Is My Baby Sick??

[MaddyKay99]

I have a 1 month old blue tongue skink who is not eating. I got him 2 weeks ago and he has eaten nothing. I haven't seen him drink escept for licking water off of the walls. His hips are starting to show. The thing that I am most worried about is the fact that his breaths sound wet, he keeps opening his mouth to breath and I am afraid he might have an infection. I can hear clicks when he breaths in and out and it sounds like it is coming from inside him, not like he is making the noise voluntarily. His temps and humidy are right so I am not sure what is wrong. I was told he had a common parasite when I took him to the vet when i got him, before this started, but that should have cleared up by now. This is my first and I am really scared that he is sick

[kingofnobbys]

Definitely some serious issues going on , after a month he should be very comfortable and feeding daily and drinking frequently per day and be well and truly over any relocation stress.

Photos of him .
Were you told what species of BT he is ? or what species of BT did the seller claim he is ?
where did you get him ?


How much did he weigh when you brought him home ?
how much does he weigh TODAY ?

What foods are you offering him ?
…. how often (feeding schedule) ?
A one month old skink is IMO way too young to have been sold , and should be feeding on live insects at least twice per day and drinking frequently , and should be very active and very inquisitive.

Photos of his tank showing setup , lights used , substrate.

What are the tank temperatures (at basking spot ? in the warm zone ? in the cool zone ? minimum overnight IN THE TANK ? , and how are measuring these temperatures (show us a photo of the thermometer/s))

Humidity in the tank ?

Other animals he can see ?

Is he sharing a tank with another BT ? size difference ? …. can he see another reptile (who is larger than him) ?

What is the lighting schedule ?

Lack of appetite can be due to inadequate UVA , and tank too cold (hence low metabolic rate and disinterest in feeding).
Have you tried hand feeding him ? PM me if you want instructions on how to do this with a skink.

Was the vet you took him to a regular vet , an exotics vet , or a proper herp/reptile vet ?
Exactly what was the paracite he was found to have ?
what was the treatment ? the med/s ?
did you bother sterilizing his tank while being treated and how often / when did you do this and how ? (VERY IMPORTANT for coccidia and similar as they will reinfect themselves from contact with contaminated substrate and surfaces).

The issues with breathing , this definitely needs to be investigated by a reptile / herp vet ASAP , he likely needs a course of antibiotics and likely F10 & antibiotic nebulization.
A reptile vet near you can found here https://arav.site-ym.com/search/newsearch.asp

[Yeshika]

Photos please so we can help identify him, as different blue tongue species need different humidity levels. The humidity levels being off are usually the cause for respiratory infections, which is what this sounds like.

[mb606587]

Sounds like a respiratory infection. Unfortunately, he needs treatment from a vet. Respiratory infections are typically caused by low humidity and/or low temperatures. This time of year, it's easy for the humidity to drop dangerously low if you're not careful. Same with temperatures overnight. I had to turn on space heaters overnight in my reptile room last week when the windchill hit -10 degrees in my area.

With that said, the temperatures and humidity you said you were providing in your last thread should be more than adequate if they are being measured accurately. Just make sure as I said that temperatures overnight aren't dropping too low. I use the space heaters when the room temperature drops under 64 degrees. With this being a fairly newly acquired skink, it's possible the skink came to you with the infection along with the parasites, and its condition has worsened over time to the point you are now noticing these symptoms. It's also very possible that your skink being shipped across the country in January could have played a role in this. Most would not risk shipping until the spring when the weather warms up enough to safely do it.

[MaddyKay99]

I was told that he is a merauke but i was also told that he is 3 months old but he is way too amall for that to be true he is about 6 inches long. I got him shipped to me in washington from Sunset Snakes in Florida. Unfortunately I did not weigh him when he arrived so I am not sure what weight he was and i do not want to stress him out with handeling so I am not sure what he is now either. I offer him wet cat food/dog food daily with vegetables and dried bugs, I put it in at 9:00 when his heat lamp and UVB light turn on and take it out at 8:00 about an hour before the lights turn off. I have tried to feed him live mealworms but he wont eat when I am around and I do not want to leave the live bugs in his enclosure. His basking spot is 102 with the warm sidde of his enclosure staying close to 90. The humidity on the hot side is low, around 30 to 40 but I dont know how to keep it up when the lights are on. His cool side is 75-80 degrees and has 80% humidity give or take. He is housed by himself in my brdroom which stays fairly quiet. I have a dog and cat who wander in but his enclosure is on a dresser and they never get close to it, they just lay on my bed. I have no other reptiles so that is not an issue. I have tried hand feeding him but he will not eat if I am in the room. I took him to a vet that handles both herps and mammals, I cannot recall what parasite he had but I had to give him 3 doses of oral medicine each a week apart. It was some parasite in his stomach I believe. I did not terilize the tank but I took out a large amount of substrate around his feces the one time that he defecated while on the medication. I am trying to get him an appointment with a herp vet but they are very busy and I dont know if I have time to wait. I just really want him to get better and I don't want to be the reason he is sick

