Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My daughter's skink appparently ate it's toes yesterday!
On one front leg, the toes are gone, on the other they are shrivelled and don't appear to be usable. Does anyone know what might have caused this?

n/p
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Edward
Carpe diem

Northern blue toungue. I've heard that the toe loss this might be from shedding problems, but he's young and hasn't shed since we got him 8 weeks ago.

If lizards are not receiving enough humidity it can lead to problem sheds that "stick" on the toes. The stuck skin can create a ring around the toe that begins to constrict as it dries up. Imagine what would happen if you put a tight rubber band around your finger and left it there indefinitely. The blood flow is cut off, the digit starts to swell, tissues become starved for oxygen and eventually die. The toe becomes necrotic and eventually falls off or must be amputated.

Look closely at the remaining toes to see if you can see a constriction anywhere on the toe. You may not see the actual dead skin that's causing the problem, but you will see the indentation if that's what's going on here.

The only other cause that immediately pops to mind is that your skink may be getting its toes caught in something (screen, narrow crevices) that is resulting in broken or torn off toes.