Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all

I recently adopted a fire skink we named Jynx.
The pet store said he should be eating 3 crickets a day... so far he has only had 1 in the last 3 days. I have tried coaxing him with fruit to no avail. There are crickets in there and I keep stirring them up out of the subterrain flooring. The crickets are practically taunting Jynx by playing on his face and Jynx just ignores them!

The pet store hasn't been able to provide me with any answers or options. I get the idea pet shop boy is there for the pay cheque and not the lizards
I bought the same type of crickets, the same calcuim, and set up the terrain virtually the same.

On a positive note, he is drinking well. He isn't all that active but I have a sneaky suspicion he may need more adjustment time. I "catch" him out of his hiding spots when we are not around!

Any ideas on how to get my skink to eat??
Thanks!
Panthosette

I personally don't know much about fire skinks but when I saw your question, I decided to do some research for you. Below are some of the links I found which may shed some light on why your skink isn't eating regularly. You didn't mention what temps you have for his basking spot, or what kind of lighting you are providing nor humidity or substrates. If the basic conditions of his tank are not met, this could be why he is not eating.

Also, most animals when first brought home from the store, take awhile to adjust to their new environment, even if you set it up exactly as it was in the petstore. Keep in mind that many petstore employees and owners have next to no knowledge about the correct care of the reptiles they sell, hence the setup they had your skink in at the store could easily be completely wrong as well. Take a look over the sites I listed below and make the appropriate changes to your setup, as necessary.

www.reptileallsorts.com/fireskink-cs.htm

users.eastlink.ca/~nshs/care_fskink.htm

Thanks so much for replying! I've checked out the sites. I was a bit dismayed by the lack of info in general! Even amazon or chapters didn't have much!

I'm going to try upping the temp by a degree or two... to see if that helps. I do have it warm enough according to the sites, with a basking spot too, but may go into the pet store to see what they had thier tank on. I mist the tank, lol, it the only time he moves with any speed as he hates the water! He tried climbing up the vines to escape it, so I mist when he is hiding so I don't cause any undue stress.

I also have added calcium and electrolytes to his water, so he will get that.

I recognize that there is an adjustment time needed. What would a typical time period for a lizard in general to adjust before I look at before panicking??

It was a bit of work to find those two sites and I also believe there are a few different species of fire skinks or I could be thinking of fire salamanders LOL. If he really hates the misting, try using warm water (not hot though, it should still feel a bit cool if you mist your own arm). Or just dampen some Sphagnum moss and place it into one of his hides, this way he can go in and out when he wants extra humidity. Misting the sides of the cage with a fine spray mister using warm water may ensure he won't flee in terror to get away from it LOL.

For most lizards an adjustment time of 1-2 weeks is normal. You can also find more information about this species doing a search with google. Alot of the sites I found were just general wildlife info type sites but even these sites can give you lots of information on how to care for him properly. Where they live in the wild and their wild habits will indicate what they need in the captive environment.