BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Last year i got a 1 year old bluey for my hard times in lockdown but she was very small and speedy when i got her. Now she is bigger and fussy, she hates her greens and she would kick mulch into her water bowl, (she still does lolll) but now she is very big and fussy of what she eats and very territorial and doesn't like me so she always tries to escape when im not looking please help

Shingleback bluey wrote:Last year i got a 1 year old bluey for my hard times in lockdown but she was very small and speedy when i got her. Now she is bigger and fussy, she hates her greens and she would kick mulch into her water bowl, (she still does lolll) but now she is very big and fussy of what she eats and very territorial and doesn't like me so she always tries to escape when im not looking please help

Hey there (: aww I’m sorry to hear this ! I’m no expert but I can tell you what I did with my one bluey to get her friendly and what I do with my other bluey to get him to eat his healthy stuff ! Lol well with the feeding i ALWAYS use dog food as a base and add to it, to give more variety and so the skink wants to eat it, the dog food smell is strong so I personally think it covers at least some of the veggies and greens smell, i put just a little in so like 1tbsp of dog food and then little greens or veggies (not a lot and diced) mixed into the dog food and my guy eats it, or ill mix bluey buffet into his dog food and he loves that, with a little sweet potato puree organic baby food, they love variety so mix it up, also only offer a portion the size of their head and for making my rescue girl friendly , when she came here she would hiss sometimes and was kinda as you explained, i started with building trust, not touching her but just be sitting there while she eats and when shes out just sitting there, maybe touching her back once in a while and when i did have to handle her to take care of the toes she lost and to keep her clean and everything it was hard but i would pet her for a min so she’d know i was coming and i would slide my arm under her and pick her up, supporting her tail too. I had to handle cause she was a rescue and needed care but if your just doing handling and she’s healthy I’d say hold her for 4-5 mins up to 2 times a day but spread way apart, and keep this up hopefully she’ll get better with it, my girl did and now comes out and falls asleep on me lol hope this helps a bit !!

What do you currently feed her? Dog food always helps with picky eaters and tricks them into eating veggies. if you already feed dog food are you changing it up often? I recommend at least 3 different brands and flavours of dog food to ensure your skink has variety. Feeding the same thing constantly without changing it up can cause them to become less interested. One of mine stopped eating crickets once for that reason. I would also add some flavour enhancers like basil, bee pollen and the superfood supplement from Pisces. Mine LOVE the smell of basil. Also how often are you feeding her? An adult should be fed once or twice a week. Over feeding can cause them to become picky, a picky skink is not a hungry skink.

As for the territorial behaviour and wanting to escape/glass surfing there might be some things wrong with the enclosure setup. If the enclosure is too open, not enough foliage and hides or the enclosure is placed in high traffic parts of the house can freak them out and make them feel uncomfortable. Skinks react to stressful situations differently, some just hide the moment they hear footsteps and others become very defensive. Too high temperatures/humidity and not enough space and enrichment can also cause them to glass surf.
If you can please provide a photo of the enclosure and list the temperatures (basking spot, hot side and cool side) and the humidity.