Help with malnourishment

[ChristianH26]

I’m wondering if anybody is able to help with possible malnourishment as yesterday night I saw stevie having a munch on his bedding and it occurred to me that I read that they can do this is they feel as though they’re deficient in anything. And then it clicked that the “complete” diet paste that we feed him says on the packet that it’s 85% of his total diet so it occurred to me that maybe it’s missing something that he may require. If anybody is proficient in this area and could spot if he’s missing anything from the diet paste ingredients I would be able to write them down and private message you ? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Janella]

What are you feeding him? What is this diet? If you stick to the plan of feeding 50% protein, 40% veggies, and 10% fruit your skink will have a proper diet. How old is Stevie? How often are you feeding? Species? Temps? All these can play into feeding.

[ChristianH26]

It’s omnigold complete diet paste which we were told by the pet shop we bought him from that it’s all he needs but now I’m beginning to wonder what the remaining 15% from the “85% complete diet” is. He’s 1 year old. He’s a Halmahera indo. We feed him every other evening and I keep the hot end around 36°c and around 70-80% humidity throughout the day.

[ChristianH26]

We began to feed him this after a few months of feeding him butternut squash and dog food (with added rocket and calcium powder once a week) but I understand that dog food can not be the best thing for them and we had this lying on the shelf so I thought we may as well use it. If you think we should stop using it, what would you recommend to be a perfect mix of foods ?

[Janella]

Hello again, so I have personally never heard of this paste stuff. I have no idea if it is good or bad. I would bump your temp up slightly. 100-105. Hal's like it hot. Your humidity should be around 80% or above.

As for the diet-follow the guidelines found on this forum. 50% protein, 40% veggies, and 10% fruit. For protein I use snails, eggs, dog food, ground lean turkey, insects, etc. Veggies, I use dark leafy greens (collard, turnip, dandelion, mustard, etc), squash's, green beans, carrots, cactus pads, sweet potato, zucchini, etc. Fruits I use banana, strawberry, blueberries, raspberries, peaches, etc. I usually blend everything together in a food processor and then freeze in ice cube trays. That way my skinks can't pick out just their favorites and they get a well balanced diet. I do one ice worth of food per skink twice a week.

Hope this helps.

[ChristianH26]

Okay I’ll start doing that that’s a good idea. Do you add any additives to your mixture like calcium or multi vitamins ?

[Janella]

I do when I feed. Just a small amount.

[ChristianH26]

Okay that’s great thank you for your help