New skink, Advice??

[Richard.C]

best to remove poop as its dropped if you can,leaving it in there will stink cage out and require full cleanings more often including replacing substrate,where as if u spot clean all the time cage stays cleaner longer meaning less need to strip cage down for full clean out

[The Bearded Derek]

Is it weird if his eyelid is purple? It's getting me worried.

[Lea]

I think a picture would help. Purple can be normal, they often have purplish tinge to the upper lid, or it could be abnormal, like a black eye. Impossible to tell without a picture to know what you are referring to.

Like Richard said, they don't spend a huge amount of time in the water, but they do differ. I have a couple who will happily lounge for a while, others that seem to detest getting their toes wet. They are elusive, not so much secretive and probably get up to a lot more than we actually witness. As long as he is drinking from his dish, it doesn't matter how much time he spends actually bathing.

Shedding aid is useful for stubborn scales, I've found it effective in the past for a couple of skinks. Try using different substrate during shedding, such as a piece of fine sandpaper. It gives a little grip and friction which helps loosen stubborn scales, particularly on the toes and pads of the feet. Providing different terrains and obstacles to climb over, not necessarily ornamentals, but rocks or bits of wood, can all aid with shedding by giving your skink something to rub up against. This gentle friction is effective enough in most cases.

And soaking won't work for a few minutes. To be effective, it needs to be long enough to soften the scales so that they slide off. A little unperfumed, natural moisturiser, such as an emu oil cream or even fragrance free baby lotion, can be used around the feet. The advantage is that you can apply directly to the area affected during gentle handling and sitting quietly with your skink for another ten minutes or so, will be enough time to soften stubborn scales. They'll also slip off quite easily.

[The Bearded Derek]

He only has purple on his upper eyelid so in that case he's ok
Thanks alot for the advice, was very useful! He's almost done shedding, he just needs to finish on his toes. I don't know why, but every time he's scared, he climbs on my shoulders. I guess that's where he feels safest? He's still taking a while to get used to people. At least he doesn't huff as much anymore but he still does (Like once every 5-15 minutes). Only way I know if he's scared is him huffing, sometimes urinating on me, and breathing a bit fast/slow. Sometimes I give him a treat so he can calm down, like mangos, mealworms, peas, rarely quail eggs, and bits of dogfoodI heard a tip that if you get whatever he hides in and rub it on you (To get your smell) every time he'll sleep he'll smell you and be tame. Does this really work? At least for skinks?

[The Bearded Derek]

His poop is a bit big and like a liquid. Also a bit green. Is this normal?

[Richard.C]

no not normal

should be firmish and a brown log with a bit of white urate in appearence

[The Bearded Derek]

It has urates too, but what should I do for it to be normal? Does he have too much protein, too little, Too much other nutrition?? It's not really a liquid it's just squishy

[Lea]

I really like him, sometimes he looks stressed when my sister holds him (She acts like it's a little purse dog or fashion accessory ._.)

I used the dog food with tiny bits of carrots. He loved it! It said chicken & smoked bacon combo, canned, food for small dog (Didn't say low fat, so I assume that was good enough), brand was Purina. Is this specific one good? Can it be just any canned, low fat dog food? Doesn't matter the meat flavors?

Does anyone know any common/great food mixes (I'd call it skink chow) that would last a while in the fridge/freezer?

For an adult blue tongue, you need approx 40% protein, beef is a better calcium to phosphate ratio than chicken, too. Try to find a beef variety, with veggies, but no smoked elements. Smoking doesn't actually add anything when it's done for real, other than the vapours from the wood it's smoked in, but most dog food would add a smoke flavour, which means artificial additives. You can add extra veggies and greens as required, with a little fruit as a treat.

The best food mixes, in my opinion, are made fresh to order and for an adult, feeding once or twice a week, you can prepare as required. Fresh meat can also be used, just be sure not to add salt etc if you want to give him a little of your own!

[The Bearded Derek]

He's only about 2 1/2 months old though (He'll be 3 months on the 17th). Normally I would feed him once a day, everytime at 10:00 AM, with half a teaspoon of dog food with some peas, carrots, and sometimes other veggies like Zucchini (Sometimes I forget to add the veggies)

[The Bearded Derek]

I took a vid of him eating a Quail egg, tell me if something is odd in the vid. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fw0An3yJNrc

[Dakota]

Is there a worm crawling out of his cloaca??

[Dakota]

Btw, I'm kidding!! He looks completely fine.

[The Bearded Derek]

You scared me for a second, I literally looked back in the video XD

[Richard.C]

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[Dakota]

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[Richard.C]

[The Bearded Derek]

[The Bearded Derek]

He's about 3 months old now and he's still somewhat afraid of me. Is this normal?

[Dakota]

Heck my guys are almost 9 months old, and still very wary.

[The Bearded Derek]

Oh ok, for a moment I thought that I couldn't tame him thanks