BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Hi everyone, I had an issue with my blue tongue that I want some input on.

Dimple, my haly, shed 2 days ago. I went to check up on him the next day and saw the top of his head was swollen and bruised, which obviously startled me, so I went to move to pick him up. That in turn startled him (he’s only about 5 months old and still a bit skittish) and he turned to run back under the slate I have in his tank (doubles as basking and hot hide) and hit his head. One of the scales came off when he did this and he started bleeding.

I immediately called the vet and got him looked at 30 minutes later and they gave him some anti inflammatory medicine and an antibiotic. They said their best guess was that it was a bruise but weren’t sure how it happened, but also told me to watch out because it looked like the scales adjacent to the trouble spot could also fall off. I took him home and put him in a temporary enclosure with paper towel while he still has an open wound.

Nothing could have fallen on him as I have a top on his tank. I thought maybe it was from heat, but his temperatures have been the same as always in his hot spot and warm end. I would say the slate is to blame but honestly that was the first time I’ve ever seen him bump his head on it and I think that’s because it was swollen and bigger than it usually is.

I guess what I’m trying to ask is, has anyone else experienced bruising like this on their skinks? Could it just be a bad shed, just on his head since the rest of him was fine? How long will it take for him to heal up, and will the scale that came off ever regrow? I just want to know what happened, I love my little guy so much and want to make sure he doesn’t get hurt like this again.

NASTY INJURY.

My George was monstered by his nasty sister Mildred when they were 9 month old juveniles, looked exactly same as you show in your image.

I applied a drop of Betadiene to the injury twice per day until the wound stopped weeping , took a few months to completely heal .

very sad to hear about what happened with your skink, but glad to hear it did eventually clear up. Thanks for the tip about the betadine, I’ve got a bottle on hand. He’s my only skink, so no chance that any of my other pets did this to him, thankfully!

So sorry to hear about your skink. Prayers it will get better soon.

Only time I've seen such a thing is during breeding season scrapping. Do a double check of his enclosure and see how this may have happened. All the best, hope he's better soon!

N'aaw, that's a shame Dimple managed to hurt themselves! Just adding some thoughts as didn't see it mentioned - is it possible they could have directly touched a heat lamp? I've seen similar markings from other reptiles (although for dimple, it seems the swelling is focused on those few nose scales, so may not be the cause). It may be a strange thought, but know our guy has been able to reach up in unexpected ways, so we have a heat-lamp guard 'just in case' now.

Has the swelling gone down since your post? Seems possible rubbing their head during/after shedding on a rough surface as others mentioned. Does the slate have any loose pieces or splinters that could have got stuck in the scales? Otherwise I'd check other furnishings (such as wood or even wood-type substrates) in case they seem prone for splintering when rubbed against.

If you need to keep them on paper towel for a long duration - I'd recommend using a fogger, big water dish under the heater; or a damp large sponge attached on the vivarium back/side (if possible, out of reach of your Bluey) to keep up humidity. Hope they recover soon!

He wouldnt have directly touched any heat source, since both of his heat lamps are above the tank with a grate between, so if they did happen to fall it would fall on the grate instead of directly into the tank. The swelling has gone down a lot thankfully! Its still discolored, but the area where the scale fell off has scabbed over and overall things look a lot more normal. The slate doesnt have loose pieces, but he is on the zoomed forest floor bedding, although I dont think that would be harmful since he's been on it for so long without any issues? I could always be wrong though.

Thanks everyone for the well wishes! fingers crossed that the discoloration goes away soon.

Sometimes they just do things to themselves beyond our control. I've got one that rubs his nose raw every breeding season. Yours could have been trying a little too hard to rub off an un-shed scale, injuring the softer scale underneath. That's the only thing I can think of if there are no potential hazards in his enclosure. When I discover any type of injury I'll dip a q-tip in peroxide and clean the area with it, usually heals in less than a week, and disappears with next shed cycle.