New BTS owner - feeding/digesting question

[Dratth]

Hey, i own wc indonesian BTS. He is negative for parasites from now.
I am still at testing phase with feeding - I start offering him food every day, and i change brand every two days. So far it looks like he doesn't like dog food, or eat it very little. He eat repashy bluey buffet every time i offering it, eat 6-10 zophobas worms but from dog food or cat food he doesn't eat more than tea spoon. I tried arcadia omnigold, he eats only little of it too and if i offer bluey buffet with it, every time he prefer repashy. But after that hes poo is not solid, but more watery, it's not like diarrhea but it's definitely not fun to clean it after .
From proteins he love boiled eggs and zophobas worms.
He definitely love blueberries, banana and mango from fruits. From vegetables i saw him eat peas and carrot a little, green beans too.

I am on 6th brand of wet dog food now.
Should i stop feeding him every day and start every second day?

Have you guys some charts or notes for food effect on scink digestion? (aka what poop scink have after what food ).
First couple days he was with me, hes poo was big and solid, almost looks like owl poop

EDIT - about pinkies - i never gave them to any animal. Should i try them? My local pet stor have only rat pinkies and only live. I think it would be good to kill them before feeding them - is there some "human" way for that? Will there be some blood after feeding? (i have little daughter)

[kingofnobbys]

is the skink a baby , or a juvenile , or an adult ?

Their dietary needs and feeding regime will depend on the age / size of the skink ?

Have you weighed him ?

Tank temperatures :
at basking spot
in warm zone
in cool zone
overnight minimum

Photoperiod , when do you turn the lights / heat on ? off ? each day .

When during the day are you giving the skink food ?

UV , specifics :
UVB rating
Wattage
type ( MVB ? T5ho tube ? T8 tube ? compact ? )
above or below mesh lid ?
in a reflector dome or hood ?
distance from UV source to basking spot ?

[kingofnobbys]

Hey, i own wc indonesian BTS. He is negative for parasites from now.
I am still at testing phase with feeding - I start offering him food every day, and i change brand every two days. So far it looks like he doesn't like dog food, or eat it very little. He eat repashy bluey buffet every time i offering it, eat 6-10 zophobas worms but from dog food or cat food he doesn't eat more than tea spoon. I tried arcadia omnigold, he eats only little of it too and if i offer bluey buffet with it, every time he prefer repashy. But after that hes poo is not solid, but more watery, it's not like diarrhea but it's definitely not fun to clean it after .
<<< the response is dietary. Needs more roughage in his diet, from leafy greens and live insects.
May also either he not getting enough time after his meal to actually digest it properly , needs at least 2 hours of heat to do that.
Or the tank is too cool for him to digest his food properly

From proteins he love boiled eggs and zophobas worms.
<< superworms are OK as a treat , a few at a time , maybe once or twice per week. , I'd recommend silkworms as a much better wormy protein source , , protein, low fat, soft bodied, roughage from the chow or leaves they've been eating, high Ca/P ratio , all winners !!
He definitely love blueberries, banana and mango from fruits. From vegetables i saw him eat peas and carrot a little, green beans too.
<< go easy on the banana - very high phosphorus (binds calcium) , so only use as treats.
<< go easy on the mango - very high in VitA , so treats only.

I am on 6th brand of wet dog food now.
Should i stop feeding him every day and start every second day?

Have you guys some charts or notes for food effect on scink digestion? (aka what poop scink have after what food ).
First couple days he was with me, hes poo was big and solid, almost looks like owl poop

EDIT - about pinkies - i never gave them to any animal. Should i try them?
<< no
My local pet stor have only rat pinkies and only live. I think it would be good to kill them before feeding them - is there some "human" way for that? Will there be some blood after feeding? (i have little daughter)

[Dratth]

My bad with little info
Seller told me he is about 1,5year old but people here told me he is either juvenile or starved adult. I post photo of him later.
I have weighted him, he weighs about 300g (+-20g).
Basking spot on slate is 95-110F. I use 42W halogen bulb and 35W Metal halide bulb for UVB. Obove Mesh Lid with distance between 12-15inches. I have T5HO fixture with bulbs too and i would like to change it for that metal halide bulb and 42W halogen bulb for house hold bulb or something with wider beam of light. But i need to remake hes quarantine cage first.
Warm zone is 88-90 and fall to 78-80 on cool site. 70-72 in night.
Lights go on at 8:00 and off at 20:00.
When i work, i give him food at 7:00. When i am home or finish in work sooner, something between 10:00 and 17:00.


Maybe that roughage is problem. He get plenty of time for digesting. From insects i can offer him some locusts or roaches i think.
I can't find silkworms here, nor on internet with delivery to me. I already tried that with my chameleon.
Why no pinkies?

[kingofnobbys]

My bad with little info
Seller told me he is about 1,5year old but people here told me he is either juvenile or starved adult. I post photo of him later.
I have weighted him, he weighs about 300g (+-20g).
<<< he's certainly either very stunted adult or a juvenile (my guess based on the weight is under 1 year old , I'd have to dig out my old files for my two bluetongue's growth charting (if I can even find them now) , I think more likely 9 months old (but that's for a well fed healthy juvenile eastern).

Basking spot on slate is 95-110F. I use 42W halogen bulb and 35W Metal halide bulb for UVB. Obove Mesh Lid with distance between 12-15inches. >> not sure on UVA and UVB flux with distance for MHGs , I think cutting a hole in the mesh unless it's more like bird mesh) would be a good idea , the finer wire meshes will block about 45% of the UV .

