Newbie shed questions

[mavman99]

Greetings--

I bought a leo for my son (and myself). We have had him/her since Christmas (have not sexed it yet) and two nights ago when I got home, he had shed most of his skin, with just the flap on his head left. That is now gone. I have been reading on here about watching the toes.

My problems are: he is not really ready to be held yet. He hisses and snaps at me and my son when we try to pick him up. If I persist (after reading some good stuff on here) I can get him in my hands. Because I am a newbie, I am having trouble telling if he still has skin left on his toes to come off or not. I have not been able to hold him much (prior to the shed), and when I did I was not looking at the toes. Also, if there is skin left, how long should I wait before I try to help it off? As for the q-tip thing, I don't think I could hold him long enough for that.

I have been misting his hide and put in a moist hide with wet paper towels (cottage cheese tub), but I don't know if he has ever gone in there. He is not very active while we are around to see him yet.

So, how long do I let the skin go, and how do I help the toe skin if I can pick him up, but not hold him for the q-tip rub? Thanks for your time!

 

[Scott&Nikki]

I had this problem twice. You shouldn't leave the skin on there much more than 24 hours after he/she starts shedding. What I would do to get the skin off was put her in a fairly small but tall tupperware container. Big enough she can still move around, but can't really "get away" from me. Mine calmed down after a little bit, almost like she knew what I was doing. Don't get me wrong, she hated it and still snapped at me, but you can't let him/her know you are scared. You can also try a warm soak. Fill a container with 1/4-1/2 inch of warm water and let it stand in there for a while. Hope that helps!

 

[mavman99]

Thanks, I will have to get on that when I get home tonight.

You first suggestion about the tall container, is that the one I should put the gecko in with the small amount of water? Or are you talking about a tall container with wet paper towels in it (like a big moist hide)?

 

[Scott&Nikki]

Thanks, I will have to get on that when I get home tonight.

You first suggestion about the tall container, is that the one I should put the gecko in with the small amount of water? Or are you talking about a tall container with wet paper towels in it (like a big moist hide)?

I meant the tall container for trying to get the extra skin off with a Q-tip. You may want a little bigger container to soak him/her so they don't feel as trapped. I just found that mine would not sit still in my hand and using a container like this, they can get away but not enough that you need to be chasing them around.

 

[mavman99]

Oh, I see. Between the two, have you found the q-tip or soak to be easier? And easier on the leo?

 

[Scott&Nikki]

Well, I would say the soak is easier on the leo. I can't see them enjoying being probed by a wet Q-tip. I personally have never had to give my leo a warm soak. The only shed problems I have experienced was shed on the top of the head/nose. I hate using the Q-tip. I know she hates it and I can't see it feeling too great. So I would recommend the soak if it is just on the toes and see if that helps. Let us know how it works out.

 

[GeckoMandi]

Sometimes I've used small tweezers to get the shed of their toes after a soak, you have to be really gentle and it's hard when they try and dive out of your hands lol.

 

[mavman99]

I did the soak last night and tried to gently do the q-tip in the water at the same time. It's hard to see if the skin is coming off when it is wet!

Now that he is dry this morning, I was able to pick him up and it looks like there are 3 or four toes that still have skin on them, so I will try the soak again. At least now I know which ones, since I have been able to get a better look at his feet.

 

[Scott&Nikki]

How was he with the Q-tip? If he was ok it may be easier to see if you got it off bye just doing that. Like Mandi said, you can try using tweezers to gently pull it off AFTER you get it fairly wet. Just be VERY careful then when you have a hold of the skin, he doesn't try to jump away or move suddenly and you rip it off. When I had the shed problem on my girl's head, the piece was big enough that I used my fingers. The first time she pulled away real fast and I don't think she liked it much. The second time she kinda helped me pull real slowly. I just doubt you will be able to grab skin from the toes. The faster you get it off the better, so keep trying and keep us posted.

 

[GeckoMandi]

I would try tweezers for the toes, but let the gecko soak for at least 10-15 minutes before trying maybe even 20 to make sure it's extra moist. The longer you wait the worse it gets I didn't catch one of mines toes that had stuck shed and it got another layer on it when her next shed came and she lost a toe

 

[mavman99]

Well, I think I got it all, but what a pain.

I soaked him about 15 minutes, but it was still there, so I tried the q-tip in the water (wiping the toes underwater), and the loose one came off, but the front middle fingers on each foot would not come off. After about 40 minutes, I thought I had to try something else. I picked him up and let him walk around on my hands until I could get a gentle grip on him with my hand wrapped around him and just his front legs and head sticking out of my hand. Now I could get a little better pressure and control and FINALLY got the skin off the two middle toes. One looks fine, the other is a little pink, but I think it should be OK.

