BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Hi everyone I am a brand new Halmahera skink owner, name currently undecided. I got my skink yesterday, he/she is eating, and I have a vet appointment next week. He/she is from petco which i know is less than ideal and i don’t like admitting to, I had hard a time finding a good way to ship here. He is eating and is maybe 6 months old. He was a long term resident at the store. I gathered they fed him meal worms, crickets and kale with calcium supplement and an occasional pinkie. He had some wellness cat food and a failed attempt at arugula yesterday.

I plan on discussing parasites with the vet, the store is adamant he isn’t WC and they didn’t deworm him. I have been told he is from vista, cal zoo and another place. Any other input on what to discuss with vet is appreciated.

I did a lot of research and am 100% sure he is Halmahera, they didn’t know. He is in a 40 gallon breeder for now, I got his basking spot down and am quickly improving on humidity thanks to what I read from post on here. You are all very helpful! I am certain on his age as I have seen him there for about that time and he has grown a bit.

Go with your gut and have it checked for parasites. If it is Halmahera, it is likely farmed in Indonesia or captive born from a gravid wild caught mother. Either way, exporters will sell the baby skinks as CB, meaning captive born, and parasites are still something to worry about. You can try to contact the zoo the pet store claims it received the skink from in the small chance they successfully bred two cohabitating skinks but chances are your skink was not actually produced here in the states from two healthy parents. Check for signs of stuck shed and respiratory illness. Pet stores almost never keep the humidity high enough for this subspecies and chronic low humidity levels usually lead to those ailments.

I should clarify, cal zoo is a distributor to pet stores. I have not observed stuck shed, however there might be a missing toe. He is still pretty shy so I haven’t fully analyzed him, weight looks good and for his first day he ate like a champ. But i can confirm his humidity at store was low between 40 and 60, and ambient temperature was 70. though no observation of respiratory issues. So I definitely have some concerns there.