NoctPanda
New Member
- Messages
- 1
- Location
- Florida, USA
About your leo:
Briar is a male, a bit older than one year, I want to say he was maybe a month or so old when I got him from a pet store.
A) Health/History
I handle him usually every day at around the time I go to sleep, sometimes I just leave him alone if he's shedding or in his hide at night. He hasn't been acting any differently since the shed has been stuck, except the first few weeks where he'd keep his eye shut. His only other issue is that he's a picky eater, and sometimes refuses to eat mealworms if i give them to him if I haven't got any crickets to feed, and refuses until I buy more.
B) Fecals
His fecals are normal, usually goes once every two or three days. They seem regular from what I can tell.
C) Problem
The past few months, my leo has had a small spot of skin near his right eye that seems to cause problems with shedding. It all started during a shed and a bump of skin wouldn't shed. I tried many things, including a lukewarm bath and wetting a cotton swab to remove it, but nothing worked. I looked it up and I assumed it was s retained shed, and I made sure to keep his moist hide extra moist and hope it would come off during the next shed, like many websites said it should. However, when the next shed happened, it did not come off and seemed to get bigger, as if the skin was piling up. I tried on several occasions to remove it, and would usually get some of the loose skin off, but if I manage to get a part of the actual bump hooked, it would pull and irritate his skin, so I stopped trying and hoped it would come off during the next shed. This has been going on for a while, but since money is tight I've been a little reluctant to go to a reptile vet if the problem can be fixed at home. Luckily my leo doesn't seem too bothered by it, and it isn't in his actual eye (luckily) but I would like the problem to be fixed soon. No other part of his body has trouble shedding. I have attached pictures of the affected area.
Housing:
A) Enclosure
LWH: 20"x10"x12" glass tank with mesh top and reptile carpet substrate. Three hides, one is the moist hide with half warmer, half cooler. Two hides on the warm side, but one has slabs underneath to lift it from the heating pad, so it is considerably cooler.
B) Heating
Under-tank heating pad on one side of the tank. I have a folded towel between it and the tank since it gets fairly warm and I don't want it burning Briar. Cool side is room temp (between 85 and 75 Fahrenheit) and the warm side is usually around 90-95 Fahrenheit. I'm using a "sticky" thermometer placed on the floor of my tank to take the temp, and I move it to different areas of the tank in order to get the different temps. The only lights I have is my room's light, which is a plain white/yellow fluorescent bulb, but it's fairly dim and the tank has areas of shade for him to retreat to. I also turn my lights off at night.
C) Cage mates
He has no cage mates.
Describe Diet:
A) Typical diet
I usually feed dusted mealworms since they last longer than crickets do, but I try to keep crickets regularly as he gets tired of mealworms quickly, and they're not as healthy. I try to feed him every other day or every three days, and I usually go until he won't eat, which is usually 9-10 "large" mealworms or 5-6 medium/large crickets. I usually drop them into the tank a few at a time to let him hunt, and I remove a few things like his hides so he has room and they don't hide from him.
B) Supplements (describe how often)
I keep a small dish of Flucker's calcium and Vitamin D3 powder so he can lick it as needed. I generally dust the mealworms with it too, lightly. I don't dust the crickets, but I feed them Flucker's Orange Cube Complete Cricket Diet. The mealworms don't get gut loaded, however.
Briar is a male, a bit older than one year, I want to say he was maybe a month or so old when I got him from a pet store.
A) Health/History
I handle him usually every day at around the time I go to sleep, sometimes I just leave him alone if he's shedding or in his hide at night. He hasn't been acting any differently since the shed has been stuck, except the first few weeks where he'd keep his eye shut. His only other issue is that he's a picky eater, and sometimes refuses to eat mealworms if i give them to him if I haven't got any crickets to feed, and refuses until I buy more.
B) Fecals
His fecals are normal, usually goes once every two or three days. They seem regular from what I can tell.
C) Problem
The past few months, my leo has had a small spot of skin near his right eye that seems to cause problems with shedding. It all started during a shed and a bump of skin wouldn't shed. I tried many things, including a lukewarm bath and wetting a cotton swab to remove it, but nothing worked. I looked it up and I assumed it was s retained shed, and I made sure to keep his moist hide extra moist and hope it would come off during the next shed, like many websites said it should. However, when the next shed happened, it did not come off and seemed to get bigger, as if the skin was piling up. I tried on several occasions to remove it, and would usually get some of the loose skin off, but if I manage to get a part of the actual bump hooked, it would pull and irritate his skin, so I stopped trying and hoped it would come off during the next shed. This has been going on for a while, but since money is tight I've been a little reluctant to go to a reptile vet if the problem can be fixed at home. Luckily my leo doesn't seem too bothered by it, and it isn't in his actual eye (luckily) but I would like the problem to be fixed soon. No other part of his body has trouble shedding. I have attached pictures of the affected area.
Housing:
A) Enclosure
LWH: 20"x10"x12" glass tank with mesh top and reptile carpet substrate. Three hides, one is the moist hide with half warmer, half cooler. Two hides on the warm side, but one has slabs underneath to lift it from the heating pad, so it is considerably cooler.
B) Heating
Under-tank heating pad on one side of the tank. I have a folded towel between it and the tank since it gets fairly warm and I don't want it burning Briar. Cool side is room temp (between 85 and 75 Fahrenheit) and the warm side is usually around 90-95 Fahrenheit. I'm using a "sticky" thermometer placed on the floor of my tank to take the temp, and I move it to different areas of the tank in order to get the different temps. The only lights I have is my room's light, which is a plain white/yellow fluorescent bulb, but it's fairly dim and the tank has areas of shade for him to retreat to. I also turn my lights off at night.
C) Cage mates
He has no cage mates.
Describe Diet:
A) Typical diet
I usually feed dusted mealworms since they last longer than crickets do, but I try to keep crickets regularly as he gets tired of mealworms quickly, and they're not as healthy. I try to feed him every other day or every three days, and I usually go until he won't eat, which is usually 9-10 "large" mealworms or 5-6 medium/large crickets. I usually drop them into the tank a few at a time to let him hunt, and I remove a few things like his hides so he has room and they don't hide from him.
B) Supplements (describe how often)
I keep a small dish of Flucker's calcium and Vitamin D3 powder so he can lick it as needed. I generally dust the mealworms with it too, lightly. I don't dust the crickets, but I feed them Flucker's Orange Cube Complete Cricket Diet. The mealworms don't get gut loaded, however.
