# Blue tongue won't eat



## nir.n (Jul 6, 2014)

Hey everyone, I posted here not long ago asking about giving dog food to my blue tongue because he's refusing to eat. 
He still barely eats and he is fairly skiny.
Details: 
His skin and eyes look good
He is active, moving, climbing, digging and drinking
Reacting to touch
Got 2 lamps: 60W spot lamp for heating and a 0.5 UV light (exo terra)
I removed the substrate from the terrarium(coir-coconut husk by "kritter's crumble") and tried to replace it with paper. He messed up the setup so right now he is just on glass be he seems to do fine and it makes it easier with the live food.
He got 2 hides, cold side and hot side.
The temp on the hot side is between 30-36 depends on the spot and cold is between 24-28 (C)
Foods i tried: 
Banana, apple, carrot, pineapple, cabbage, lettuce, green mix, cooked egg, raw egg, pepper,minced beef, cooked chicken breast, caned puppy food, dry dog food, dog food i crushed into powder and mixed with water to creat a paste and dry reptile pallets. 
Ill take any advice and tips, feel free to pm me 
Thanks in advance!


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## CrazyNut (Jul 6, 2014)

Mate, if it is becoming a big concern to you, its time you take it to a vet, they can give an exact diagnoses and a better info then the majority of us.


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## nir.n (Jul 6, 2014)

Well, I'm willing to try anything I can before taking him to a vet. 
There aren't any signs of disease or illness(checking eyes, nose and ears daily), no strange lumps in the stomach or strange behaviour. 
Thats why I want to get some tips, maybe some people here got experience with similar cases or know about a food blue tongues really like that might stimulate him into eating. 
However, if nothing will help, I will take him to a vet of course so if anyone knows any good vets around melbourne, please let me know 
Thanks!


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## CrazyNut (Jul 6, 2014)

Tried banana or something really sweet?


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## nir.n (Jul 7, 2014)

yep, bananas and pineapples


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## Riffherper (Jul 7, 2014)

He needs a substrate. Get him on some breeders choice cat litter box stuff from woolies. In regards to the feeding he could be put off by winter however I have never met a blue tongue who could refuse whiskers jellymeat cat food. Comes in a can - it's cat food. Even tho cat food/dog food/mince isn't the healthiest for them you can sneak other veggies and fruit in there. If you post a picture of him we may be able to shed light on his physical appearance. Looking at your list you could try grapes, tomato, Mellon (water/Honeydew etc), peas, strawberries and cucumber just to name a few. Failing that if you are really that concerned just slide the food item along his mouth from the corner of the mouth, pry open the mouth with the food item and shove the food in his gob. He will do the rest. Just keep your fingers out of his mouth.

also - crickets, woodies, mealworms, mice


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## CrazyNut (Jul 7, 2014)

Wow really? never met a bluey that could refuse a banana, seem pretty odd to me. A pic would help. Cat food works well and as [MENTION=37197]Riffherper[/MENTION] said, you can mix in some greens. Oh btw Karingle vet hospital is great, I have never needed to go but I know people who have had great results with them and its the only vet I know of around Melbourne that does reptiles.


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## RoryBreaker (Jul 7, 2014)

Short answers is, your skink knows its winter.

Pile some sugar cane mulch into his enclosure for it to curl up in, keep its water bowl topped up, and offer meals every week or so if you're keen but really, even after your best efforts this skink looks like it wants to brumate. It won't fade away to just bones in the next few months. I'm sure come spring if will fire back up. PM me if you want to chat more.


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## CrystalMoon (Jul 7, 2014)

Here is one of my guys(familiar Dave lol) in his enclosure to give you an idea


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## Stevo2 (Jul 7, 2014)

Ours is buried into his pinebark and we won't see him for months, until it warms up again.


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## dragonlover1 (Jul 7, 2014)

Plain glass is no good for them
I currently keep a bluey in wood chips (redgum ATM) She loves to burrow through it, also heaps of long grass in the cave.Previously I have also used large squares of sod (grass & dirt I dig out of the yard)
Have you thought of the original bluey food? they love snails!
Make sure you get them from a garden that does NOT have any snail baits,
also don't feed cooked meat,raw is best as they are scavengers


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## nir.n (Jul 7, 2014)

So he always got water in his terrarium.
About the substrate, can I just use the one I have? its coir-coconut husk by "kritter's crumble".
Ill add a picture of him so you will understand why i'm worried... (there won't be substrate in the pic, ill add it after ill make sure the one I got is ok)


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## dragonlover1 (Jul 7, 2014)

personally I know nothing of coir but some swear by it so use it ,She (short fat tail indicates female)is obviously not happy with glass so make her happy,also she is not skinny,she will survive winter brumation


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## CrazyNut (Jul 7, 2014)

I keep my bluey on a mix of 100% natural kitty litter, dry grass and gravel. Really good insulator and it retains a fair bit of heat. It can be a bit of mess if it gets wet though but other than that it works great. Have had great success with a sand and coco peat mix as well.


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## Dinobot (Jul 7, 2014)

I have always used Kriter Krumble with my guy and it has been perfectly fine, I mix a bag of fine and a bag of course in a 4x2x2ft enclosure so thre is plenty of coverage and enough depth for them to burrow in parts. My guy always sleeps underground


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## nir.n (Jul 28, 2014)

update:

I tried offering him whiskers jellymeat and he refused eating it. 
since he stopped eating i placed in his food bowl some vegetable and fruits(all thin cut or grated), cucumber, tomatoes, cabbage leafs, green mix leaves(from woolworths), crashed and wet dog food, apple, carrot, bearded dragon pellets and so on once-twice a week. finally yesterday he ate the salad. I offered him a large mealworm and he eat it very quickly, he reacted very well to it but he did get some substrate in his mouth. I tried it today again but placed the mealworms on a paper towel and he eat 7(everything i offered him) so i guess he is done with his little protest.
I also added more substrate into his enclosure and it seems like he really likes it. Hes decorating his own enclosure with tunnels and surprisingly they dont fall. 
I recently bought him a bigger terrarium and as soon as i finish decorating it ill upload pictures. 

Thanks again to everyone here, you helped me a lot!


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## Dinobot (Jul 28, 2014)

Great news! I see so many setups for bluetongues that just dont seem to be conducive to them being happy, my experience is they definitely like to burrow and climb. Great result glad it worked out and he is eating again. One thing with kritter krumble is obviously we dont want them ingesting much / if any, if I am feeding them live food I will sometimes put him in a tub to eat it otherwise with mealworms etc the food dish does the trick


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