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I have been taking care of my new BTS, he came to me with a bad respitory infection and an eye infection from getting reptile bark stuck in his eye. I have been keeping him on newspaper while i treat him because i dont want him getting more dust in his eye and irritating it more. The resp. problem is gone now, and his eye infection is gone, but his eyelids are still pretty ragged looking (they were kind of ripped up from all the bark he got stuck in them). The problem is he REALLY hates being on newspaper, he wants to dig and burrow, and i can tell it stresses him out to be in that tank. I want to set him up with something he will be more comfortable in, that he can burrow in, but it has to be something that will not irritate his eyes...

I have been going over idea's in my head and im having a hard time. I was thinking about packing in a few inches of slightly damp bed-a-beast or forest bed, and covering it with a few inches of fake leaves so he could hide. I am thinking maybe cause the forest bed is so fine it would be easy to flush out of his eyes? But forest bed gets dusty when it dries...so im really not sure what to do.

Any suggestions?

Thanks
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I like to use reptile carpeting. It's easier on their feet (doesn't turn them black). I just add lots of tubes and tunnels to satisfy their burrowing itch. But if you still think he needs to burrow, you could always run newspaper through a shredder and add that for him to hide in.

Shredded paper is a good idea. My IJ doesn't like to burrow (my Indo does) so I give her soft scarves, hats, socks, etc to burrow and cuddle into. I think you'll likely still have problems with the forest bed and bed-a-beast getting in his eyes and might not want to risk that.

www.bluetongueskinks.net
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I hesitated to use reptile carpeting only because my skink makes an AWFUL mess when he poops...spreads it all over the place, and i think reptile carpet might be tough to clean. How do you clean yours?

I have also tried the shredded newspaper before, and he loved it, my only problem was that he would cover the shreds in poop and it was hard to find the dirty ones cause they were buried, or spread all over the tank, and in his water and food dishes. Do you think if i put a box full of shredded paper in the tank so he had a place to go and hide he might enjoy that?

Using the clothes is an interesting idea...how do you wash them after? Just pick off any big chunks of poop and throw them in the washing machine?

Thanks a lot for the responses.

Any one else have anything to add?
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0.1 Bearded dragon
0.1 mexican kingsnake
1.0.2 Leopard Gecko's
0.0.1 Rose Hair Tarantula
1.0 BTS
0.0.1 Reverse Okeetee Corn
0.1 Bullmastiff
4.1 Cats

The box of shredded paper might work.

I just keep a few sets of different types of clothing - if she makes a mess I pick it off and toss in the washing machine. She usually doesn't mess on them, but rather goes on a bare spot of the cage w/o the clothes. I actually keep the clothes inside a big hide for her so maybe she just doesn't want to lay where she goes to the bathroom.
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1.0 Ball Python "Aragorn"
1.0 Bredl's Carpet Python "Strider"
1.0 Kenyan Sand Boa "Gimli"
1.0 Saharan Sand Boa "Frodo"
0.1 California Kingsnake "Gentoo"
1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake "Indigo"
1.0 Snow Corn snake "Chile"
0.1 Okeetee Corn snake "Amazon"
1.0 Crested Gecko "Willow"
0.1 Irian Jaya BlueTongued Skink "Phoebe"
0.1 Indonesian BlueTongued Skink "Piper"
0.1 Australian Cattle Dog/Pointer "Kira"

I clean the reptile carpet with some ivory soap and a toothbrush. I haven't had any problems getting it all out. The nice thing about the carpet is that I find it more absorbant than newpaper, so there is less smearing.

Whatever you end up using, your skink is going to make a huge mess of it. They poop and smear it everywhere no matter what. Any burrowing substrate will always be messier because like you said, it hard to pick out the pooped on pieces, which means you basically have to clean everything. If you think your skink needs it, but you don't want any more eye infections, just try out the suggestions (shredded paper, old clothes/towels, tunnels...) and see what works best for you. Keeping it in a confined area might work, but I find with my skinks that no area is safe from poop (not even their den sometimes).

I use ground corn cob beddig. You just gave to watch for fungus growth though.