BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

So my 4 year old Irian Jaya has recently got this weird “air bubble” on his back full of green liquid (I’m assuming maybe pus or something?) and a small amount of blood. I’m really worried. He’s been fine otherwise, he’s still drinking, pooping, moving around when I take him out, but it’s just worrying me. I can’t find anything online for it.

First and foremost we need pictures. Second it doesn't sound good and I would get to a vet ASAP.

Janella wrote:First and foremost we need pictures. Second it doesn't sound good and I would get to a vet ASAP.

After doing some more research and also just noticing how its progressed, I’m pretty sure it’s scale rot. The only issue is my family can’t afford a reptile vet right now. We’ve put him in a paper towel enclosure, but we don’t know what else to do. I’ll try and get pictures if you need them still.

We will need to see pictures to verify if mouth rot. Your pet may have to go to the vet. Depending on how bad this is, it may require antibiotics.

How do I post an image?

See under the general section how to upload pictures.

I’ve cleaned out his terrarium and put him on paper towel, with just his water dish. What else should I be doing?

Sorry, I know I'm replying a lot, but after doing some reading most of last night, I think it's either scale rot or fungal infection (are those the same things? Does one lead to another?) He's still in the paper towel substrate, put in a water dish with low water level, he's still moving around fine, and we can't afford to take him to a vet until Friday. His substrate was almost always wet, so I'm thinking that's what caused it.

What substrate was he on? It should not be wet, that's a number one cause of scale rot. A moist humid hide is ok, but your animal should not be on wet substrate all the time.

splashy07 wrote:What substrate was he on? It should not be wet, that's a number one cause of scale rot. A moist humid hide is ok, but your animal should not be on wet substrate all the time.

I understand, that was my stupid mistake, I should've done more research. We kept him on this humid moss mixed with this sort of bark shavings? I don't quite know how to explain it.

A bacterial and fungal infection are two different issues. Personally, I'd remove the substrate for now and keep the skink on paper towels. Clean out the area with an antiseptic solution like Betadine and apply a triple antibiotic ointment WITHOUT pain relief properties. Hopefully you will see some improvement after a week or so. If it appears to spread or worsen, prescription antibiotics will necessary.

mb606587 wrote:A bacterial and fungal infection are two different issues. Personally, I'd remove the substrate for now and keep the skink on paper towels. Clean out the area with an antiseptic solution like Betadine and apply a triple antibiotic ointment WITHOUT pain relief properties. Hopefully you will see some improvement after a week or so. If it appears to spread or worsen, prescription antibiotics will necessary.

Thank you so much. I have been doing that for about 2 days now, giving him a saltwater “sponge bath” and then applying betadine to the areas, and they do look better, I’m just a bit worried because they’re turning a sort of pinkish color? Is that just the scales healing, or something I should be worried about?

In some cases yes the skin will turn pink during the process. If all is well you should see noticeable improvement within a week.

Update; his wounds are getting better, but now he’s shaking his front and back legs a lot when he tries to move? I’m really anxious. My family gets paid on Friday, so we can’t take him to a vet until then.

Sorry I kind of fell off the post...alot going on

Anyway, your treatment for th possible infection all sounds good. Glad that seems to be getting better. What do you mean by shaking? Tremors or actually just shaking? Video by chance?

Janella wrote:Sorry I kind of fell off the post...alot going on

Anyway, your treatment for th possible infection all sounds good. Glad that seems to be getting better. What do you mean by shaking? Tremors or actually just shaking? Video by chance?

It’s alright. I can’t thank you enough for the help. It’s mostly just whenever he wants to walk, he’ll sort of “wave” his arms? I’m not sure if it’s because he’s not used to the paper towel or something. I’ll try and take a video next time I catch it.

Sounds good. Could be normal.

Update: So he’s looking better, he walks normally outside of his terrarium so I’m pretty sure it’s just him being weird with the paper towel. However I’m running into issues with his humidity. I know I’m supposed to keep the SUBSTRATE dry, but it’s hard to mist his cage without getting the paper towel wet. Should I add back a little bit of substrate? Or find ways to raise the humidity with paper towel?

Another update; his scales seem to be okay, the only thing is there’s a patch of them that are very hardened compared to the rest. Also, his front and back legs have changed? I’ll try to take pictures later, but it’s almost like he lost some fat in them, they look thinner now. I’ve added back substrate to half his terrarium to keep up humidity since he wasn’t using his humid hide. I’m going to schedule an appointment with a vet as soon as possible, I’m really scared for him. Especially since lately he’s been sneezing a lot and breathing heavily. I feel like while trying to fix one thing, I mess up another. This is my first bluey and I just really wanna make sure he’s okay.