What's wrong with my skink's scales?

[Bentayga]

Hello! I've recently gotten my hands on a young BTS from a pet store, and I'm wondering what's going on? This is only present on her head, and a friend of mine suggested me try to reach out to BTS/reptile forums for help before sending her to a vet! I've only had her about 4 days and this was present when purchased. I'm assuming it might've been from poor humidity care however I really dont know! I'm wondering if this can be cured? Can the area heal back to looking normal? I've tried researching it myself but I'm having no luck ):
The store I received her from wasn't sure of age/sub specides/gender so currently I'm assuming she's around 4 months, a classic indonesian, and female.

Was wondering if anyone may have any solutions or guesses on what it may be?

[Taliats]

I might be wrong but it looks like stuck shed.

[mb606587]

My guess is old battle wounds from fighting. You definitely have an imported skink. These guys aren't kept in great conditions. Often housed with other skinks during that process, possibly even at the pet store at one time. Typically these guys aren't too friendly with each other so injuries like that are common. So are internal parasites. Vet check ups for all imported reptiles are typically recommended with a fecal exam to test for these. And I think you could be right with classic Indonesian for which type. But would need to see a pic of the full body and tail to confirm.

[kingofnobbys]

Yes . Likely battle scars from dominance battles with other males and from females who objected to his amorous intentions.

I've seen similar scarring on wild skinks (especially alpha male water skinks , grass skinks and bluetongues). They often take off scales from the top of the heads in dominance contests. Can take several months for the missing scales to regenerate and they will sport a permanent scar.

This is the result of my boy George being bashed up by his bossy sister Mildred (as 6 month old juveniles …. I made the mistake of housing them together)

This was the result of a head bite …. George was lucky to survive and not have his skull crushed (because I intervened).

This kind of injury can be also the outcome overcrowding in the pet shop --- too many skinks housed together.


Most likely wild caught .

How is he otherwise ?

ie feeding well ? basking ? drinking ? pooing regularly ? moving about OK ?

[Bentayga]

Thank you guys for responding! And wow would wounds heal back to looking normal? ALSO, I've noticed it got worse as if it's spreading? If it's stuck shed I'd be very relieved.. Her tank has a good amount of room, I believe its about 45in long? its a 75 gal tank so she has plenty of hiding areas and a great division of the cool and heat side since it's so long! I've been currently keeping her humidity at around 70-80

Other than that, she seems to be eating and I haven't seen her drink but I've seen her sit in her water bowl a few times! She was pretty feisty when I first got her, but now she almost never hisses anymore (: I understand it's advised not to handle them much when you first get them so they can adjust to everything, but I've been holding her a lot and it seems to have helped with her getting used to me. I feed her with my hand a lot of the time but not always, I've tried to feed her live things like crickets and worms (just as a snack) and she isn't interested at all. I'm thinking about getting a snail soon to try. Maybe she needs more time to adjust to her environment and I'll try again in a month or so.

The first pic I posted was taken that day, and here is one maybe the second day of owning her.
Sorry for not so great quality, this was the best image I had. I'll try to send another image of her later if any of you want to take a shot at which specific sub she is!

[mb606587]

Some wounds heal, some will leave visible scarring. Depends how severe the wound initially was and whether it was treated. Your tank is size is good, humidity is good. If that issue is appearing to get worse, a vet check with an experienced reptile vet is in order. As I stated earlier, imports tend to come in with all kinds of issues, some left untreated, like certain infections, can quickly cause your skink's health to rapidly deteriorate. More often than not, they need medical treatment that can't be done over the counter. I'm having trouble viewing your picture from my work computer here so I'll have to wait until later tonight to see if I can open it on my phone and get you an answer regarding the subspecies.

[Bentayga]

Yeah that's sad hearing about imports ): I'm glad to bring her to a home she'll be safe in, but as you said I may need to just take her into the vet.
I received her from Petco, not trying to bad-mouth a company but I've heard bad things about their reptile department and same for another very well-known-worldwide pet store. A friend of mine said I should take her back to Petco for a "free" vet check as it hasn't been that long since the purchase.. however I'd be signing ownership back to the store if I did that, and I just don't know if i should trust them. Not sure! I'll try to update if I end up taking her into somewhere.

Here are some more images of her( if she even is a girl, I'm just assuming honestly! ). She really didn't like being held up for the underbelly pics, it was very hard to get a still image and I didn't want to stress her over it! She has a black underbelly and a hint of the orange-y color under her head. I find her colors and patterns really nice and pretty!

