Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We recently bought a cb baby Merauke BTS. She seems healthy, active and alert. She has eaten and defecated regularly. When handling her we noticed that every time she sticks out her tongue you can smell her breath (it doesn't smell good). This is our first BTS and we were wondering if this is normal.
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Diego
SNAKES
4.1.2 Corn Snakes(Different morphs).
1.0.0 Boa Constrictor
0.1.0 Tangerine Honduran Milksnake
0.1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake
2.0.0 Ball Pythons
0.0.1 Ribbon Snake
0.0.2 Rosy Boas (Coastal & Baja)
0.0.1 Pueblan Milksnake
0.2.0 Kenyan Sand Boas
LIZARDS
1.0.0 Frilled Dragon
2.2.0 Bearded Dragons (2 Normal, 2 Morphs)
0.1.0 Eastern Collared Lizard
0.1.0 Merauke Blue Tongue Skink
1.0.0 Turquoise Sunburst Veiled Chameleon
1.0.0 Savannah Monitor

Diego,
Congratulations on your skink purchase!
We have many BTS, and have had litters of babies; purchased young ones from other breeders - and have yet to encounter "bad breath" on a skink.

Most of our skinks flick their tongue when we are interacting with them, so we would have noticed, I am certain. Therefore, as a general rule - I'd say it isn't normal.

So... what is the diet? How do you know she is a girl? How old is the skink? Did you get it from a breeder or a pet shop? What does the enclosure have for substrate? What temps do you keep the enclosure? How often do you feed?

Morgana

Morgana,

Ok, here goes: We bought her at a pet shop that specializes in herps. We were told we have a little girl, but as of now, we haven't found any reliable way of sexing her. She is 4.75 inches S-V, and we are assuming that she is no more than 2 months old, if that. At this size we are keeping her in a 20g long. Her substrate is now alfalfa pellets, but at the pet shop they had her on potting soil. The temps in her cage are 75-77 on the cool side, and 84-86 on the hot side, with an incandesent 40w bulb for basking and a fluorescent 5.0 UVB bulb over the other 75% of the enclosure. Every morning I place about 2oz of my smorgasbord and then remove it at night during my cleaning rounds. I try and stick to the list available on blutongueskinks.net and here is what it contains this week: mustard greens, kale, cactus pad, green onion, carrot, zucchini, and a little bit of pear. All of this gets chopped, but not pureed, in the food processor, and then I mix in cooked ground turkey. I try to stick to the 50% protein, 40% veggie and 10% fruit ratio. She seems to eat quite eagerly at around mid-morning, then it's time to poop and take a nap and bask for the rest of the day. I have to say, I know it sounds silly to say that an animal smells like, well an animal, but this really caght us off guard. Her breath smeels like bearded dragon poop! Should we change something in her diet? Sorry so long! Trying to answer all of your questions accurately. Thank you for reading our posts!
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Diego & Tiffany
SNAKES
4.1.2 Corn Snakes(Different morphs).
1.0.0 Boa Constrictor
0.1.0 Tangerine Honduran Milksnake
0.1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake
2.0.0 Ball Pythons
0.0.1 Ribbon Snake
0.0.2 Rosy Boas (Coastal & Baja)
0.0.1 Pueblan Milksnake
0.2.0 Kenyan Sand Boas
LIZARDS
1.0.0 Frilled Dragon
2.2.0 Bearded Dragons (2 Normal, 2 Morphs)
0.1.0 Eastern Collared Lizard
0.1.0 Merauke Blue Tongue Skink
1.0.0 Turquoise Sunburst Veiled Chameleon
1.0.0 Savannah Monitor

Well, my guess si on the green onions? but what the heck do i know??? ^^ Just a guess though.
For sexing, check for substances called "sperm plugs" The precense of these means that you have a male (its a white transparent slime like fluid, not to be confused with a diahrea problem wich is sometimes green).
Females tend to be bulkier than males, they lack a slight bump near the cloaca (in males, thats the location of the hemipenes), and, some males also "reveal" their hemipenes' as they defecate/urinate, so watch closely.
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My "babies" :
1.0.0 Indo BTS (Tiliqua gigas gigas)
0.0.1 Rainbow skinks (Mabuya multifasciata)
1.0.2 RES (Trachemys scripta elegans)
0.0.3 Amboina box turtles (Cuora amboinensis)
1.0.0 Chinese softshell (Trionyx sinensis)
1.0.0 Asian leaf turtle (Cyclemys dentata)
1.0.0 Leopard gecko (Eublepharis macularius)
And still growing...

Are these also apparent in a baby/juvie BTS?
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Diego & Tiffany
SNAKES
4.1.2 Corn Snakes(Different morphs).
1.0.0 Boa Constrictor
0.1.0 Tangerine Honduran Milksnake
0.1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake
2.0.0 Ball Pythons
0.0.1 Ribbon Snake
0.0.2 Rosy Boas (Coastal & Baja)
0.0.1 Pueblan Milksnake
0.2.0 Kenyan Sand Boas
LIZARDS
1.0.0 Frilled Dragon
2.2.0 Bearded Dragons (2 Normal, 2 Morphs)
0.1.0 Eastern Collared Lizard
0.1.0 Merauke Blue Tongue Skink
1.0.0 Turquoise Sunburst Veiled Chameleon
1.0.0 Savannah Monitor

These are more apparent on subadults, wich of course, have reached sexual maturity (kinda like teenagers with enraged hormones ^^). Sometimes, when a skink defecates/urinates, he (if its a male) expose his hemipenes for a short period (i found out my bluey was a male from this, not a pleasant expirience, he actually did it when i was holding him ) Sperm plugs are also sometimes expelled with urine/feces. Its very hard to determine the sex of youngsters. For the bulges, just try to feel around the cloaca opening, its usually not far below, close to the tail.
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My "babies" :
1.0.0 Indo BTS (Tiliqua gigas gigas)
0.0.1 Rainbow skinks (Mabuya multifasciata)
1.0.2 RES (Trachemys scripta elegans)
0.0.3 Amboina box turtles (Cuora amboinensis)
1.0.0 Chinese softshell (Trionyx sinensis)
1.0.0 Asian leaf turtle (Cyclemys dentata)
1.0.0 Leopard gecko (Eublepharis macularius)
And still growing...

I guess we'll just wait and see. By the way, we kept the green onions in the diet, but the bad breath is gone! Must have been her(his?) diet at the pet store... Either way, thanks for listening to two concerned parents!
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Diego & Tiffany
SNAKES
4.1.2 Corn Snakes(Different morphs)
1.0.0 Boa Constrictor
0.1.0 Tangerine Honduran Milksnake
0.1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake
2.0.0 Ball Pythons
0.0.1 Ribbon Snake
0.0.2 Rosy Boas (Coastal & Baja)
0.0.1 Pueblan Milksnake
0.2.0 Kenyan Sand Boas
1.0.0 Western Hognose
LIZARDS
1.0.0 Frilled Dragon
2.2.0 Bearded Dragons (2 Normal, 1 RedXGold, 1 Citrus)
0.1.0 Eastern Collared Lizard
0.1.0 Merauke Blue Tongue Skink
1.0.0 Turquoise Sunburst Veiled Chameleon
1.0.0 Savannah Monitor