Halmahera Shed Inspection - Does This Look Normal?

[Meeesh]

Hello!

Kaiju just finished shedding (almost) except for his tail. I soaked him for a few minutes (less than 5 min) earlier and was making sure all toes were good when I was concerned with a few spots on his tail. Now that he's warmed temperature wise up and been here for a while, he's FIESTY lol. He huffs and puffs and squirms but has never bit or acted like biting, which I'm thankful for. I got a few pictures. A couple things to note:

https://imgur.com/a/CnWPjDo

- It is not seeping, bleeding, or scaling.
- it looks "worse" in this picture
- It looks a lot like a scar, or a dark spot.
- Does the end of the tail look okay? It's still needing to completely shed, so it looks dry and kind of dipped into?





Is this scale rot or some sort of old injury showed fresher because of the shed? His humidity has been anywhere from 85% - 99% with the humidifier and twice daily mists to keep substrate moist. However, the substrate gets dried out on the hot side. I wish these pictures were better and less blurry.

[Meeesh]

Well, to reply to my own post...

I think I'll just call the vet and schedule an appt as soon as possible.

How traumatizing is a vet visit? I want to make sure that this isn't going to negatively impact his personality/ability to be held and handled in the future. Obviously, that's not a reason to not go...does anyone have any suggestions on how to make this the least traumatic?

[mb606587]

Eh it looks pretty minor. In my experience with scale rot, you're going to see open wounds or bulging. Typically it won't resolve itself after a shed or two. My skink stopped eating while she dealt with it. Sometimes you'll get some scalation issues that resolve after a good shed. Now if it doesn't or grows in size then you may have an issue. In your case, it's a good idea to have your skink checked out being it's an import. If you can bring a fresh fecal sample with you, than do it. To lessen the stress, place your skink in a small dark container with a secure lid. I'll usually throw an old T shirt in it so it can burrow and hide.

[Meeesh]

Thank you

He's eating very good, accepting food daily and moving around (though he burrowed last night I'm assuming because I held him lol).

I'll see when I can get into the vet for general check up, though the store let me know he's been to the vet to resolve not eating before I got him. Hopefully they can get me in shortly.