Our BTS Java isn't eating it's been 38 days.

[Dakota]

That should be the basking area, not ambient. My ambient on the hot-side is around 88-92 or so if I remember correctly.

[Richard.C]

Is the night ambient lower lately than normal,with zero night warmth that can be enough to turn them of food,cool enough for testes enlargement and to get them in the mood,they dont nessacarilly need to shut right down like temperate form species,often just a bigger night fluctuation is enough to shut them down,thats how my northerns cycle,pretty sure susann cycles her meraukes similar and they mate before shutting down or before night temps are at there lowest

Uour day temps sound fine,but where these guys come from,day heat is consistent year round,but nights arent and they have wet/dry seasons

Its weight doesnt look to bad,definatly far from on its last legs,males are often sleek,even going into brumation,females are more inclined to pork up in readiness for possably having babies the following season,its in there instincts anyways

My suggestion is perhaps try offering some night warmth if u want him to stay awake and feed,at least an ambient of 75 to 77 to mimmick active season and get his appetite back

As to me he has picked up outside cues and felt cooler nights so thinking of other things and not food

[Scincoides]

I can attest to the fact that even with night heat, he may still not have much interest in food. I have night heat on all five of my merauke enclosures and they have still decided not to eat more than a nibble of their last three meals. They know that the seasons have changed, and are starting to shut down.

[Richard.C]

It can be tricky trying to convince them otherwise,sometimes safest just letting them shutdown,o have a hard time keeping even my juvie northerns active,even with 24 hour warmth,so just let them do what they do

[Dakota]

My skinks are still in full swing, temperatures only dropped by a degree or 3. A stage of Fall here, nights actually warm up and day cools down, then night start cooling with day. Some night were even warmer than days. I think around December is when my guys will start wanting to mate. Can't say until it happens.

[Lea]

He actually looks a reasonable weight, I wouldn't be overly concerned about it. He's slender, but not skinny.

As he is still active and seemingly unaffected by his weight loss and not eating, I'd be cautious about continuing with antibiotics, however, if you've started the course, keep going until it's finished otherwise he may develop resistance and they'll be ineffective next time.

Seeing these pictures and going by his behaviour, I'm inclined to think it's just a natural response to the time of year and he's heading towards brumation. His weight is substantial enough, judging by the photos, for him to safely brumate without ill effects, so perhaps just continue to observe for any anomalies and see what happens. It's tough watching them seemingly starve themselves, but he's just doing what comes naturally.

The lumpy tail I would say is totally unrelated and is probably just showing itself more because of the weight loss, but it's appearance is similar to MBD. Just make sure he has adequate calcium and vitamin D3 in his diet from now on, since any damage done can't be changed, but you can stop it worsening.

[Bluish]

He actually looks a reasonable weight, I wouldn't be overly concerned about it. He's slender, but not skinny.

As he is still active and seemingly unaffected by his weight loss and not eating, I'd be cautious about continuing with antibiotics, however, if you've started the course, keep going until it's finished otherwise he may develop resistance and they'll be ineffective next time.

Seeing these pictures and going by his behaviour, I'm inclined to think it's just a natural response to the time of year and he's heading towards brumation. His weight is substantial enough, judging by the photos, for him to safely brumate without ill effects, so perhaps just continue to observe for any anomalies and see what happens. It's tough watching them seemingly starve themselves, but he's just doing what comes naturally.

The lumpy tail I would say is totally unrelated and is probably just showing itself more because of the weight loss, but it's appearance is similar to MBD. Just make sure he has adequate calcium and vitamin D3 in his diet from now on, since any damage done can't be changed, but you can stop it worsening.

I was going to say pretty much the exact same thing.
1. Going off food at this time of year is NORMAL.
2. His weight is FINE. Not skinny by any means, normal male weight.

What is his diet Geo? I'm no expert on MBD but from what i have seen it is often apparent throughout the body. In some species rubbery jaws are also a symptom.

[Richard.C]

My skinks are still in full swing, temperatures only dropped by a degree or 3. A stage of Fall here, nights actually warm up and day cools down, then night start cooling with day. Some night were even warmer than days. I think around December is when my guys will start wanting to mate. Can't say until it happens.

Your in a warm climate zone,hence there active later

[megan91]

Age keeps being an issue, so I'm going to say this. I have Aspergers Syndrome. Look it up.

