Blue Tongue Skink Swollen Leg

It could be a genetic deformity of weak or malformed bones. MBD or general calcium deficiency can happen in a hatchling if mom's nutrition levels weren't optimal for breeding. What's his current diet?

The vet should be able to tell, so you don't over dose on remedies if it's not MBD. It's too hard for me to say without knowing the species and common maladies. You'll want to get him a raised platform to get closer to the UVB, regardless.

Good luck!

Thank you everyone for your support and advice! I'll get right to adding more substrate to get him closer to the lights. Unfortunately the vet I usually go to for my dog doesn't specialize in reptiles but I have found a vet a bit futher away that does, and have made an appointment for tomorrow morning! I have an infrared temp gun from home depot. How much calcium should I give him a week? I usually coat the crickets and mealworms and he gets those twice a week. I'll get to rearranging his tank right now and take a photo when I'm done. Thanks again you guys.

Ok I just finished rearranging his tank. I'll be attaching a photo. I feel much better about it now. I used two bags of shredded aspen. Also I noticed someone asked about his diet. I feed him every other day. Mondays he gets mustard greens(or any greens) mixed with shredded chicken(or turkey). Wednesdays he gets mealworms powdered in calium. Fridays he gets veggies and greens. And sometimes I'll change it up and he'll get a boiled egg. Or fruit. Or crickets(powdered in calcium). I also take him outside in the sun everyday for 20mins. And tomorrow at 5pm is his vet appointment so fingers crossed! Anyways as always, advice and constructive criticism is appreciated!


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We just got back from the vet. And luckily it's nothing too serious, it's good I brought him in early so we can begin to fix the problem. It's one of two things. It's either a deformity, basically what's happening is the bone in his arms are turning over sideways but isn't causing him any pain whatsoever. Or it could be a lack of calcium. Either way, I'll be dusting his food more often and going outside longer. Thank you all so much for all the support and advice! My mind is a bit more at ease now.

If you haven't looked at the BlueTongSkinks.net site before, they are a wealth of info on Blue Tongue Skink. They also have an excellent food & frequency chart to make feeding easier. They advise a 50/40/10 % breakdown on veggies, meat, and fruit.

Best of luck with the little cutie, glad you took him in!