The positive: I finally got to hold the leo, plus I got a crash course in shed maintenance.

The ironic thing: The only reason I did not get the skin off earlier (like a couple days ago) was that when he started shedding I search the Net and found this site. I signed up, but it took two days to get out of the "queue awaiting approval." Oh well, alls well that ends well.

How often do they shed?

 

[Scott&Nikki]

That can depend on many things. Eating, temp, and all that good stuff can effect the tie between sheds. You can expect it anywhere from a week and a half to 2 and a half. Once they get bigger that will slow down, though. Congrats on getting it off!

 

[LadyGecko]

If the shed is extremely stubborn you can take a plastic container and put some paper towels moistened with warm water on the bottom of the container

Just have a few air holes at the top-you want the inside to show some condensation -you can put it over the area of the bottom of the tank where the uth is to keep it warm
It's a gecko sauna
Leave the gecko in there for around 10 minutes

I don't do this often as I don't want them continuously exposed to high levels of humidity in an enclosed container but it does usually work to be able to get that stubborn shed off their toes when nothing else seems to work without extremely stressing them out

Sandy

 

[BalloonzForU]

Sandy good minds think alike......If there is shed stuck to all the toes and it's one piece here is what I do. First, a warm soak, I put them in a deli cup with warm water place the lid on and place the deli cup over the hot side of the tank. This keeps the water warm for the whole soak, about 15 min. I then put the leo on my hand, foot flat against my hand. I insert a tooth pick between the toes and the skin, letting the tooth pick touch my hand and hold. The leo does the rest of the work buy pulling it's foot. most of the time this gets half the toes clear of shed. At this point I put the foot flat again this time using the tooth pick to pin down the loose shed, and again allow the leo to pull it foot free from the shed. If the soak was done right and the shed is nice and moist it will come off with no issues.

Since this little one is real jumpy it may take some time to get it done. Best way to do it is to sit on a bed, indian style, and place your hand in your lap while doing this. This way if the little one gets lose from your hand he'll most like be in your lap or on the bed.

 

[mavman99]

Thanks for all the help! It is nice to have so much good info available from people who have been there. :main_thumbsup:

 

[mavman99]

Well, last night he looked dull so I knew he was close again, and this morning he has skin left on his feet and his head flap left. At least I know what to expect this time and can take care of it tonight.

I got him at Petco. I plan on writing to them to tell them they should add info on shedding to their Leopard Gecko Care Sheet they hand out. Shedding isn't an "extra" or unusual thing and if you don't know what to do when a shed comes, it can be very bad for the leo. I also got Leopard Geckos for Dummies, which is NOT worth buying. I normally like the Dummies line of books, but the Leo book is just a quick skim of info.

It was nine days from his last shed, so Scott and Nikki--you guys were right about the frequency!

 

[Scott&Nikki]

Well, last night he looked dull so I knew he was close again, and this morning he has skin left on his feet and his head flap left. At least I know what to expect this time and can take care of it tonight.

I got him at Petco. I plan on writing to them to tell them they should add info on shedding to their Leopard Gecko Care Sheet they hand out. Shedding isn't an "extra" or unusual thing and if you don't know what to do when a shed comes, it can be very bad for the leo. I also got Leopard Geckos for Dummies, which is NOT worth buying. I normally like the Dummies line of books, but the Leo book is just a quick skim of info.

It was nine days from his last shed, so Scott and Nikki--you guys were right about the frequency!

If he is constantly having shed problems he is most likely not getting enough humidity. I don't remember if you said, does he have a humid hide?

About Petco putting that on their care sheets, IF they even did it (which I doubt), I am sure they would mess it up anyway. I think what they should say on there is that the info listed is VERY basic and other info should be sought after. But I am sure that will never happen either.

 

[mavman99]

I agree. I will add something like that to my letter. Otherwise, people think they have everything and are ready to go, and definitely are not.

 

[mavman99]

The morning I saw the shed on his head, I put a wet paper towel in his hide (I am using Repti Sand) because I don't think he likes his moist hide. It looks like all the shed came off this time, except for one toe, which looks loose and may be off when I get home.

Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhh . . . . .no 50 minute leo bath this time. :main_thumbsup:

 

[Scott&Nikki]

Just a suggestion, some people are prolly gonna get mad, but it is probably a good idea to take him off of the Repti Sand. Small leo's especially can suffer from impaction if they ingest too much sand (any leo CAN but younger ones have more of a risk). Slate tile, Repti Carpet, paper towel, or newspaper are much safer alternatives. This is just a theory of mine, but I think that loose substrate gives leos worse footing which may cause bad sheds. I feel that if they can get better footing and control it more, they wouldn't have as many problems getting certain areas of skin off.