BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

hello! i’ve had my skink, meatloaf, for about 7 months now and for the past few weeks she’s been having eye issues. her eyes seem to get crusty and get her substrate stuck on them. i soak her in warm baths and use warm wet q-tips to try to get the dirt off and when it comes off it looks like a small wound on her eye and i can tell it hurts her. She’s been on eco earth the whole time ive had her and she has a water bowl big enough for her to climb into and soak in. she has UVB and a ceramic heat emitter. i try to feed her once a week but recently she’s just been taking a couple of bites and then completely ignoring the food all together. it’s breaking my heart not knowing what’s wrong and i’m having a very hard time finding a vet near me that sees blue tongues.

I would recommend you take her off of the eco-earth and put her on reptibark or some kind of coconut fiber mulch (I use a brand called Grow !t, it's a heat treated mulch, pretty cheap on Amazon). The eco-earth could definitely be getting in her eyes, its very dusty and dirty when its dry. A mulch substrate will also be much better for burrowing.

You should definitely try and get her to a vet as soon as you can. Her eyes don't look good at all in the pictures and the dirt getting in her eyes could have caused damage/irritation. It's also possible she has an eye infection unrelated to the dirt getting in them. A vet trip is the safest option; if you wait, you risk that the eyes might get worse and cause a lot of pain or lasting eye damage.

The lack of eating could be related to the eye problem, but it's also possible that she is going into brumation as the temperatures get colder in and the barometric pressure drops. It's normal for a lot of skinks to slow down their eating around this time of year. Just track her weight every other week or so and make sure she's not losing too much! If you are able to get her to a vet, you can also ask them about her eating habits.

I am sorry to hear about your skink. Poor little thing. I would absolutely get him to the vet asap for his eyes. They don't look good at all. I also agree on changing the substrate. Try using something like was previously suggested or try even jungle mix with reptibark on top. That is what I like. As for the eating it is probably related to the eyes or brumation as was suggested. Where are you located? Please keep us posted and in the mean time you can keep flushing the eyes out with sterile saline eye flush till a vet visit is in order.

Also agree on changing the substrate. Coconut fiber or if you can get your hands on it, 100% cypress mulch.

It just looks like the current stuff you got in there isn't suited for a BTS, but that's an easy change to make.

What are your temps and humidity in there? Also, what are you feeding her and what supplements do you use?