Blue tongue skinks are notorious for their tiny arms and thick bodies, which make them an adorable addition to many exotic pet keepers’ homes. However, that body shape can come with a challenge: it’s hard to tell when they’re getting a little overweight.
There is no single healthy weight for a bluey, because it depends on their age, sex, level of physical activity, time of year, and more. If you’re not sure whether your skink is at a healthy weight, here are the basics to help you determine obesity in BTS.
Why Blueys Gain Weight Easily in Captivity
Most blue tongue skinks are enthusiastic eaters, but in the wild, that enthusiasm is limited by access to food. In other words, they’ve got to roam and forage in order to eat. In captivity, blueys aren’t getting nearly as much exercise. Pair that with access to calorie-dense, high-protein diets, and you’ve got a recipe for weight gain.
It is common for owners to interpret their skink’s enthusiastic food response as hunger, which may prompt you to feed your bluey more often than they need.
The Natural Diet of Blue Tongue Skinks
In the wild, blue tongue skinks are opportunistic. This means they eat what they can find. Most commonly, their diet is made of insects like beetles, snails, worms, and grasshoppers. However, they’ll also eat fruits, flowers, seeds, and even small mammals or birds. Compare this to the captive diet, which often includes frequent feedings of prey animals, such as pinkies, alongside fruits (e.g., bananas). Suddenly, your bluey’s diet has tipped into a majority of food items that would make up the minority in the wild.
Is My Bluey Overweight?
Unfortunately, there’s no number that is “right” when it comes to a skink’s weight; it’s more nuanced than that. Some signs that your skink could be carrying extra fat include:
· A wide torso compared to the head, neck, and tail
· The neck appearing to get shorter (the weight is narrowing the transition between neck and body)
· A belly that interferes with normal movement
· A reduced willingness to walk, climb low objects, or explore
· Continued weight gain (measured on a scale) after the skink has reached its adult size
The best ways to track whether your bluey is gaining weight are to weigh frequently and take overhead pictures for comparison over time. However, there are some reasons why some animals might be bigger than others, or why two blueys don’t have the same body shape.
· Subspecies: Indonesian skinks tend to be smaller than their Australian counterparts.
· Sex: Female skinks tend to be rounder and may not have a clear transition into the hips.
· Age: Young skinks are still growing, so it is expected that their weight keeps going up.
· Reproductive status: A female skink may retain water as follicles appear or grow wider as embryos develop.
· Diet: Recent meals and hydration can affect your bluey’s weight for a brief time.
In studies, scientists have found notable differences in weight among wild blueys. For example, wild Northerns weighed in at an average of 586 grams, while Centralian skinks were only 312 grams. This is why keepers shouldn’t stop at just the number. Evaluate the skink based on the criteria above, too.
What to Change If You’ve Got a Chunky Lizard
So you’ve got a skink that could stand to lose a few grams. Now what? It’s important to start with a vet visit to make sure your lizard has a clean bill of health. Some issues, such as impaction, a mass, parasites, or other health changes can cause weight gain. Challenges such as parasites are easily treatable and will make your next steps easier (and more comfortable for your skink!).
To help your bluey lose weight, try:
Controlling portion size
Whether or not your skink can consume a certain amount of food or a certain size of prey item has no bearing on whether that meal contains too many calories. Blueys do not self-regulate; if they have space in their stomach, they will typically continue eating. Consider trimming portion sizes.
Changing feeding frequency
When your bluey was small, you probably fed often. Now, as an adult, they don’t need that same feeding schedule. A skink can be perfectly safe with multiple days in between meals.
Adjusting calories
Understand that even healthy foods can come with too many calories if eaten in excess. Foods you might be offering that are especially calorie-dense include eggs, rodents, high-fat animal protein (e.g., ground beef), fatty insects (e.g., waxworms), and fruit. These can be great for enrichment or occasional treats, but leaner protein mixed with vegetables is a more sustainable long-term option. That’s why Reptilinks recommends the 50/50 Omnivore Blend links, which are made with whole lean rabbit and a mix of vegetables like collard greens, green beans, dandelion, and endive.
Adding movement
Your skink can enjoy more calories if they’re burning those calories on exercise. When you design enrichment time and enclosure décor, think about movement. For example, you might have plenty of fun things to look at in the enclosure, but if they’re crowding up floor space, your bluey doesn’t have much room to move. At the same time, a bare enclosure gives your skink very little incentive to investigate.
Try encouraging exercise by adding interesting environmental obstacles, such as tunnels and cork rounds. Low but stable objects, like a brick, give them climbing opportunities, and deeper substrate can encourage them to dig. If you hide food items so they have to forage, they’ll be spending energy before every meal.
If you’re struggling to maintain a healthy weight for your blue tongue skink, try replacing some of the highest-calorie foods in their diet with lean, comprehensive nutritional sources like Reptilinks. That way, you’re not compromising on food quality or nutrient availability, but you’re decreasing calories. As your bluey loses weight, they’re more likely to be up and active, compounding the positive progress toward a healthy (scaly) waistline.