Baskden a warm den for reptile folk · baskden.com Red-Eyed Crocodile Skink — Vet-Prep Sheet
🔍 Find a reptile / exotics vet — before you need one
- Search the ARAV Find-a-Vet directory (the Association of Reptilian & Amphibian Veterinarians), or in the UK the RCVS Find-a-Vet — or search "reptile / exotics vet near me".
- Call ahead and ask the key question: "Do you see reptiles?" Not every practice does.
- Ask the exam fee when you call. Knowing the cost up front removes the money-panic in a crisis.
- Find and save one now, while things are calm — not in the middle of an emergency.
📇 Fill this in now — before the crisis
Two minutes now saves ten in a panic. Print it and keep it with your care notes.
🚨 Is this an emergency now?
See a reptile vet promptly if you notice any of these:
- Sunken eyes, wrinkled skin, or lethargy (dehydration — usually from humidity kept too low).
- A rubbery jaw, bowed or wavy limbs, or tremors (signs pointing to metabolic bone disease / too little calcium or UVB).
- Open-mouth breathing, mucus, or wheezing (possible respiratory infection — often from being kept too cool or damp-stale).
- Poor weight, or abnormal/worm-visible droppings in a new import (parasites — very common in wild-caught skinks).
- A female straining and off her food (egg-binding), retained stuck shed, or any tissue protruding from the vent (prolapse).
When in doubt, a vet call is never wrong — most issues are reversible if caught early.
🚗 On the way / while you wait
✅ Do
- Keep it warm at a safe transport temperature — a cold reptile crashes fast (a warm car or a covered container with a warm, not hot, pack helps).
- Keep it calm, dark and quiet in a secure, ventilated container — stress makes almost everything worse.
- Bring it in its own container so the vet sees it as it lives.
⛔ Don't
- Don’t offer food, or any OTC, aquarium-shop or online-forum remedy — many are useless or harmful and can mask the signs.
- Don’t let it get cold on the way in.
- Don’t handle it more than you must.
🎒 What to bring
- A short video and a couple of clear photos of the behaviour or sign — it may not show it in the clinic.
- A note of your setup (basking, cool-side and night temperatures, UVB, humidity, substrate) and exactly what — and how often — you feed.
- Your reptile, transported safely in its own secure, ventilated container — kept warm (see below), not in a cold car.
🗣️ What to tell the vet
A general vet may not know this species. Come ready to explain its correct care:
- Temperature
- A gentle warm hide / basking area of 80–82°F (27–28°C) from a low-wattage bulb — this is a cool-running forest species, not a hot basker, so it must not overheat. Cool zone 75–78°F (24–26°C). Night 72–75°F (22–24°C) — a mild drop is fine.
- UVB & lighting
- UVB isn’t strictly required (they’re nocturnal) but is beneficial: a low-output T5 bulb (Arcadia ShadeDweller) giving UVI 1.0–2.0 at the top of the enclosure. If you skip UVB you MUST supplement vitamin D3 — UVB is the better route. Replace the bulb yearly.
- Humidity
- HIGH and moisture-dependent — 70–80% by day, rising to 80–100% at night. Mist morning and evening (and often midday), run a fogger at night, and keep a deep moist substrate. This is the single biggest difference from an arid skink: kept dry, a crocodile skink dehydrates and does poorly.
- Enclosure
- Minimum 24×18×18 in (60×45×45 cm) for one, densely planted with lots of cover and leaf litter, PLUS a larger-than-usual water area it can climb into and soak. They are shy and semi-fossorial, so hides and clutter matter enormously. Best kept singly or as a single male–female pair — males will fight.
- Substrate
- A moisture-retentive, burrowable mix (a bioactive-style soil/coco blend) at least 2–4 in deep, topped with leaf litter and cork for cover. It holds the humidity and gives them somewhere to hide and dig, which lowers stress.
- Diet
- Insectivore — a varied menu of appropriately-sized insects (crickets, dubia/discoid roaches, black soldier fly larvae, silkworms, earthworms, the occasional canned snail), each feeder roughly half the width of the skink’s head. Juveniles daily; adults every other day, offering as much as they’ll eat in about 5 minutes.
- Supplements
- Dust feeder insects with calcium at every feeding, and add a multivitamin on a rotation. Calcium + D3 matters especially if you provide little or no UVB. Always keep a bowl of clean water available too.
⚕️ Reptiles are ectotherms kept at species-specific temperatures — a cold reptile can’t metabolise medicines properly, so tell the vet your exact temperatures and keep it warm for transport. Reptiles are prey animals and hide illness until it is advanced, so early changes matter. Mention your UVB/lighting and any supplements or remedies you’ve already used, and ask for reptile-safe products and doses.
Then note which of the warning signs (above) you are seeing, when they started, and whether they are getting worse.
❓ Questions to ask
- Do you routinely see reptiles? If not, can you refer me to a vet who does?
- What are the likely causes — and could my setup or diet be contributing?
- What is the treatment plan, the likely cost, and what should I watch for at home?
- How do I prevent this from happening again?