Dealing with retained shed on toes

[FelanMoira]

Okay - one of my geckos notoriously retains shed on his toes (even with a humid hide and soaks every couple days if he looks about to shed).

What is the easiest way to deal with this? I've been soaking him in warm water for 15 minutes and trying to ease it off with a q-tip about once every 2 days (he gets quite irritatated about it!) He has lost the claw off of 1 foot and I feel so bad!

Also, after this last shed I've noticed that both my guys had some retained shed under their eyelids. I've used sterile saline and irrigated their eyes until I was able to get it with a q-tip moistened with sterile saline. Is this common? Or do I need to work on increasing humidity even more? It was a very dry winter in my home.

On an aside - my snow corn snake doesn't seem to have a problem shedding - eyecaps and all. Bloody geckos are unlucky I guess! Even my former iguana never had these problems!

 

[FelanMoira]

I found some suggestions in another thread! :main_rolleyes: shoulda looked first! Sorry!

 

[frost1375]

I wish I could be more help than some people, but I also have a hard time helping my geckos get their shed off. The only advice I can give is to make sure you try to get the shed off as soon as it gets stuck. Soak the area and use tweezers that are not too sharp and try to pull off the shed. As for saline, I've never used it so I'm not so sure. I posted a question about the liquid bandage that no one ever got back to me about. Have you tried that on the wounded areas? I'm wondering if that is okay to prevent infection.

 

[Melody]

When the usual warm water soaking and Qtip didn't work this last time with my MSS girl, I tried a few new things recommended to me by others. (1) I used a needleless syringe to put mineral oil on the toes - this got alot of the shed off the next day. But she actually had gotten constrictive rings around a few toes, so I started syringing Betadyne on the toes to reduce the swelling which was getting worse. This helped tremendously, but still didn't get everything so a few days of this then (3) I added a little liquid dish (NOT dishwasher) Dawn detergent to the water to make it "wetter" and soaked and soaked. Finally, I got everything off. She lost 1 toenail and the very tip of another toe, but considering how badly this stuff stuck, I'm thankful it wasn't worse! It's those darn constrictive rings on teeny tiny baby toes that are so difficult to deal with!!!! I was afraid if I pulled too hard the toes would come off as well!

 

[cheeseball705]

my first ever gecko has alwasy ahd shed probs even as baby. he is very hard to pick up and handle casue half the time i am pulling skinn off im even after soaking. i have had hmid box in ther eand also mist the tank evrytday but every shed he always has issues, and has lost a few toes because of this. i try hard and feel bad fo rthe guy but i do it every shedit is awyas the same. my female i ahd before she died never had a prob wiht shedding andthey were ket in teh same tank. i wonder sometimes if this isnt a genetic prob, but he is also partially blind and i wonder if tha thas somethign to do wiuh it as well.

 

[lee19]

You might try boosting the humidity in the room itself by leaving out a bowl or panful of hot water. I did this once or twice...left it on the floor next to the gecko cages and it helped with an easier shed.

Also, you might try "shedding aid" which really helps...
I've used Herpcare Shedding Aid (about 8 or 9 dollars from local pet store) and it really works well. You spray on and leave it for maybe 5-10 minutes and then use a moist q-tip to roll the skin off. Works great, especially in conjunction with a warm soak.

My 2 cents!

Lee19

 

[FelanMoira]

He shed again this week and it went much easier (it's been more humid around here) plus i soaked him while he was shedding on top of the higher humidity. He shed like a pro and even got the retained shed off the toes from his last shed!

Woo hoo!

 

[Lyndsey]

My girl always has stuck shed on the same back toe. I soak her feet, then very carefully use tweezers. It's a ton easier to peel it off then with the q-tip