BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

How jumpy is your skink?
Ventress is fine some days then days like today he seems to jump out of his skin at the slightest sound and shoot under something at the speed of light to hide. I’ve taken it a bit personally I think, it’s not as though he’s not used to me and today I put something down by his viv and I’ve never seen him move so quickly. Is this normal or have I failed somehow in adjusting him to his home in the past year or so?

Can I ask how many hides and how big is the enclosure again?

4 foot by 2 foot, and he has a big hide either end (logs) and sphagnum moss to hide in aswell, I also put a few fake plants around for extra cover.
I’m making susanns hide/basking rock/apartment block tomorrow so he will have a layer of different hide holes in that soon that I can put moss etc between each layer and a plant in front maybe.

That all sounds good. The more hides the better to make them feel secure. Has he always been this jumpy? How old is he again?

My 2 easterns are mega tame and very chilled , nothing and no one seems to phase them , in fact they both LOVE spending time out with us and both are very smoogy.

My eastern water skink is also mega tame and loves interacting with me , crawls and climbs all over me when I get her out for QT and maybe a handfed treat. She usually can been seen watching us or the TV. She is a wild rescue (was taken in by us when my wife found her near death on the back lawn ( I gave her very intensive care and helped her recover ) and she seems to really like her pampered life in retirement as a pet.

Suzle87 wrote:How jumpy is your skink?
Ventress is fine some days then days like today he seems to jump out of his skin at the slightest sound and shoot under something at the speed of light to hide. I’ve taken it a bit personally I think, it’s not as though he’s not used to me and today I put something down by his viv and I’ve never seen him move so quickly. Is this normal or have I failed somehow in adjusting him to his home in the past year or so?

He might be hormonal , and needing to get his rocks off with a female , or he may have been taken from the wild and trafficked (and learnt to fear humans) , if this is the case it's going to take a lot patience and bonding to get him to the point where he trusts you and feels perfectly comfortable in your presence.

Janella wrote:That all sounds good. The more hides the better to make them feel secure. Has he always been this jumpy? How old is he again?

He’s a year and 4 months so I’ve had him just over a year. He’s always been a little jumpy but seems to have got worse in the past couple of weeks.

Janella wrote:That all sounds good. The more hides the better to make them feel secure. Has he always been this jumpy? How old is he again?

I will pop him more hides in when I go home later today, over the past few months I have reduced the volume of decoration etc in his viv as I’d read on here he needs plenty of floor space? So lots of hides combined with a large enough water bowl for him to get in if he wants to meant there wasn’t really much clear flat floor space. Am I perhaps better reverting to lots of hides, logs, fake plants?

So it is hard saying exactly what is going on. It could be hormones, it could be he's wild caught and scared. Did something happen a few weeks back that set this new jumpiness in motion? It does take time and patience to get them to come around. I have my guys in the same size enclosure. They have 3 hides to explore threw. Then plenty of substrate to burrow in if they want to as well. The more floor space the better is correct, but that includes hides and stuff to go threw. Does that make sense? Just be patient with Ventress and he will come around. When you are in the room talk to him. Sit and read by him. Offer his favorite treats and try to earn his trust again. When handled make sure he feels secure. Then gently just snuggle and pet him. With due time, hopefully this jumpiness will fade away.

Thanks Janella, I really appreciate your advice. I do try to talk to him to warn him if I’m moving round the room so as not to make him jump, but il give reading to him a go. I can’t think of anything that could’ve upset him other than maybe our vet trip a month back, but he didn’t seem too bothered by that at the time. Perhaps I just need to regain his trust like you say.
I’m currently making his tile hide thing (from designer tiles I managed to get for free haha only the best for ventress) so hopefully in 24 hrs when that’s dry I can get that in there and he will feel like he’s got lots of places to explore and hide, going to do a double layer one so he can go underneath, in between and on top. Hopefully that’ll help things. Il keep you updated.x

Wow Janella you’re a legend, I’ve popped home, put lots of hides out and read a book and now he’s sat on top of a hide listening to the story haha. First time he’s been out and about in weeks! I think just knowing the hides are there make him feel safer. Rubbish pic and he has substrate by his eye but here he is. I’m chuffed to bits, thanks so so much. Il keep reading to him everyday to get him more used to me, he seems to like it.

Well thank you for your kind words and your very welcome. I am glad it seems to be working. Just remember slow and steady wins the race. He will come around. Just be patient. He looks great to me.

Janella wrote:Well thank you for your kind words and your very welcome. I am glad it seems to be working. Just remember slow and steady wins the race. He will come around. Just be patient. He looks great to me.

Thanks again, I really appreciate it. I’ll keep this updated

Sounds good.

I see that with some of mine seasonally, one of which is 8 years old. Nothing to be concerned about.

I’m hoping some batch food making tempts him out.
(The scones are for me lol)

You can make me dinner any time.........

splashy07 wrote:You can make me dinner any time.........

I’m sure ven will share if you ask nicely lol. And there’s enough in the freezer to feed the 5000 now... maybe I need more skinks, I seem to make enough food for at least a dozen of them.

Hahah too bad we're not neighbors....I've got more than a dozen...and they'd hire you as a chef!

Mine will be out and about doing skink things most of the day, even when I am in the room.

The second I approach her tank though, that is when she jumps and beelines for her hide, the speed is quite impressive.