First skink having skin issue

[TomMarsh848]

Hi everybody, I’m new to the forum here but I’ve had my Norther Blue Tongue since October 12th last year. I got her from a pet store and she had a wound on her from being houses with a few other akinks, but that cleared completely after her first shed with me. She recently had her second shed and I put some “Terrarium Moss” into her humid hide to aid with it, she came out of the hide about an hour later with some pretty nasty looking skin issues, and I believe it was the moss that caused this as it happened so quickly after the moss was placed in the tank. I’ve been keeping the humidity at 40% as opposed to 25% and have been keeping the wound clean but I was wondering if there’s anything else I could be doing to help her out to heal quicker. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you in advance!

[mb606587]

Try changing your substrate. Aspen is notorious for causing scale and shedding issues, even amongst Northerns. Cypress mulch, which is packaged at the pet stores as ZooMed Forest Floor bedding is an excellent alternative, as is something as simple as organic top soil from the local garden store, which is what I use. I would aim to keep your humidity between 40%-60%. Sphagnum moss, unless being kept overly drenched with water, will not cause issues, and is actually recommended for skinks with dry skin.

[TomMarsh848]

Try changing your substrate. Aspen is notorious for causing scale and shedding issues, even amongst Northerns. Cypress mulch, which is packaged at the pet stores as ZooMed Forest Floor bedding is an excellent alternative, as is something as simple as organic top soil from the local garden store, which is what I use. I would aim to keep your humidity between 40%-60%. Sphagnum moss, unless being kept overly drenched with water, will not cause issues, and is actually recommended for skinks with dry skin.

Thank you so much for the quick reply, I’ll be trying the Forrest floor and will post an update soon. Thank you for the help