New Baby aquired but there are complicationd

[HinaHina]

Hey guys, im quite new to larger skinks in general and i have a bit of a problem and i want to ask more experienced people

So i ordered a indonesian blue tongue skink online, a young specimen that was sebt to me on tuesday in winter with heatpacks. However there was a problem with the shipping company and they never called me or replied to my email, i couldnt get my animal. So fast forward to today, they hand me a cold box and i open it and see that my skink is limp and presumably dead. The heatpack lasted 2 days and ran out today in the morning. So i warmed him up and he thankfully survived the ordeal. I let him warm up in a shallow bowl of warm water first holding his head so he doesnt drown and then i also put him into a plastic container next to my heater. I then put him into his enclosure under the basking spot so he can warm up. Thats when i noticed the problems. He didnt use his back legs at the start and even now seems to not use them properly. And sometimes when he walks around the enclosure he gets this weird head wobbling similar to a spider ball python. The enclosure is bioactive with a water bowl and its 23°C ambient temperature and 30°C under his basking light. He drank a few drops off the enclosure walls. But just sat in the water bowl. He pooped too and i offered some catfood and greens, but he only licked and walked away. He has 3 hides but he doesnt use them and sleeps in the open of the enclosure. In general he seems extremely lethargic and always sleeps, either under the basking light or just randomly in the enclosure. He seems way to calm and that worries me.

What should i do to help him, or is he a lost cause?

[splashy07]

He has been through quite an ordeal, the fact that he even survived is amazing. Indos are almost always wild caught or 'farmed' as they say, therefore his horrors started way before he was even sent to you. I would get him to an exotic vet ASAP. I have no idea why anyone ships this time of year.

[HinaHina]

I will definetly get him to a vet tomorrow as its late here already, thankfully my friends are vetemary students and can help me find an exotic vet. The skink was breed by the guy who sent it however it wasnt wildcaught.

I just hope he makes it through the night

[Janella]

It sounds like you are doing the right thing and getting your skink warmed up and fed. I would get him to the vet as soon as you can. Unfortunately with the way shipping has been lately I would never ship a skink at the moment. Hopefully your skink survives the night. Good luck.

[HinaHina]

Thanks for the kind messages, hes currently asleep and leaning against the enclosure wall. Im not sure is i shoukd take him out and put him next to the heater in a small container. Is there maybe a way on how i can give him some energy. I read online there is this solution you can make with sugar or honey and water. Woukd this be recommended in this situation or would it just stress him out more or cause more harm?

He hasnt eaten or drank anything yet, and hes been in the box for 3 days, ik that indonesians are prone to dehydration. Should i maybe try to hold him next to a bowl so he can drink?

[HinaHina]

So i just checked up on him and he is still pretty lethargic, he also seems pretty thin and has allot of stuck shed all over him. I decided to put him into a smaller box with high humidity and put him close to a heater. i also managed to get him to lick some banana so he had a tiny amount of food. i hope he makes the night so i can bring him to a vet. the way he acts is very strange, having bursts of energy where he tries to escape to him laying still for hours not moving. Im incredibly scared about his well being.

[Janella]

I am so sorry for your little guy. I hope he keeps fighting. You could try a little bit of plain chicken baby food or some really smelly cat food. You could try to force feed, but I would worry it would add more stress. I would heat the food up and mix with a little warm water to help see if it will eat. You can also try to bump the temp up slightly. So if your basking area is 100, I would bump to 105 or so. Let's us know the outcome tomorrow with what the vet says.

[HinaHina]

I am so sorry for your little guy. I hope he keeps fighting. You could try a little bit of plain chicken baby food or some really smelly cat food. You could try to force feed, but I would worry it would add more stress. I would heat the food up and mix with a little warm water to help see if it will eat. You can also try to bump the temp up slightly. So if your basking area is 100, I would bump to 105 or so. Let's us know the outcome tomorrow with what the vet says.

I decided to try to rehydrate him, i havent done it with skinks but with other reptiles and i got 2 teaspoons of liquid into him, of course he didnt drink it fully but its a start, i also force feed him a tiny amount of banana catfood mix, but he spat most of it out as well. However after getting a drink he became more active so i crancked up the heat slightly in his enclosure and put him back. this time he actually dug a burrow under the log and went to sleep. so im hoping he has some fight left to survive the night. Im also hoping i can get him a proper exotic vet as im currently in latvia where these are incredibly rare.

[Janella]

Prayers for the little guy.

