Reptile & Amphibian Forums

A friend of mine has a blue tongue skink that has suddenly went insane. He was always very sweet, and then one day, he 'snapped'... he's extremely aggressive, charges the door if it opens, bites onto whatever is in his way, etc. The day before this breakdown, he was fine, friendly, a normal blue tongued skink.

She hasn't changed bedding, location, food, cage, or anything about her person. There are no new animals near him.

What could cause this? Can it be fixed?

How old is the skink? How often does she feed him? What are the cage temperatures? Did she handle him alot prior?

My skinks are a little over eager at feeding times, often lunging at hand instead of going for the bowl of food. As I have pale skin and I have fed pinkies to my skinks as treats...I expect he thinks my chubby little fingers are pinkies. I often hold my hand in a fist and 'pinch' the edge of the feed dish to put it in the cage..he doesn't lunge at my hand as much when I started that.

Mine are pretty calm once out of the age and handled so I pretty much feel its a mistaken food response. Sometimes to prevent him from lunging out if i am spot cleaning, I just put a roll of toilet paper or the empty tube infront of him. He can attack that instead. It won't hurt his teeth and it won't hurt me.

Sometimes I just take him out and let him sit on the couch when I spot clean. I can keep an eye on him on the couch and change his bedding. I put him in a holding cage if I am doing a full cage cleaning though. Less chance of him getting somewhere he isn't suppose to if I am busy cleaning his cage completely.
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PHLdyPayne

She's had him for years, and handled him at least a few times a week since getting him. She feeds him, I believe, at least every other day, if not daily. The day he decided to attack, he apparently charged out of the cage and ended up biting her leg through her jeans and did a bit of a 'deathroll'.

Is he still showing aggression now?
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PHLdyPayne

Yes. This is a problem that's been going on for months. She has no clue what to do with him at this point. She's afraid because her mother was the one to water him last, and she doesn't want her mother poking about in the cage and getting attacked. At this point, as of this week, she was still corraling him into a box to get him out of the cage to clean it.

I am stuck as to what is causing his aggression... a vet trip may be in order. The skink obviously feels very threatened...but it could be illness related...or something I just don't know.

only other thing is something smells threatening..a new perfume? Somebody your sister is in contact with frequently who owns a pet?
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PHLdyPayne

she's contacting an exotic vet... i've asked her about perfumes and animals- and blueberry (the skink) has been around the same animals, and so has she. she has another skink- huckleberry, and he's the same great, friendly fellow he's always been.

no one knows what to do. i've offered to have blueberry come stay at my house and see if a change of pace would break the cycle, but i'm also a wee bit worried that he'll bite me, and i know they have powerful jaws.

They do have strong jaws but small teeth. It hurts to get bit but its not as bad as other reptile bites I had. One thing your friend could try which may break him out of the habit of biting (unless the vet finds a medical reason for it) is have her wear heavy gloves..even an oven mitt and let him attack it. It won't hurt his teeth and he will see biting it isn't making it 'go away' so he should give up after awhile...especially since it goes away on its own.
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PHLdyPayne

I will try this. We moved Blueberry to my house to see if a change of scenery would perhaps make him calm down. So far he seems a bit calmer- he didn't attack when I fed him, or when I (gently) poked him. (poked because there's no way I'm going to pick him up without gloves, which it seems I'm going to buy very soon.)