BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Hello,

My blue tongue skink has swolen eyes and breaths verry slowely. He is 11 months old and tis is the fourth time he has it. i gave him 2 grasshoppers per day for 3 days in a row, maybe is that the reason? i have no idea how he gets it so if somebody knows and can help me to prevent it that would be great. i have pictures of his eyes:

Hi, I am sorry to hear about your skink. I am by no means an expert, but I am very concerned about your skink. I would recommend a vet visit immediately. What type of skink is this? What are your temps? Humidity? I am not trying to sound mean, but your diet of just grasshoppers every few days is not enough. Skunks need 50% of their diet to be a protein source (canned dog food, chicken, lean ground turkey, eggs, quail, snails, horn worms, etc). Then 40% veggies ( dark leafy greens, squashs, green beans, cactus pads, etc). Finally 10% fruit. Is your skink still willing to eat on its own? Again, I can't stress enough I highly recommend a vet visit. Good luck and let us know what happens.

What are using as the UV source ?

Exactly what is it (type compact , t8 , T5 , MVB ) ?

What brand is the UV source .... this looks like photoconjuntivitis caused by a UV source that is poorly made and has a very poor UV emission spectrum that includes UVC and bad sub-bands of UVB because the (Chinese manufacturer has used poor quality quartz in the globe / tube and poor quality phosphors inside it.

Try turning off the UV source for a week and observe how the eyes are with this change , if it is photoconjunctivitis you may see an improvement ==> good to replace the compact with either a Zoo Med, Exo Terra or Arcadia branded globe , or the tube with an Arcadia T8 or T5 (there have have issues with Zoo Med T5 UVB tubes lately - a dodgey production run that means they don't last as long as they should).

If not photoconjuctivitis - try making a mixture of Manuka honey (Medihoney ie Activon) in the same volume of boiled cooled water - I'd draw it up using a blunt metal drawing needle (14G) into a 1 or 2 ml syringe , honey first , then same volume of water , shakey mixy, remove the needle and apply a drop or two to each eye once or twice per day , the honey has antibiotic properties and also has enzymes in it that will help with healing.

Probably wise to consult the local reptile vet too incase this is due to something more serious.

Hi, I just wanted to check if you have booked a vet appointment yet? this has been playing on my mind since I woke up and saw your pictures, your skinks eyes look so sore, bless him/her.
Interesting thoughts from kingofnobbys , amazing how much people know on here. I will be interested to know if this is what it is, but in the mean time if it were me I would get emergency vet appointment and get them to take a look at it.
I am a newbie when it comes to skinks so I don't really have any insightful input other than please see a vet asap and please please keep us updated and put pics of any improvement.
Thankyou and good luck.

Please get to the vet. This looks way beyond home remedies.

Seconding all that's been said - and definitely go to a vet. The breathing slowly sounds like they could be on the edge of life.

casper wrote:He is 11 months old and tis is the fourth time he has it

What happened the other times? Were the grasshoppers wild caught? as there is potential for pesticides or chemicals if so (and as stated, not a good diet to fully rely on them since they are omnivores).

Any updates??

Updates???

Does anyone think we are going to get an update on this skink or should I try my best to stop worrying about it. Don't like the thought of never knowing.

Suzle87 wrote:Does anyone think we are going to get an update on this skink or should I try my best to stop worrying about it. Don't like the thought of never knowing.

I think that I can safely say that there isn’t going to be an update I really want to know what happened to this poor skink too.

You and me both. Broke my heart

I wish I never looked. I will never be able to un-see that.

splashy07 wrote:I wish I never looked. I will never be able to un-see that.

Exactly how I feel.
Those pictures are so upsetting, and not knowing the outcome makes it all even more horrible.

I'm hoping this wasn't a troll ….

i'd hate for a skink to have such sore looking eyes that went untreated …. heck …. even if it was just sterile water bathing of it's eyes followed by 50% ACTIVON medihoney mixed with water applied by eyedropper a drop or two per eye a few times a day.....

I PMed CASPER to ask.

kingofnobbys wrote:I'm hoping this wasn't a troll ….

i'd hate for a skink to have such sore looking eyes that went untreated …. heck …. even if it was just sterile water bathing of it's eyes followed by 50% ACTIVON medihoney mixed with water applied by eyedropper a drop or two per eye a few times a day.....

I PMed CASPER to ask.

Good thinking, can you let us know if they get back to you please?

I hope we hear from them and the poor skink has been to a vet. Each time I see a reply I check in case it’s the original poster with an update.

I can’t remember, do you get an email to say you’ve got a PM? They aren’t logged in since a few minutes after doing this post so I’m not sure they’ll be back.

I considered directly emailing the OP but don't know how would be received ….

Sent an email, hopefully we'll get a response. Been worried about this for ages now.

Yeshika wrote:Sent an email, hopefully we'll get a response. Been worried about this for ages now.

Thanks for doing this, hopefully they’ve just been far too busy looking after their skink to update us and there’ll be some good news. Fingers crossed.