrate, I used to have problems with wet substrate, substrate in the bowl, and mould under the water bowl before I added the tile (on feed days the food bowl goes on the tile too). The water bowl stays in there constantly and we refresh the water so he has constant acces to water. You having a water bowl in there constantly will also help add some humidity to your enclosure for your merauke.

[trex]

Overweight/overfed? Man, i never would've guessed. I always thought he looked normal. But that probably comes from my conditioned eye.

I guess it makes sense considering I have been giving him the same regimen from infancy to adulthood for two years. He hasn't eaten since early July, do you think I should hold off on offering food for a week?

I never leave food in his enclosure. I schedule hand feedings every time by spoon feeding him at night.

[alichamp]

Yeah, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that you need to do anything in particular to get him to lose weight at this stage, just that they don't need nearly that much food and would be good to get him on a more healthy and appropriate eating for him.

He hasn't eaten since early July, do you think I should hold off on offering food for a week?

When did you last offer food? Where are you and what season are you in? What are your temps in the enclosure? What is your heat/light cycles? (ie when do your heat/lights go on and off?)

I never leave food in his enclosure. I schedule hand feedings every time by spoon feeding him at night.

This seems like a lot of work on your part. Why do you spoon feed?

Switching to morning feeds might be better so he has time for basking to correct body temperature during the day. On feed days, we put the food in the enclosure in the morning before school/work and remove the bowl in the afternoon/evening when we get home. Best time for feeding is mid to late morning, so they might come out and warm up, then eat, then bask to right body temperature for digestion. In theory anyway.

[trex]

He hasn't eaten since early July, do you think I should hold off on offering food for a week?

When did you last offer food? Where are you and what season are you in? What are your temps in the enclosure? What is your heat/light cycles? (ie when do your heat/lights go on and off?)[/quote]
Lol, i can assure you that humidity is NOT an issue here in Houston, TX. Every day feels like we are walking in a cloud. There are really only two seasons, summer and fake winter. Lights on at 9, off at 5. Last offered food late July, probably around july 20-25.

This seems like a lot of work on your part. Why do you spoon feed?

To be honest, i spoon feed because he is so cute when he comes to eat from me personally. I just enjoy the feeding process. I see it as bonding time. Heh. It has gotten him very acclimated to human interaction.

Switching to morning feeds might be better so he has time for basking to correct body temperature during the day. On feed days, we put the food in the enclosure in the morning before school/work and remove the bowl in the afternoon/evening when we get home. Best time for feeding is mid to late morning, so they might come out and warm up, then eat, then bask to right body temperature for digestion. In theory anyway.

I've tried morning/afternoon feedings, but he doesnt seem to take to the food. Perhaps it is a personality issue, but I can always try again.

[Susann]

It's hard to tell from your small and kind of dark picture how much of the width we're seeing is the size of the skink and what is the shadow on the floor... I wouldn't necessarily say your skink is overweight, as I think some of what we're looking at in your picture is shadow, but that certainly looks like a healthy skink. I wouldn't worry terribly about him going without interest in food for a while.

Now, what you are describing --that he goes off food entirely from Nov through May every year-- sounds very unusual to me for a Merauke...
Could you please tell us what the temperature is on the cool side, on the warm side, and on the basking spot? --and how you are measuring the temps.
Do you brumate him through the winter? Or lower his temps at all during fall/winter/spring?
What type of substrate do you use?
Maybe show us a picture of his setup?

[trex]

I think I might have realized that the problem may be temp related.

Cool side 77
Warm side 80
Basking 81

I think I'm gonna start increasing the warm side to 90+. Perhaps he isn't digesting fast enough.

When he was younger I used to use a halogen heat lamp, but he didn't seem to like it very much BC he would go to the cool side more often. Since switching to a regular incandescent, he now hangs out everywhere. I never switched back BC I thought that a what he liked.

I attached another photo to show him without the shadow. He still is a lil chubby. I do not brumate or try to alter his feeding. Substrate is aspen shavings.

[NickBrahz]

He is a big ol chunky monkey, no need to fret if he doesn't eat for awhile, a picky eater isn't a hungry eater.

Aim for the basking spot to be roughly 95-100F with the cool end to be low 70-80s

[alichamp]

I think I might have realized that the problem may be temp related.

Cool side 77
Warm side 80
Basking 81

I think I'm gonna start increasing the warm side to 90+. Perhaps he isn't digesting fast enough.

Yep. Temperature definitely has an effect on feeding behaviours - they need body to reach a particular temp in order to digest the food, so if temp conditions aren't right (ie they cannot get their body temp up) they will slow or stop eating. This is survival - having food in the stomach when they can't get to correct body temperature will mean the food rots rather than digests. This is why the Southern Hemisphere blueys brumate during the cooler months.

Aim for the temps that Nick suggests and let us know how he goes. Perhaps get temps right ASAP before you offer food again. I still stand by my comments above on feeding tips and frequency once temp sorts out and feeding resumes. It will help him in the long term.

What kind of enclosure is he in? Can we see a pic of the entire enclosure please?

[trex]

Now on day 2 of my new halogen basking lamp. Warm side is now around 95 degrees. Top of the ceramic log is 100-101.

Hopefully he will poop now.

I attached a full enclosure pic below.

[splashy07]

Does he shed ok? Looks like aspen you have him on, could be a bit too dry for Meraukes, what is the humidity at?