[HinaHina]

Hey guys, so he made it through the night. Im gonna contact a vet now and get him there.

[Janella]

Excellent news! Let us know what they say.

[HinaHina]

Excellent news! Let us know what they say.

The Vet said he is pretty weak and seems to be slightly dehydrated however nothing else seems to be wrong with him. she suggested forcefeeding if he isnt eating by himself and i managed to get half a cricket into him. He still rests allot under the basking light and doesnt move a whole lot, but he also doesnt seem scared. I will keep working on him and i will make sure he survives because hes such a fighter. Do you guys have any other tips? things i could maybe try out? This was the vets first time seeing a skink so im not sure if she might have missed something.

[Janella]

When you can send us/me some pictures so I can verify the exact species of this skink. Then, I can verify your husbandry. The key with any reptile is making sure the husbandry is correct. Did the vet run a fecal sample? Instead of trying to force feed a cricket and such, I would purchase what is called critcal care. It is a powdered diet made into a liquid that can easily be syringe fed. You can also keep trying small amount of canned cat food. At the young age it needs protein to grow. When syringe feeding...go slow. You don't want to aspirate the skink. Good luck and let us know how things are going.

[HinaHina]

When you can send us/me some pictures so I can verify the exact species of this skink. Then, I can verify your husbandry. The key with any reptile is making sure the husbandry is correct. Did the vet run a fecal sample? Instead of trying to force feed a cricket and such, I would purchase what is called critcal care. It is a powdered diet made into a liquid that can easily be syringe fed. You can also keep trying small amount of canned cat food. At the young age it needs protein to grow. When syringe feeding...go slow. You don't want to aspirate the skink. Good luck and let us know how things are going.

Hey, they did run a fecal sample and a blood.test to check parasytes etc. I will most likely receive the answers for that today. When i force feed the crickets i mushed them up with some cat food, water and a tiny amount of banana and feed it with a pippete because i have no syringe. Today he was doing much better, he isnt sleeping in random spots but in the hide and hes very active so i think maybe the stress of moving and freezing caused it. Species wise he is a merauke blue tongue. The breeder only breeds those. His humidity is between 70 and 90 percent and right now and hes in a bin enclosure for quarentine because i have other exotic reptiles. His proper enclosure is being made and should arrive in a week. I will leave him alone for today and tomorrow, as hes feed and hydrated. But i believe that he will make a 100%recovery.
For feeding i use high quality wet cat food, mustard greens, apple, raw egg, squashed crickets and dubias and a tiny amount of banans, i mix it all together and keave it in the enclosure for a few hours lets see if hes interested in it today.

[HinaHina]

Here is an image from when i got him out the box 2 days ago

[Janella]

Sounds like you are doing a very good job with your skink. What an adorable baby!!! I personally think you need to give this little one a strong name for being such a fighter!!!

[HinaHina]

Sounds like you are doing a very good job with your skink. What an adorable baby!!! I personally think you need to give this little one a strong name for being such a fighter!!!

Im trying my best, he still hasnt eaten by himself but he is wandering around now abd hisses at me which i see as a good sign. Im still coming up with a name now that im sure he will survive. Also he is parasyte free :>

[Janella]

I am so happy your skink is doing good so far and starting to act more like a baby skink should. Keep him warm and make sure your husbandry is 100% correct. Then, just keep offering food. He should be eating daily at his young age. Even small amounts twice a day. Keep up the good work!!!

[HinaHina]

Hey guys a little update, so after a time of good behavior he still hasnt eaten by himself and became rather thin and then when i checked the temperature yesterday i noticed the basking light wasnt working so i had to order a new one. Now we are back to step one, my room is warm but his activity instantly plumeted and hes not really moving anymore. I do regular warm soaks with him but i feel like its bad to keep changing his body temp like that. What am i supposed to do while i wait for the new lamp to arrive? I also ordered some vitamins for him as well.

Another thing i noticed was that he has loads of bite marks from other skinks and he isnt using his one back leg thats been biten at all, im not sure if its broken but he seems to be in pain when i touch it, i domt know how the vet missed these injuries. I also noticed a cloudy dot inside of his eye almost like catarax and i cant find anything online on what it is. The eye isnt bubbling and it clean. I tried contacting another vet but no response yet.

Im once again exrltremely worried and at a loss because this guy is tougher to care for than i expected.

[Janella]

I would get him back to the vet asap and have him checked. Especially the leg. It is extremely important to keep him warm. Is there a heating pad you can use or warming unit? If you use a pad make sure he isn't touching the pad directly to his skin.