BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

I had posted on here about 3 weeks ago that I’ve been having problems with it being very aggressive. Today it was actually lunging at the glass, huffing, and had its mouth wide open. Honestly it’s to the point where I can barely even open his cage. I change the water while it’s asleep and I have to quickly set the food down and close the cage door because it tries to get out and bite me. I have no idea where this came from, it was a super sweet skink until brumation, afterwards it’s been so aggressive. I’ve been bit once by it. I’m not the type of person that gets rid of animals, but it’s so bad that I feel like I have no other choice. I’ve been wanting to clean the cage for a couple of weeks but I can’t even pick it up I’m order to clean the cage. Should I post an ad on Craigslist or something? I’m also going to contact the breeder I got it from and see what his opinion is

I've seen this with a skink you was sick and in pain, I strongly suggest a vet check the skink for serious health issues.

It was a usually very sweet and docile and smoogy BT who became very aggressive and unsettled , turned out it had a tumor and was acting up because it was in agony , this was found out in a necropsy as this skink died not long after it started acting out .

First and foremost I am very sorry you are having issues and considering giving up your skink. I don't like that it is still acting that way after brumation. They are normally not that aggressive. As anything changed in your home or it's enclosure since brumation? Any thing around the enclosure that could startle the skink? You should definitely contact the breeder you got your skink from. They may take it back from you. I also agree that it could possibly be something medical and would rule that out. Have you tried using heavy duty gloves to try to handle or at least move it out of the enclosure to clean it? Have you tried doing the techniques we have to talked about for handling? How old is this skink?

I have personally never witnessed this behavior by a BTS, unless it was literally starved which I'm sure yours is not. First thing I would do is contact the breeder.

kingofnobbys wrote:I've seen this with a skink you was sick and in pain, I strongly suggest a vet check the skink for serious health issues.

It was a usually very sweet and docile and smoogy BT who became very aggressive and unsettled , turned out it had a tumor and was acting up because it was in agony , this was found out in a necropsy as this skink died not long after it started acting out .

I completely forgot about this post. I ended up keeping him, he seems to be fine and I’ve been able to hold him since I originally posted this. He doesn’t like being held at all anymore, but I’m hoping if I just slowly start handling him more he’ll adjust

Janella wrote:First and foremost I am very sorry you are having issues and considering giving up your skink. I don't like that it is still acting that way after brumation. They are normally not that aggressive. As anything changed in your home or it's enclosure since brumation? Any thing around the enclosure that could startle the skink? You should definitely contact the breeder you got your skink from. They may take it back from you. I also agree that it could possibly be something medical and would rule that out. Have you tried using heavy duty gloves to try to handle or at least move it out of the enclosure to clean it? Have you tried doing the techniques we have to talked about for handling? How old is this skink?

He just turned 1 year old a few weeks ago. I have no idea what’s going on with him. I tried contacting the breeder but wasn’t able to get ahold of him. Since I originally posted this, I’ve been able to remove him from the cage to clean it. I held him for a few seconds but he definitely didn’t want to be held and I’m pretty sure he was close to biting me before I put him back in his enclosure. I might look into taking him to a reptile vet just to make sure nothing’s wrong. He appears to be fine and I haven’t been able to find any physical signs of illness on him.
I did put him in a new enclosure, but the only difference is it’s 12” longer and I added a piece of cork bark (he appears to love it, he lays on it all the time and sleeps under it some nights). But nothing has changed that should/appears to scare him. I’m so upset about it, I wanted a BTS for a long time and decided on a Northern because I heard that they’re the easiest to handle
For the time being I’m keeping him. If he acts like he did that day, I’ll probably have to revisit the idea of finding him a new home. I’m just hoping that he goes back to normal

splashy07 wrote:I have personally never witnessed this behavior by a BTS, unless it was literally starved which I'm sure yours is not. First thing I would do is contact the breeder.

Yeah he’s definitely not starved. I tried contacting the breeder but I wasn’t able to. I’ll just hold out and hope that he goes back to normal