I have T5HO fixture with bulbs too and i would like to change it for that metal halide bulb and 42W halogen bulb for house hold bulb or something with wider beam of light. But i need to remake hes quarantine cage first. <<< I'd keep using the MHG for the basking spot until it's UV output decays , and use a 12%UVB T5ho tube as well , about 12" - 15" from the tube in a hood mounted UNDER the mesh (unless it's very loose mesh). These are Indo BTs are from grasslands in the equatorial region so need high levels of UV.

Warm zone is 88-90 and fall to 78-80 on cool site. 70-72 in night.
Lights go on at 8:00 and off at 20:00.
When i work, i give him food at 7:00.
<<< best to give the skink about 2hrs to warm up before it's offered it's food , so I'd reprogram the light timer to turn on the lights & heat at 5am , he'll be wide awake , warm and looking for something to eat by 7am - 8am.
If you decide to feed him in afternoon, he needs 2 to 3 hours to stay warm and bask to digest his food .
When i am home or finish in work sooner, something between 10:00 and 17:00.


Maybe that roughage is problem. He get plenty of time for digesting. From insects i can offer him some locusts or roaches i think.
I can't find silkworms here, nor on internet with delivery to me. I already tried that with my chameleon.
<<< the silkworm lavae can be hard to find unless you know where to look , silkworm eggs are much easier to obtain and are available year round (the breeders keep the eggs in chillers) and this means the process of posting them unless it's winter and freezing , will warm up the eggs and they'll start developing, usually the baby worms are hatching in about 2 weeks, and they are big enough to feed to a 300 g skink after a month or so.

Why no pinkies?

re pinkies
https://www.beardeddragon.org/forums/vi ... e#p1880367
Pinkies are 'questionable' and VERY high in fat. . Want something high in calcium? Try black soldier fly larvae or silkworms or snails.

Is the slate natural or ceramic looks like slate ?
If it's natural , the emissivity is quite low , e = 0.7 for slate , so if you are using a gun to measure surface temperatures I can guarantee that unless you have adjusted the gun's emissivity calcibration to e = 0.7 and you are very careful not avoid the reflected heat from the MHG , the readings on temperature you are getting will be wrong by many degrees Fahrenheit .

if it's natural slate it's also a poor basking spot to use because of physical properties - easily shears off very sharp shards of slate that are a risk to a skink if it happens to ingest any and it's very porous , see below :

Disadvantages of Using Real (natural) Slate
Slate as a natural product can be a relatively expensive material to buy.
It’s sometimes rough to the touch and can peel leaving shards of stone and divots around your home (or tank --- impaction risk if ingested) .
In addition to this, glossy finishes must be polished regularly, and tumbled or honed slate must be sealed regularly.

regarding porosity :

Granite would be my choice of natural stone tiles in a reptile's tank for substate. Or sandstone (because it will help trim the nails and is easy to find and replace and very cheap here.

Of cause fake slate ceramic tiles (made to look like natural slate) but without the layering are a good choice.
These http://www.tilewizards.com.au/slate-look-floor-tiles/ would be fine to use.

[Dratth]

Thanks for advice, i look on that links.
I have natural black slate, or rock, i dont know what material it is. I had cork bark as hot hide + basking spot and temps was almost same, but he was closer to bulb of course. I try to use more wider basking area or more spots with elevated rock/bark so he can choose where to bask. Now he was in quarantine (still is) so this slate was best to clean - i used 3 and rotate them.

Safe distance from MHg bulb is 35cm (14inch) and guy who own that company told me not to go closer than 20cm with mesh lid i have. But is interesting with that uvb need for indonesians, i was worried if my UVB isn't too strong for him . My T5HO is 12% and i tried it once with MHg and halogen but then i put it away because of that.

You think i can turn on lights at 5:00 and keep it up to 20:00 or it need to be 12hr period? Btw i give him food in 7:00 but he is lazy to get it, i have camera pointing on him so i can watch him from work and he start eating between 11:00 - 14:00.

I tried find can'o'snails from zoomed here but then dont ordering it anymore. How about achatina snails? Year back i had 2 adulds and maybe 50 juveniles and sold them all to someone who need them like food for snake.

Edit - i added som pics what i have found on phone

[kingofnobbys]

Thanks for advice, i look on that links.
I have natural black slate, or rock, i dont know what material it is. I had cork bark as hot hide + basking spot and temps was almost same, but he was closer to bulb of course. I try to use more wider basking area or more spots with elevated rock/bark so he can choose where to bask. Now he was in quarantine (still is) so this slate was best to clean - i used 3 and rotate them.

Safe distance from MHg bulb is 35cm (14inch) and guy who own that company told me not to go closer than 20cm with mesh lid i have. But is interesting with that uvb need for indonesians, i was worried if my UVB isn't too strong for him . My T5HO is 12% and i tried it once with MHg and halogen but then i put it away because of that.

You think i can turn on lights at 5:00 and keep it up to 20:00 or it need to be 12hr period?
<<< if you look up the hours of daylight in Indonesia I think you'll find much longer daylight hours than 12 hours.
see https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/indonesia/jakarta , I'd be trying to reproduce the times of sunrise and sunset + add 1 hour of twilight (skinks in the wild are still active into the twilight). I think 14 hours for your timer.

Btw i give him food in 7:00 but he is lazy to get it, i have camera pointing on him so i can watch him from work and he start eating between 11:00 - 14:00. << now you know why .

I tried find can'o'snails from zoomed here but then dont ordering it anymore. How about achatina snails? Year back i had 2 adulds and maybe 50 juveniles and sold them all to someone who need them like food for snake.
<<< worth a try if they are paracite free . I had a link somewhere that was for a study of these snails used as a feeder insect and I remember it indicated they were a very nutritious. I actually buy live cooking snails as treats for my two easterns who love them and make very fast work of each snail.

Edit - i added som pics what i have found on phone

[kingofnobbys]

My BTs like to bask on top of their timber hides , so I have my basking globes over the hide.