Skink Will Not Eat

[MaddyKay99]

I got a baby Indo BTS and he will not eat by himself. I have had him for a month and he is currently 2 months old and all he has eaten by himself is strawberries and banannas. I went to the vet because he had a resperitory infection so now I am giving him shots every few days for that and syringe feeding him every day. I weigh him daily and if I miss one day of feeding he drasticly looses weight (currently 46 grams) I offer him wet cat food in many flavors, veggies and live mealworms/hornworms byt he will not eat. If i take shredded chicken and get it into his mouth a little bit then he will finish it but will not bite anything, he will only lick. Any hints or ideas of what is wrong? has been on syringe feeding for 2 weeks now

[Cherbear]

RIs WILL definitely decrease a feeding response. Sometimes even the antibiotics can also affect appetite. What is your enclosure and temps like? Did the vet also check for parasites?

[MaddyKay99]

His humidity is around 70-80% with a basking spot of around 103 degrees and the cool end of his enclosure being in the high 70s. I make sure to mist down the enclosure a lot because I have only ever seen him drink drops of water coming off of his fake plant. He is on a substrate of cyprus mulch with spagnum moss near his water dish on the cool side to retain more humidity. He had a common parasite when we got him but that was before the RI and it is cleared up. Long story short, never buy from sunset snakes

[splashy07]

After what I have seen since keeping blueys as a constant I would avoid imports from anywhere. The low price will soon be eaten up by the vet bills. Best of luck with your baby, I'd follow up with vet to make sure parasite has been completely eradicated. God bless.

[mb606587]

The sad reality is that some imports cannot and will not adapt to a life in captivity. Being that this skink is so young, the odds are in its favor, however, the drawback is that a situation such as this, where your skink refuses food is a much more pressing issue as opposed to with an adult, which can go months without eating. If I had to guess, I'd say stress is the cause. Your husbandry seems sound, but the stress of being shipped and relocated at such a young age, the stress of fighting multiple health issues, and now the stress of being assist fed and injected with antibiotics are possibly playing a toll. Unfortunately, there's not much more you can do but to continue assist feeding to keep your skink at a healthy weight and provide the necessary nutrition. I'd limit your interactions with it to just this for the time being. Hopefully, your skink will start to thrive in time. Ensuring that the parasites have been completely eradicated was a good suggestion from above.