BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Hi guys,


I got my Halmahera BTS last Saturday. Today, I noticed when I unburried him from the substrate (eco earth and cypress mulch) his right eye started to bubble. Of course, my paranoid self googled it right away and I found people on this forum saying it could be a sign of RI. I also saw someone post that their BTS didn’t respond to treatment and passed away, and now I am SUPER paranoid. When I took him out he ate some egg and got yolk on his noise, he was rubbing his face against the hard surfaces, which I thought he was just trying to get the yolk off but I saw someone on here say their BTS rubbed his face raw when he had an RI. I don’t notice any weird sounds when he’s breathing, but he does sneeze here and there.


I called an exotic vet in my area, but they have nothing available until a week from today, next Friday. How serious is this? Can it wait the week? I literally feel like breaking down and crying because I feel it’s my fault. I am doing the best I can trying to keep the humidity up. There’s moss, I spray 2-3 times a day, huge water bowl, alumnion foil covering half the top...I tried everything. I feel like I’m failing and I don’t want my baby to pay for it

His eye seemed fine after it bubbled up twice. This was him 10 mins after the bubbles.

The eye bubbles are usually a sign of low humidity.
I think you're on the right track with the PVC cage you mentioned in the other thread. It might be time to make that move sooner rather than later.

hello, this happened to one of my shinglebacks not long ago, i panicked like you, googled it to find people say it can be due to food being too big, im pretty sure that was the case with my guy as i gave him a whole cherry tomato and he was struggling to chew it down, its never happened since and he's fine, but i would still get him checked out if i were you.

Hi guys, thanks for the reply. I moved him into a tote bin enclosure where the temps are better and the humidity has been a solid 80-90 percent most of the time. However, today when I took him out I noticed his breathing was a bit off..kind of sounded like when your nose is a little stuffed and you’re trying to breath. Thank god I have the vet appointment on Friday, I just hope that’s not too late. I’m literally CRYING over this baby boy of mine. Dwarfbeardeddragon, I actually saw your post when I was searching. Did it look like this??

Here’s his enclosure.

That's a good sized tote , what are it's dimensions ?

If that is a UVB in the dome sitting on top , it will has no chance of penetrating the plastic in the lid.
.... I suggest mounting the 26W UVB10% compact in an ExoTerra NanoHood fixed to the underside of the lid - is real easy , remove the reflector temporarily , drill two holes through the black plastic that are big enough for a short (hexhead screw to slip into) and the drill two holes slightly small than the thread diameter of the screws, screw into place , replace reflector, install a good 26W globe ie a 26W UVB200 and you are done.
or
install a T8 reflector hood under lid (similar approach) and install a 10% to 12% UVB tube , make sure it's not more than 2/3 the length of the tute .

yep it looked exactly the same...

You’re on the right track now.
Take him out every other day, put him in a separate plastic tub with no substrate and spray him for 3-5 minutes with water. Make sure the water’s not too cold and spray his face and eyes gently as much as he’ll tolerate.
I’d still look into heating from below with a good quality thermostat and heat tape.

The UV is on a big hole cut out for it, I’m getting a dome today like I have for the heat source that I can actually stick INTO the tote so the UV can spread out, hopefully that’s suffice. I don’t know the exact dimensions, my bf picked it up for me but I know it’s 60 inches long. And it a lot higher than it appears lol.

I plan to leave him alone until the vet appointment on Friday because I want him to get all the heat and humidity he needs. Except for the fact he ONLY poops when I take him out...anyone else have a BTS who only poops when taken out? Lol. Idk if I should continue to take him out , I just don’t want him to get worse

Okay, I’ve been doing insane amount of research on this forum and just found info on mystery illness. I just want to know if this is normal - I had beaver out the other day and his leg was bent, so most of the pressure was on the upside of his foot, and the pad looked a bit swollen. He is my first BTS so I’m not sure what the pads of their feet should look like??