Dulling of Colors

[clink51]

i know I'm asking a lot of questions and i do apologize for being burdensome but i do promise that as soon as i learn more i will help out lol....anywayz... So my Leo has been having a change of colors for the worst. Hes been getting duller and duller in color. Could this be because of impending shedding or am i feeding him wrong? hes also been getting quite wrinkly on his underside
I feed him 3-4 crickets a day and before i feed them i throw them in a bag and dust them with calcium w/o d3 and his water is getting changed quite regularly...is their need for concern or am i just being an over bearing father?

When i first got him:

and him now:

 

[L-G-C]

It could be from shed or could be cause a leopard gecko's color changes throught its life like my cheetos went from bright, to dull, to bright again. Hope this helps.

 

[clink51]

yea that's what I'm hoping for also but he hates his humid hide so that worries me a little as well lol....how often do they shed and how long does it take? are their any signs i should look for other then the dulling of color?

 

[L-G-C]

Well I don't know how often they shed because I rarely catch them shedding but when I do I've seen them take their shed off in less than an hour to about 6 hours. just keep the humid hide moist and when he is ready he'll go in there to shed if he needs it.

 

[clink51]

sweet, i hope ur right =)

 

[Shera]

Is he kept warm enough? I have heard on here people saying that low temperatures can dull.

 

[L-G-C]

Thats true. once I was gone at a camp and I came back and one of my UTH went off and my leo was duller. She got better and is bright again.

Is he kept warm enough? I have heard on here people saying that low temperatures can dull.

 

[sammer021486]

Your pics do not really show the gecko is getting ready to shed. So I am thinking that it has something to do with your heating. One thing that I have noticed is people who ask why their gecko is dull and their main source of heat is a red or other visible light bulb. After being recommended by breeders and others to switch out the bulb for an IR element or switch to a UTH. Most owners have said that their gecko has brightened up.

I have one male that dulls though and I use only UTH on my tanks. His colours change from bright to dull on a regular basis, I am thinking that it is just a phase change with him as he is starting to remain nice and bright now.

 

[clink51]

i don't think its gonna be a thing about the heat just because during the day i keep the UTH and a daylight "sun glo" bulb going so that his terrarium reaches a 89-93 degree range and at night i let the tank go down to the 78-81 degree level...

 

[robin]

you need a hot side and a cool side both during the day and at night

 

[DarthGekko]

you need a hot side and a cool side both during the day and at night

+1

The night drop is probably what caused the color change...

 

[clink51]

yea and thats what i have, i have my cool side on the right with temps usually in the 80's during the day and i have my hot side with its temps in the 90's during the day and at night they drop to 60's and 70's respectively....

 

[Tony C]

That's too low. A 10 degree drop would be ok if you really wanted to, but 20 is too much.

 

[robin]

you need a hot spot around 90 at all times (day and night), your other side should be no lower than 70 at all times. the temps shouldn't not drop too much from daytime to night time

 

[sk8ergrl927]

I cant see the pics so I dont know how old the leo is. Besides the heat thing, ( im only mentioning this if hes past juvie) maybe give hima few more crickets. I know 3-4 do nothing for my leos lol

 

[clink51]

happy to report that it was apparently due to the upcoming shed cuz it let go of it sskin earlier today and is now back to its yellow ish colors...although i did find it funny he has snake eyes and not round eyes..does that mean anything?

 

[aslchick1]

Beady snake like eyes are normal