[mb606587]

Any Blue Tongue Skink you see in a pet store in the US is going to be an import 99/100 times. The demand is too high for these guys, so breeders don't even entertain the thought selling their CBB skinks to a pet store. On top of that, pet stores aren't willing to pay the high price for a CBB skink when they can pay half the price for an imported skink, especially when the importer is most likely telling the pet shop its a CB skink when its really not. The only exception is if you see a Northern in a pet shop, which almost never happens. Its always Indonesians since like I said they are cheaper. I still can't view your pictures so I'll PM you my email and you can try to send through that.

[kingofnobbys]

I wouldn't be trusting the Petco "vet" to do anything worthwhile. It is possible the wound on your skink's head is infected .
George's wound was treated from the moment of his getting it with betadiene ( used it full strength - a couple of drops on the open wound and each day, and was bathing the injury daily in dilute betadiene in water (add betadiene to warm water until it looks like weak tea) - I was soaking a strip of absorbant paper towel in this and then gently laying it on the injury and letting it sit there for 10 mins.
You could try this , but I think you skink's injury has been left to fester too long .
I think you really need to find a good local reptile vet and have your skink's head injury checked , an overall health check wont go astray either. If the injury is infected , it may be in need of surgical debridement and a course of antibiotics .

[mb606587]

Yes I agree. I believe it could be infected if the wound is getting worse. Betadine solution is an excellent suggestion in the short term and is effective for treating any wound. But antibiotics generally are required and it's best to let a vet make the determination because infections can be lethal if untreated. And I'm sure a vet should already know this but have it tested for internal parasites while you're there. If you're able to, bring a fresh stool sample.

[Susann]

From the top, your skink looks 100% Merauke (T.g.evanescens), but on the bottom it looks 100% Indonesian (T.g.gigas). Head-scratcher...

I do not think the wound looks infected at all. It looks to me like he's been bit on his head and has lost some scales in the process, but I don't see anything resembling a pink or red area.

[mb606587]

Yeah Susann I'm thinking Halmahera on that one. A lot lighter than the ones I typically see.

[mb606587]

Yeah and personally, I'm not seeing too much of a difference on the scales with your pictures but just going based off your observations that the issue is getting worse. I agree it doesn't look like a typical infection but I like to err on the side of caution with newly acquired imports so that's why I'm recommending a vet, in case there's some stuff going on internally that we can't see in your pictures.

[Bentayga]

Thanks for all the input! I showed her to a few people who own reptiles (for years) and they all basically told me it looks like it's fine and over time as she sheds it should look a lot better. I'm still going to take her into the vet just to get check-up as you guys say for the sake of her being an import in a few days once I'm off work!

And yeah after looking them up she looks a lot like a Halmahera!
The main difference on her wound was one scale over her left eye, it looked to have started a little damaged on one end of it and seems the entire scale now looks sorta dry like it needs to be shed, but I'm not quite sure that's what's going on. My friend thinks its her way of scabbing but I'm not sure lol. It hasn't gotten worse so far! I noticed it about 5-4 days ago

[kayla990]

Agree you've got a Halmahera (I believe the dark belly scales are only of this sub species, have one myself). But wanted to add that you'll need very high humidity for these guys - ideally 90%+ on average. If you don't have a hygrometer definitely get one as it'll help long term health. I would also presume that if you're not living in a humid area, that it would be a good idea to change the substrate for a more humidity retaining mixture (such as cococoir, high amount of sphagnum moss, reptibark etc). We spray a good amount daily, have large water dishes, fogger and a humidifier to keep it up to good levels as it's very important.

If she's comfortable with handling already, you can use a very shallow dish and let her bathe in luke warm water in the meantime (to see if it is stuck shed). If it is scarred tissue, it's likely it will begin to fade after multiple sheds. Doesn't seem infected from the pics. All the best

[Bentayga]

Thank you Kayla (: I really love how she looks!

I had started to struggle with keeping her humidity above 70 at one point and I actually bought a lot of what you said to help! I just need to get a fogger/humidifier for the cage. I've been misting her cage about twice a day myself and it stays between 70-80, I'll start to spray some more and add some more moss. I do have a hydrometer but I heard the digital version is more accurate so I'm not really sure if mine is off at all haha. I've been thinking about trying warm baths as well, thanks for the input!

[Ghost man]

Im fortunate to be living in australia now with easterns idk if u guys know this but two sisters can be housed if raised their whole life but i wouldnt recomend it cus they might hurt one another but easterns are part of the group of blueys that mate for life so yea but she dosent like other blueys or lizards now she is was being a big stupid idiot and pulled her eye bands off thanks to her rock :/

[Ghost man]

Im fortunate to be living in australia now with easterns idk if u guys know this but two sisters can be housed if raised their whole life but i wouldnt recomend it cus they might hurt one another but easterns are part of the group of blueys that mate for life so yea but she dosent like other blueys or lizards now she is was being a big stupid idiot and pulled her eye bands off thanks to her rock :/