Asperger syndrome is one of the autism spectrum disorders, and is classified as a developmental disorder that affects how the brain processes information. People with Asperger syndrome have a wide range of strengths, weaknesses, skills and difficulties.

Common characteristics include difficulty in forming friendships, communication difficulties (such as a tendency to take things literally), and an inability to understand social rules and body language. Asperger syndrome is also known as Asperger Disorder.

http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv ... and_adults

Sorry, but I fail to see the significance between your age, asperger syndrome, and the OP's concerns.

[Dakota]

There are many other symptoms, as well that I will freely tell you in PM. People mistake my age for the reason I come off big-headed and un-open to other's opinion.

[Dakota]

It has nothing to do with this topic, per se, but my age was mentioned, and I felt the need to express why that reason would be illogical for any situation (here and plenty in the past), but trying reading some more:

Average or above-average intelligence

Difficulties with high-level language skills such as verbal reasoning, problem solving, making inferences and predictions

Difficulties in empathising with others

Problems with understanding another person’s point of view

Difficulties engaging in social routines such as conversations and‘small talk’

Problems with controlling feelings such as anger, depression and anxiety

A preference for routines and schedules which can result in stress or anxiety if a routine is disrupted

Specialised fields of interest or hobbies.

Avoid eye contact or stare at others.

Be preoccupied with only one or few interests, which he or she may be very knowledgeable about. Many children with Asperger's syndrome are overly interested in parts of a whole or in unusual activities, such as designing houses, drawing highly detailed scenes, or studying astronomy. They may show an unusual interest in certain topics such as snakes, names of stars, or dinosaurs

Talk a lot, usually about a favorite subject. One-sided conversations are common. Internal thoughts are often verbalized.

I decided to dig a little deeper for you.

[Katrina]

This is completely derailing the original discussion - if anyone wants to discuss it further, we can split the topics and have the off topic discussion as its own thread in the OT forum.

Please remember that new owners are coming here for help. Scaring them into thinking their bluey is dying or else derailing the thread with arguments, age discussions, etc is really not helpful! Thanks.

[donkeybuff]

Back on topic, I agree that he has a healthy weight. His body shape is quite similar to my Indo, but my indo eats a ton.

[Susann]

Alright, Merauke Mama to the rescue! JK. But here's what I would suggest:

Starting Baytril injections might have been overkill, but since you have started them I would keep giving them for the duration that the vet suggests. If you are overly worried, check with the vet about a tube-feeding. The ONLY reason I even bring that up is this: he does seem on the slimmer side, he hasn't eaten for a while even though temperatures seem plenty high, and because the vet recommended keeping temps up during the Baytril treatment. I would NOT recommend you trying to force food into him yourself.
The reason I bring up asking the vet about a tube-feed is that I have had a skink that was sick for over a year, and prior to repeating antibiotic treatments, due to him being rather slim, I sometimes had my vet put a good meal with good calcium/D3 content into his stomach before having the Baytril hit his system.
I'm mentioning this as just something additional you might consider brining up with your vet should you go in to see her again; I really don't want this to add any more for you to stress about, because Java does not look ill to me at all.

Other than the tail... Because of Java's body position on that log, it's hard to see if there are any other telltale signs of MBD. There wasn't an X-ray taken during the exam, was there? That would be the best thing for diagnosing MBD.
Because the lumpy tail can be a sign of MBD I would suggest you look over his diet very carefully. If you want some extra pairs of eyes to look it over, you might want to list what you generally feed and how much. There are so many factors to consider with calcium and MBD that it can feel a bit overwhelming at times (...for me anyway). For example, it's not just the amount of calcium you need to look at, but the calcium in relation to phosphorus (because too much calcium can actually cause MBD as well), and are some of the foods he eats high in goitrogens that can bind the calcium so it can't be absorbed.
...I feel like I may not be helping you at all here, just adding things for you to worry about...

If this makes you feel any better, one of my Meraukes once went nearly 5 months without more than a couple nibbles of food, while gravid! And she gave birth to 6 healthy, bouncing babies.

[Fatal_S]

Sometimes you can wake a skink up by providing a change: for example I moved a skink into a totally new tank with very different decorations and things to check out. Changes like this are stressful though, so not recommended for a sick skink.