[MaddyKay99]

That picture of him was when he was in shed so he was less brown. This picture has more accurate coloration

[mb606587]

Your temperatures and humidity are excellent. I wouldn't worry so much about the humidity being a bit lower on the hot side as long as the cool side maintains the humidity you claim it to be at. It's pretty normal for the heat to dry up one side a bit. One recommendation I have for you is to stop trying to hand feed him so early. Let him eat on his own and after a few months when he's regularly eating and comfortable, then begin attempting that. In my experience, while some will readily eat from your hand, most of mine will not, even after years of trying. Each skink has different feeding responses.

In my opinion, the issues your skink is experiencing most likely have nothing to do with your care and more to do with the normal issues that imported skinks deal with. In the U.S., captive bred baby skinks are only born in the spring and summer months. Your skink having been born in December or possibly earlier certainly means that he was either field collected in Indonesia or born to a gravid female that was recently imported and gave birth shortly after. Either way, parasites and illnesses are usually present in these skinks. It's the reason why so many people recommend buying from an established breeder. Sometimes you can get lucky dealing with these imports, but as you found out first hand, usually you don't. If I had to guess, I would probably conclude that temperatures may have dropped too low when he was shipped from Florida to Washington state two weeks ago. It's usually pretty rare that reptiles can be safely shipped during January especially, so I'm not terribly surprised that you're now dealing with a respiratory infection, which honestly is pretty common with imports even when temperatures are appropriate. I also would have thought that your vet would have recommended removing the existing substrate you had entirely and possibly placing your skink on paper towels for a week or so after treating for the internal parasites. Without knowing what kind of parasite it was I won't speculate, but that's something I would bring up with your vet when you see them next. At the very least, change the substrate regardless just to be on the safe side.

As for what you have, without a better picture I'm going to say it's a Classic Indonesian. Pictures and species description HERE. Notice how the bands on the tail start to fade into heavy mottling. For the Merauke, the banding usually stays uniform throughout. The limbs also seem to be almost entirely black from what I can see on your pictures.

[MaddyKay99]

Thank you so much everybody. I just rushed him into an emergency herp vet because he seemed to be getting worse. It is a respiratory infection that got to his lungs. I am going to get everything cleared up with him to the best of my ability. Thank you to everybody because without this informatioin I would not have taken him in this fast and he could have died. I will probably update whenever I have better information

[Yeshika]

Super glad you got him in to see a vet, and I agree with MB that your care sounds fine. I can only presume this infection was established before you got him, and the symptoms are only now showing. I hope the best for your little guy! Please keep us updated!

[kingofnobbys]

He's a little charmer …. bit of a rough start for the little skink , but I see no reason that he can't be cured and rehabilated and then thrive and grow to be a big happy skink.

I suggest since he's been diagnosed to have a respiratory infection , what did the vet prescribe in the way of treatment and meds and how are these administered ?

Did the vet suggest nebulization using antitbiotics and or F10 (made up 1:250) as part of the treatment regime ? Very hard to get active antibiotics into the mucus filled lungs via the bloodstream (injections) or orally via the mouth, nebulization is every effective at getting very fine respirable droplets of the antibiotic or diluted F10 deep into the lungs where it can help kill the germs causing his pneumonia.
If you want more information please PM me and I'll send links that you can pass onto the vet.

Did the vet advise you remove the current (contaminated) substrate and replacing it temporarily with absorbant kitchen grade paper toweling , and using F10sc diluted 1:250 in water to sterilize his furnishings and tank in general to prevent him from reinfecting himself by contact with infeciously contaminated materials.



Also , while he's sick , a very good idea to keep his tank warmer than usual 24 hr per day , this will have the following benefits
1) will help boost his metabolism
2) will help boost his immune system and help him fight off the desease causing germs
3) it will help dry out his lungs and help break down the mucus in the lungs and respiratory tract.

[Suzle87]

I 100% agree with kingofnobbys about the f10 nebulising. Mine seems to have a bit of a weakness when it comes to respiratory infections so anytime I start hearing the first little click from him I get him nebulised and it goes. To the point he now really enjoys it and goes right up to the nebuliser. And the prediluted f10 lasted me ages aswell.