After many years, I finally have leos again!!

[missdusty]

Many years ago, I owned several leopard geckos, but I finally had to re-home them due to time constraints (motherhood and a time-consuming job!!!).

This weekend, I finally adopted my first leopard gecko in years - and she's my favorite morph, the tangerine! I've named her Hestia, for the Greek goddess of fire, and my family and I are absolutely in love with her!

Overall, she's super healthy. But she's had some shedding problems with her toes. The previous owner said she recently shed, and she still has tons of skin on her toes - and I can see where she's lost toes in the past. (Yes, I'm working on getting her humidity box and gradually soaking and working off - there are a few layers of skin).

I'm so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

~~Dusty

 

[missdusty]

Ah - and as for the sand, no worries - I'm getting rid of it; it came with the aquarium.

 

[Tico]

Gratzs

 

[Adinar]

Congrats on a wonderful looking tang! Once that shed comes off she'll be right on track. Since you are already versed with these guys, she'll be in good hands. We had the same issues with our one boys, Grendel, when he came home. Shed-ease is some amazing product. We happened to be going to a reptile show the very next day and snagged some. Sure, we do use the oil/water bit too but this stuff just doesn't leave their skin all oily for a day or two afterward. (Call me picky.) Luckily he's pretty laid back and didn't care if I picked at his feet with tweezers. Took about a week to get it all off since there was layer upon layer of shed. Surprisingly he didn't loose any toes over it all, as several were purple and a bit swollen.

So when are you bringing home the next one? Eh?

 

[missdusty]

Congrats on a wonderful looking tang! Once that shed comes off she'll be right on track. Since you are already versed with these guys, she'll be in good hands. We had the same issues with our one boys, Grendel, when he came home. Shed-ease is some amazing product. We happened to be going to a reptile show the very next day and snagged some. Sure, we do use the oil/water bit too but this stuff just doesn't leave their skin all oily for a day or two afterward. (Call me picky.) Luckily he's pretty laid back and didn't care if I picked at his feet with tweezers. Took about a week to get it all off since there was layer upon layer of shed. Surprisingly he didn't loose any toes over it all, as several were purple and a bit swollen.

So when are you bringing home the next one? Eh?

She had one toe that was bleeding a bit and is bent out of shape - I'm guessing she'll lose that one, too, poor baby. Way back when I was breeding, I never did have a leo with this problem, so it's a bit of trial and error for me (Google is a wonderful thing!!!).

She's pretty laid back, too - once she settles, she'll let me pick at her toes with the tweezers. The tough part was getting her to soak her feet. You'd think she'd be happy about getting a pedicure!!!

 

[Kristi23]

Congrats on the new addition!

 

[OnlineGeckos]

Congrats, she's a beauty.

 

[missdusty]

I finally had time to clean out her cage today. Wow. Lots of nasty stuff in the sand. Although, I do believe the "sand" was the Vita-Sand stuff, so that's good. Replaced it with newspaper.. Cleaned out her feeding bowl - Eew. There were dead crickets - I think the kind you buy dead - in the food bowl, but Hestia was not really going for those. She got really excited about the mealworms - and has so far completely ignored the one cricket I put in there.

Adinar - thanks for the suggestion of Shed-Ease. I bought some tonight, and I'll be soaking her as soon as I'm done cooking dinner!!!

 

[Adinar]

I finally had time to clean out her cage today. Wow. Lots of nasty stuff in the sand. Although, I do believe the "sand" was the Vita-Sand stuff, so that's good. Replaced it with newspaper.. Cleaned out her feeding bowl - Eew. There were dead crickets - I think the kind you buy dead - in the food bowl, but Hestia was not really going for those. She got really excited about the mealworms - and has so far completely ignored the one cricket I put in there.

Adinar - thanks for the suggestion of Shed-Ease. I bought some tonight, and I'll be soaking her as soon as I'm done cooking dinner!!!

No problem. It's just nice to have just in case you run into some REALLY stubborn shed that just doesn't come off.

 

[missdusty]

No problem. It's just nice to have just in case you run into some REALLY stubborn shed that just doesn't come off.

lol You mean like some of the skin on her toes?? :main_thumbsdown: Oy... A few more days and she should be good... Unfortunately, several of her toes are either gone or deformed from the lack of circulation. :main_no: Other than that, I think she'll be okay :main_yes::main_yes::main_yes:

 

[Adinar]

Yup, exactally what Grendel had. Just takes lots of time. Soak her for about 10 min (make sure the water stays warm), take her out and try to remove some. Soak her again with fresh warm water and Shed-ease (so the water isn't cold making her cold). Do it as long as she allows then give her a break. I spaced his sessions out throughout the course of a week because there was at least 3-4 layers of shed. I did have one slip of the tweezers and drew a little blood, but he was fine. I went with the toes that had circulation cut off first since obviously they need attention first.

The pet store he came from had no moist hide, plus the only background info we had gotten on him was that he was brought in by a previous owner who no longer wanted him. Not sure if he came in with the shed, or got that way while there. Anything is possible. Judging how many layers, the beginning of the problem was already there when he was brought in, they just did nothing about it. He was really healthy otherwise.

After a few sessions. Can still see some layers on his back feet.

Shed's all gone, and in mid-shed. He's a happy boy.

 

[PaladinGirl]

Congrats on a wonderful looking tang! Once that shed comes off she'll be right on track. Since you are already versed with these guys, she'll be in good hands. We had the same issues with our one boys, Grendel, when he came home. Shed-ease is some amazing product. We happened to be going to a reptile show the very next day and snagged some. Sure, we do use the oil/water bit too but this stuff just doesn't leave their skin all oily for a day or two afterward. (Call me picky.) Luckily he's pretty laid back and didn't care if I picked at his feet with tweezers. Took about a week to get it all off since there was layer upon layer of shed. Surprisingly he didn't loose any toes over it all, as several were purple and a bit swollen.

So when are you bringing home the next one? Eh?

I think I want to try this shed ease stuff! How do you use it on a leo?

 

[missdusty]

I think I want to try this shed ease stuff! How do you use it on a leo?

Very simple, actually. Directions are printed on the bottle, which I found at PetCo.

16 oz. Warm Water + 10 mL. of the Shed-Ease. Let leo. soak for 20 minutes. Work off the dead skin. Make sure the water is shallow.

 

[missdusty]

These are her toes after last night's Shed-Ease session...