Pooping problem

[Eap]

Hello, my sister has a blue tongued skink and has a play pen set up where he can roam around and have some time out of his enclosure, but there is a problem I would say 988% of the time my sister puts him in his play area he always poops on the carpet, and when that happens my sister gets mad at him and puts him up right away :/ which sucks because she rarely ever takes him out, and I feel bad for him because he doesn't understand what he did wrong, or that going to the bathroom on the carpet is against the rules, so I was wondering if there is possibly a solution to that problem? I’ve recommended my sister buy a plastic table cloth and spread it all over the play area so if he does poop it won’t be as a big deal to clean up and also that way it won’t get on the carpet,

she never takes him out for a few days after she feeds him because she said skinks need time to digest their food and if you take them out too soon I o let them explore they will poop every where, but even after he has time to digest his food and it’s been a few days he still poops in his play area regardless, I know it frustrates my sister especially since his poop can stain the carpet ( and it smells) but I really hate he’s getting punished and put back in his enclosure as soon as he poops, he’s such a sweet boy someone please help give me advice so I can hopefully find a good helpful solution to this problem

[Robotmenace]

I've had this problem with my skink, she seems to rarely poop in her tank, although we bring her out to socialize quite often. If being handled is stressful, they can poop/pee as a response. But more often than not, it seems like they just need a little time to be active and get their metabolism working. Since they're cold blooded, their metabolism is tied to body temperature and activity. If your skink has been sleeping all day and you pull them right out, they're gonna start moving around and work up a poop. It's just how it goes. If you expect it, it's easily avoidable. We have a collapsible pet playpen that's basically tarp on the bottom, easy to clean. We also have a heated blanket/pad with a removable cover than can be easily machine washed if she poops on it. Just in general, keep them on an easy to clean surface UNTIL they poop, because they almost assuredly will. Even then accidents still happen every once in a while, but you should generally be safe to have it out and social with minimal accidents.

[Eap]

Thank you so much for the advice! it was really helpful! I’ll be sure to pass it on to my sister

[Janella]

Hi there. Ditto to the above advice. However, I also had one of mine pretty much potty trained. I knew he always pooped/peed in the morning. I would wait him out until he went. Once he went, I would get him out. They hardly ever will pee or poop again once they have just gone.

Now, my other guy...well he is tricky. So for safety with him I usually just spread old towels down where he is at and then voila, if he goes easy clean up.

Good luck and thank you for caring so much.