Swollen scale right after brumation!
Posted: Sat Feb 08, 2020 4:21 pm
Hello everyone, this is my first time posting! I’m typing this on my phone so I apologize for any formatting or spelling errors. Also I call my baby a “she”, though I actually don’t know what her sex is.
My northern blue tongue skink (Ripley) just woke up today after 3 months of brumating. She’s 1 and a half years old, and completely disappeared for the entire 3 months. Everything seemed fine before her brumation started. I didn’t notice any wounds or signs of mouth rot, metabolic bone disease, etc. I feed her a varied diet of veggies (approved ones from the feeding chart) and different types of premium dog food. She also loves corn so I give her a few kernels occasionally as a treat. I also give freeze dried gut loaded crickets or grasshoppers as a treat and dust her food with calcium once a week or every other week. She has a Uv bulb and I keep her humidity around 50-60%. She’s never had any problems shedding and has all her toesies. She’s also never suffered any wounds before. Her substrate is a mix of mostly ReptiChip Premium Coconut substrate from Amazon, with some cypress mulch (forest floor) and a bit of spaghnum moss. The substrate is probably around 4 inches deep. Her tank is 4ftx2ftx18in. She’s active and enjoys exploring my room.
Anyway, Ripley emerged from brumation today with a swollen scale on her front right elbow. It seems to be jutting out of her elbow and the whole scale looked inflamed and pink. There’s definitely swelling, but she seems to put pressure on it fine and walks normally, without any limping. She did react when I tried to touch the nearby area above it, but also reacted the exact same way when I tried touching her other arm in the same spot. I don’t see any signs of this anywhere else on her body. I’m worried and don’t know what it is. I’m hoping somebody here will recognize this, or that it’ll naturally heal within a few days. Otherwise, I will be taking her to a vet!
I love her a lot and am hoping it’s not a giant issue or a precursor sign to something incurable. Please help a girl out! I’ve included some images below. Thanks a lot everyone!
My northern blue tongue skink (Ripley) just woke up today after 3 months of brumating. She’s 1 and a half years old, and completely disappeared for the entire 3 months. Everything seemed fine before her brumation started. I didn’t notice any wounds or signs of mouth rot, metabolic bone disease, etc. I feed her a varied diet of veggies (approved ones from the feeding chart) and different types of premium dog food. She also loves corn so I give her a few kernels occasionally as a treat. I also give freeze dried gut loaded crickets or grasshoppers as a treat and dust her food with calcium once a week or every other week. She has a Uv bulb and I keep her humidity around 50-60%. She’s never had any problems shedding and has all her toesies. She’s also never suffered any wounds before. Her substrate is a mix of mostly ReptiChip Premium Coconut substrate from Amazon, with some cypress mulch (forest floor) and a bit of spaghnum moss. The substrate is probably around 4 inches deep. Her tank is 4ftx2ftx18in. She’s active and enjoys exploring my room.
Anyway, Ripley emerged from brumation today with a swollen scale on her front right elbow. It seems to be jutting out of her elbow and the whole scale looked inflamed and pink. There’s definitely swelling, but she seems to put pressure on it fine and walks normally, without any limping. She did react when I tried to touch the nearby area above it, but also reacted the exact same way when I tried touching her other arm in the same spot. I don’t see any signs of this anywhere else on her body. I’m worried and don’t know what it is. I’m hoping somebody here will recognize this, or that it’ll naturally heal within a few days. Otherwise, I will be taking her to a vet!
I love her a lot and am hoping it’s not a giant issue or a precursor sign to something incurable. Please help a girl out! I’ve included some images below. Thanks a lot everyone!