Alright, I'm stumped and need opinions.

Tequila is displaying some worrisome behaviors that I can't get to the bottom of. Lately she has been having trouble eating live prey (mealies or crix) she'll attack them and chew them partially and try to swallow them but nothing happens, they usually just crawl right back out of her mouth while she gapes and chokes on them.


The color has been normal over all, but her food intake has lessened, she is still maintaining weight though. It is very difficult for me to get he mouth open to look inside so I have to look while I can when she is doing her whole choking thing. Here's a picture I took around the 20th of march:


and here is a blurry one from tonight, notice the red spot:


I'm not sure it it's blood or mouthrot or a URI in its early stages or what.
I don't have a trusted reptile vet within a reasonable driving distance and I am trying to find out as much as I can to see where I need to go from here.

All opinions are readily welcomed, i'm not even going to be able to do a check up on her without having her sedated so i'm trying to get alot of ideas to work with first because its going to be expensive and I don't want to go in unprepared.

I have been told about a new vet in town who sees exotics, I will be calling and giving them the very intensive quizing that all of the vets around here that claim to treat herps get in the morning, but I'm not very confident. there isnt really a market for reptile vets in eastern washington.

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"What is now proven was once only imagined." - William Blake

~*~Lacey~*~

My Photos

I have no idea what's wrong with your little girl there as I'm not researched on Blue Tongues, but I was wondering, do you think she's gravid?

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http://dragcave.net/user/manhirwen

Aww..Lacey, Im sorry about bluey! Ill give u my input but I doubt it will be too helpful, It dosnt look like any mothrot Ive ever seen or a URI..good luck with that vet and I hope all goes well!

If she is hurt from something hard she swallowed (like a half chewed cricket), eating more inverts won't help. I don't know Blue Tongue Skink at all but can't you give her just soft food like baby food, fruit puree or something like that for a week and after that see if she is better?

The most important aspect for me is that she strikes and tries to eat inverts, which means she hasn't lost her appetite.

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Wish list: Blue Tongue Skinks and Uruplatus =)

It does look like bluey was bitten by a cricket or something going down

Lacey,

Heres a link that might help you find a qualified her vet in your area, good luck
http://www.arav.org/Members/WA.htm

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Ken
" The United States Marine Corps......sure we are a department of the Navy,,,,,,we're the MENS department "

Thanks Ken but the nearest herp vet that I would give the time of day is hours away, as I stated earlier . (and a dangerous drive at that)

RBL- skinks are omnivores so she gets a nasty mashed up mix of boiled chicken, pureed fruits and veggies, greens, and grated squash every other day, but she doesnt want to eat that either. all she wants to do is drink water. I've tried watering the food way donw, but she still doesnt eat enough for it to matter. Feeding a solely liquid diet also adds to the likelyhood of her getting a URI and I want to try to avoid that at all costs since she is not basking as much as I would like.

I could buy the whole 'she got bit' idea except for the fact that shes been doing it for a couple of weeks and the red spot is a new development.

I called that clinic today but they were out to lunch. I'll have to try again tomorrow.
I may call the lab that we send out our blood samples to at work and see if they have any Blue Tongue Skink blood panels to compare a blood sample to because that would be a simple cheap procedure that I could do at work and it would only cost a few dollars. The lab is fairly big, I think they serve 2 states atleast so they might have something helpful for me.
'
Any other ideas? I'm really grasping at straws here.

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"What is now proven was once only imagined." - William Blake

~*~Lacey~*~

My Photos

I dont have any other ideas of what it could be but good luck and I hope all goes well with her!