Leo's shedding but the shed on head not ready to come off

[htadothk]

Hi all,

Tonight is the 3rd time my male leo sheds since I got him on Jan 23. The 1st time went smoothly taking only 10 minutes, the 2nd time took hours because the shed on his head was not ready to come off even though the rest of the body has shed.

This time it's pretty much the same as the 2nd time, the rest of the body is done, but the head just isn't ready. The area from eyes to nose hasn't even turned pale yet. Still my leo is trying very hard to get it off, I think he could be quite stressed right now, he's been rubbing his head on glass, furniture and floor for hours now, and I even caught him scratching his head with his hind leg, which I've never seen before.

The moist hide is on the cool side and is indeed quite moist, he went in there a couple of times already, rubbing his head against the inside and no luck, then came out to rub the other stuff in the terrarium.

I tried soaking him in warm water and it didn't seem to help. I'm pretty sure he can get it off eventually, but I would like to know what could cause this and how to prevent this from happening again. I just don't want him to hurt himself or stress himself out.

The humidity level is around 60% by the way.

Thanks in advance !

 

[lizardlove]

Interesting! My friend BettaDragon started a thread on this not long ago. Same thing, Yukina shed the rest of her skin but the head wasn't ready. What ended up happening was she pulled the skin that wasn't ready off, and that spot was really painful to her for a while. The thread was here: http://www.geckoforums.net./showthread.php?t=35084

I wonder what keeps causing this?

 

[htadothk]

Interesting! My friend BettaDragon started a thread on this not long ago. Same thing, Yukina shed the rest of her skin but the head wasn't ready. What ended up happening was she pulled the skin that wasn't ready off, and that spot was really painful to her for a while. The thread was here: http://www.geckoforums.net./showthread.php?t=35084

I wonder what keeps causing this?

Hi Darcie,

Thanks, I saw that thread too, that's why I dare not pulling the skin off him. And as we "speak" he's worked the shed off as far as one eye and that eye is now closed because the shed is still on top of it. I'm so worried about this poor little guy ! :'(

 

[htadothk]

Damn, 2 hours later and he's still licking his eye trying to get the shed off... I bet his tongue hurts ! The poor lil thing...

 

[Malibu Barbie]

Try taking a wet q-tip and gently rub the shead - this might help her

 

[cyndi0502]

this happens to both my leos, the head is ALWAYS last with every shed. their whole bodies will be shedding, and their heads not even close to being white yet.

i just leave them alone, make sure their moist hide is wet, and they eventually get it off just fine.

 

[kyahbean]

That's so weird...Puzzle always sheds his head first. I hope your little one ends out ok!

 

[gothra]

Try use a wet q-tip and wipe from top of head to nose; the skin will loosen/roll if its ready to come off, you can then pull it off with a tweezer or something. If the skin is hard stuck even if you scrub with q-tip, then that means its not ready. Just leave it be for a couple more days, it'll eventually come off.

 

[htadothk]

Thanks for everyone's response, soaking and wet q-tip didn't help because that skin just isn't ready to come off...

When I woke up this morning he's got his right eye sorted, but that piece of shed is still hanging down from his left eye.

Some pix from last night :

 

[OhioGecko]

You should be able to get the rest of it with a moist qtip rubbing gently. It might take several tries.

I would suggest moving your wet hide to the warm side of the cage and misting the cage when you start to see him shed in the future.

Good Luck!