What do blue tongued skinks eat and how often?

Two food diet questions of blue tongued skinks?

• 1. Can I feed my blue tongued skink frozen fruits and vegetables? 2. I know that I feed them fruits, vegetables, high quality canned dog food, and also insects. How many times a week should I feed them a meal, every day or a couple of times a week? I keep reading mixed answers...

• Answer:

  I have a blue-tongued skink and I will tell you how I feed mine. Firstly, I would avoid frozen fruits and vegetables. Often, these are treated with sugars and preservatives to keep them fresh. I would just take a couple of dollars each week and purchase some fresh fruits and vegetables. I feed my skink a variety of fruits and veggies, including Kale, spinach leaves, ROMAINE lettuce (iceberg has no nutritional value), carrots, tomatoe innerds (I find my blue-tongued has a hard time digesting the skins), bananas, Organic baby foods, and as a treat high-quality canned CAT food, I'm not sure where you heard about the dog food but I would discontinue that. Dog food has added protein, which in excess can cause problems in your skink. Along with elevated protein, dog food contains minerals and ingredients that skinks cannot metabolize. Stick with a patte style canned cat food, but try and avoid the "gravy" parts. This contains a high percentage of fat. Again, feed the cat food only as a treat. As for the insects, I prefer to feed my skink mealworms and crickets. I keep the colonies myself, due to the large number of lizards I have in my home, so I know the crickets get the best nutrition. I assume you are buying yours, so dust them lightly with calcium powder. Metabolic Bone Disease (MBD) is a disease that affects lizards, among other reptiles, and usually presents itself as lameness or swelling of joints and limbs. This is a serious health problem, and entirely is caused by lack of calcium and other minerals/vitamins. So, cliffnotes are, fresh fruits/vegetables, calcium-dusted insects, and high-quality canned cat food AS A TREAT only. (The cat food is high in fat, so don't overfeed.) I believe the appropriate food percentage is 60% insects/40% fruits and vegetables. Never feed your skink meat, raw or cooked. This is a sure way to spread disease, and I have never seen a skink succesfully raised on mice or the like. Any other questions, please email me :) Hope this helps