Dealing with a Poopy-Painter

[ototoxin]

Yes, this is just as disgusting as the title sounds.

My northern, Toast, will NOT stop crawling back over his poop and drags it all over his enclosure-including the walls, because his way of letting me know he wants out is to scratch at the door since I can hear it from the other room. It’s been going on for a few weeks now, and I can never clean his waste up fast enough! At this point, I’m starting to think he’s waiting for the exact moment I leave the room to do his business and “art”

He’s got no medical issues as of his last vet checkup exactly a month ago, and he has lots of hides & deep substrate (not so deep right now though, since I keep having to throw away the soiled bits), and a good temperature gradient. We did move around the same time he began doing this, but I’ve kept the layout of his enclosure relatively the same.

Any idea what else I can do, besides checking up on him every hour and hoping to clean it up in time? I’m at my wits end having to clean SO MUCH every other day & having to bathe him too.

[mb606587]

Are you feeding your skink every other day? Seeing as you've been posting for approximately a year, you could probably begin scaling back feedings to twice or even once weekly if that is the case. During this time of year when it's hot and humid, I like to take my skinks outside for a bit of natural sunlight. You could set up a large tub (Christmas tree totes work great) with half an inch of warm water, and allow your skink to soak under the sun for half an hour to an hour directly after eating (closely supervised and if weather permits of course.) I feed all of mine in the morning, so especially on hot days, I'd aim to get it out early when the sun isn't at full intensity or the late afternoon if not. Skinks tend to prefer to defecate in water, which is why so many poop in their water dishes, so that may help you get it on a more consistent routine for now.