Fat or pregnant?

[jmhg11]

My skink is rapidly gaining weight even though I'm not feeding him/her. They're spending all their time basking and are gaining weight. He(r) has gained about 100 grams since I got them. It's a ij most likely wc (I heard ij's sometimes come in pregnant?). Any ideas ( what's the best way to find out the sex for sure.) can you tell I don't really know what I'm doing

[tcopitho]

It'd be nice to get an updated picture.

As I recall, it seems to me that your bluey is much to small to be pregnant. That said, my experience is limited, and perhaps there are accounts of juvenile animals becoming pregnant?

I would lean towards him just gaining some weight. Start checking his weight regularly, one to two times a week or just before you put him away after a handling session. It will give you a really good and interesting picture of what is normal weight gain and what isn't.

As far as telling the sex, I'm afraid you're out of luck there until he drops sperm plugs, then you can confirm him male. If he doesn't drop plugs its still not proof that he is female. To prove female you basically need to see babies or slugs pop out, hahaha. Often the males will pace their enclosures trying to get out and find females after the cool season, so you may get indication from that, but for your guy, you likely wont see that behavior until he is sexually mature.

The other possibility is, if you get some good top down pictures that should the entire length of the animal clearly and in good light, you may be able to have some of the pros give you an educated guess, it wont be 100% but they haven't let me down yet.

[jmhg11]

It'd be nice to get an updated picture.

As I recall, it seems to me that your bluey is much to small to be pregnant. That said, my experience is limited, and perhaps there are accounts of juvenile animals becoming pregnant?

I would lean towards him just gaining some weight. Start checking his weight regularly, one to two times a week or just before you put him away after a handling session. It will give you a really good and interesting picture of what is normal weight gain and what isn't.

As far as telling the sex, I'm afraid you're out of luck there until he drops sperm plugs, then you can confirm him male. If he doesn't drop plugs its still not proof that he is female. To prove female you basically need to see babies or slugs pop out, hahaha. Often the males will pace their enclosures trying to get out and find females after the cool season, so you may get indication from that, but for your guy, you likely wont see that behavior until he is sexually mature.

The other possibility is, if you get some good top down pictures that should the entire length of the animal clearly and in good light, you may be able to have some of the pros give you an educated guess, it wont be 100% but they haven't let me down yet.

I'll have pictures in a bit. I had a friend who keeps skinks over and he said my skink looked pregnant so I wanted to get a second opinion. "He's" gone from 541 grams to 631 grams in less than a month. I've only been feeding 2-3x a week

[tcopitho]

You cant rule anything out I suppose. Probably you'll just have to monitor the situation for some more time.

[jmhg11]

You cant rule anything out I suppose. Probably you'll just have to monitor the situation for some more time.

[StaceyLeigh]

Feeding 2-3 times a week will definitely put some weight on them. I would suspect it is just weight gain.