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Skink having panic attacks or nightmares??

Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2024 12:54 pm
by kaekae007
Hello all. I'm at a complete loss on this. I've tried doing research and I've only seen a few others with this issue with no answers on why this happens. Since he was about 1, my BTS has had freak outs while he was burrowed, sound asleep. What happens is, while he's sound asleep, all of a sudden he comes bolting out and sprinting from one end of his tank to the other, smacking into the glass and scaling the sides and falling every which way. During this time, me talking to him doesn't help, it usually lasts about 5-10 minutes before he's finally calmed down. The first couple of times this happened, I thought it could be bugs or ants in his tank biting him, but there was never any and it happened whether the substrate was new or needing to be changed. I found another thread that suggested maybe nightmares, but nothing anyone was ever really certain of. I've taken him to the vet, they looked him over and said everything was fine.
He's 15 now and it's happening more and more often, about 2-3 times a week or so and I'm very worried. He's an old boy now, could it be dementia? Experiencing nightmares more often?(if that was the case to begin with). I have no idea what to do. I'm worried one of these times he is going to drop his tail because it's happening so often now(surprised he hadn't dropped it before with the amount of panic he experiences during these episodes). Does anyone have any answers or advice? Thanks in advance.

Re: Skink having panic attacks or nightmares??

Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2024 8:43 pm
by Janella
Could this be a form of seizure? I have never heard of such a thing. Have you ever recorded an episode and shown the vet?