New Baby Blue Question

[Milly G]

Hi all

Am a new Bluey owner so sorry if question seems silly.
We just got our bluey this morning at two weeks of age, we got him home safe and sound.
The only thing im concerned about are his eating habits. He would only eat three peices of cut up raw steak today, wouldnt touch anything else like the veges and fruit we offered him, but drank his water fine.
Would this be because he is still getting use to his surroundings? The breeders had no issue feeding the lil guy, so i just thought it may be down to him settling in.

Sorry if this is silly, just being a worrying mum!

[Milly G]

Thought I would just put a few more photos up so you could see what he looks like. He is very handsome. (im sure all owners say that )

Bluey.png

[Richard.C]

Nice looking lil eastern,thats an early born one,what did previous owner feed it,it may not like veg or not recognise it,but more importantly you said u got it today,so will need time to settle in,and eating on the day u brought it homes a good sign its not overy bothered by new surroundings

[CricketForestwater]

I'd kinda like to know how big the pieces of steak were. If they were kind of big pieces that would fill up a tiny belly real quick, I'm sure

[Milly G]

We cut up the steak sizes to quite a small size, but having three of then may have filled his wee belly..
The breeder said they fed him a huge range of veg, fruit and meat and that he was an avid Lil eater..

I'm Going to try meal worms as a treat today and see how that goes. he seems a little more settled in today.!

[Richard.C]

Im sure he will pick up his eating pretty fast as he settles into new surroundings

[Jeff]

That's a real beauty! I would pay a TON to get my hands on that little guy. Congratulations! Just keep offering him food, and give him a little time to get adjusted. I'm sure he will start pigging out in no time.

[Milly G]

Thank you!! We are proud adoptive parents.
Am off to get a good temperature reader to make sure his hot spot is warm enough as well.

Gave him a meal worm which he bit, then just let it go and ignored it.
Will give him time.

[Milly G]

Sorry just another quick question..

Have checked the heat and the cool side of the tank is fine as it is at 22-28, but the hot side is only at 31.5 i know it needs to get up to over 32..
We have a ceramic heat emitter in there as well as a heat light fan. Our tank is quite large so we decided to get two heat sources, but that still doesnt seem to be enough.
The heat emitter is 100w and the heat fan 50w.

How would i go about getting this hotter or would 31.5 be alright as today has been a cold day?

Sorry about these questions!

[LarissaLurid]

Wow!!! What a beauty!

He's brand new and in a strange place so he could also be nervous (or the steak just filled his little belly up lol). Once he's settled in more as time goes on he should eat more properly, but many skinks won't eat veggies alone so I try mixing mine in with the meat when I feed my skink so he eats everything. :]

[neurotic88]

Sorry just another quick question..

Have checked the heat and the cool side of the tank is fine as it is at 22-28, but the hot side is only at 31.5 i know it needs to get up to over 32..
We have a ceramic heat emitter in there as well as a heat light fan. Our tank is quite large so we decided to get two heat sources, but that still doesnt seem to be enough.
The heat emitter is 100w and the heat fan 50w.

How would i go about getting this hotter or would 31.5 be alright as today has been a cold day?

Sorry about these questions!

I had the exact same issue with the CHE. I had a 150 watt emitter, and it still didn't get the temps I needed.

You will find that emitters do not project heat very well, especially over a distance, I solved this by using an infrared light bulb instead, and 100 does what a 150 CHE could not.

Hope this helps

Very adorable eastern btw

[Rani-May]

just in case u wanted a little extra advice, some baby blueys tend to have trouble with too many meal worms, harder to digest so my herp vet told me. maybe try to keep it under 3 a week.
Also if he becomes a fussy eater (my baby of a month old certainly is when it comes to veggies) try blending together the veggies with a bit of meat he enjoys and dont forget to sprinkle some calcium supplement on for him
Very pretty skink you have there

[amb44]

Just saw these on trademe...so tempted...lol

[Milly G]

Thanks for the advice on the heat, today the heat was were it should be, but we will monitor this and probably go with the infrared if the heat stays a problem..

We only had wet cat food in the house not dog, so I mixed a lot of Veges into some and sprinkled calcium on it. We left it with him while we went to work and the Lil toe rag has eaten half!

[Milly G]

Those are his brothers an sisters on trademe!

[LarissaLurid]

just in case u wanted a little extra advice, some baby blueys tend to have trouble with too many meal worms, harder to digest so my herp vet told me. maybe try to keep it under 3 a week.
Also if he becomes a fussy eater (my baby of a month old certainly is when it comes to veggies) try blending together the veggies with a bit of meat he enjoys and dont forget to sprinkle some calcium supplement on for him
Very pretty skink you have there

Agreed
I don't feed mine meal worms, they aren't that healthy really and in the past when I've given my bluey any, they've passed undigested :/

[LarissaLurid]

Sorry just another quick question..

Have checked the heat and the cool side of the tank is fine as it is at 22-28, but the hot side is only at 31.5 i know it needs to get up to over 32..
We have a ceramic heat emitter in there as well as a heat light fan. Our tank is quite large so we decided to get two heat sources, but that still doesnt seem to be enough.
The heat emitter is 100w and the heat fan 50w.

How would i go about getting this hotter or would 31.5 be alright as today has been a cold day?

Sorry about these questions!

I hate CHE, they don't give proper surface temps, they just heat up the area (and mostly the room, as well as dry out the air horribly)

I use an infrared heat bulb for mine and it works perfect.

[Milly G]

What brand of infrared do you guys use? If you don't mind me asking?
So using that instead of the Che as well as his heat light fan wouldn't make it too hot?

We need to get a temp gun, as using a digi one at the mo and the heat is always changing on it.. The hot spot is about 31-33, but sometimes it only reads 29. So changing to a infrared would be the way to go? And getting a 100w even tho we have the heat light??

Thank you do much for all the advice, it's a real comfort having people out there help!!

[Milly G]

Thought it might be handy if you could see his/her home size etc.
We are using newspaper as a main substrate while he is a baby as doing research before this said as babies they may eat other substrates. But we wanted him to have a lil burrow area so have some care-fresh in his lil hide in the cool end of the tank.

Looking at the temp now in his hot spot it is saying 35.2, so have just ordered a temp gun online so we can 100% know if its the heater or the thermo. The photo of him sitting on his log was before we introduced the fan heat light to make his basking spot a lot warmer.

I hope you like his tank, and any suggestions welcome, we enjoy making his tank suitable for Pluto.

[Milly G]

Just some updated photos of the we guy..