Sick young gargoyle gecko in shed

[Low Dogg]

I have a young gargoyle gecko going through her first shed...I've been soaking her in warm water twice a day with a paper towel over her...got most if not all of the shed off her feet...she has lost allot of weight...seems pretty lethargic, her eyes are sunken in kinda...and I can't get her to want to eat anything really...heer tummy seems darker then usual... idk what to do... I've been keeping her warm, soaking her, keeping her lil tank I put her in humid, and been trying to get her to eat tons of things. Her tongue is still pink which I hear is a good sign... I really could use any advice anyone could give to get her better, she is so my best buddy, she goes with me in my hat all day... love that lil gecko... just want her to start getting better. Are there other ways to help her shed? Ways to get nutrients in her? ect my email is [email protected] if anyone can help

 

[Anthony Caponetto]

Just make sure all the retained shed is off of any vital areas...face/nostrils/eyes. Also make sure that any stuck shed is at lest broken around the tail, limbs and toes...you don't need to get all of that off, just enough that the skin won't restrict the flow of blood to these outer extremities.

After you do this, I would stop any soaking, using damp towels, etc. All you really need to do is get the gecko's environmental conditions corrected and make sure to provide plenty of drinking water.

As for feeding, you may want to offer some crickets. I don't know how large the gecko is, but with Gargoyles, you'll need to offer larger crickets than you might offer to another gecko species of similar size. For gargoyles, we usually recommend crickets that are about the same length as the geckos head length (whereas with other species, you'd want crickets as long as the head is wide). Gargoyles typically won't bother going after smaller crickets for some reason.

Another important key is not to over-handle the gecko during this time. Chances are, he/she is already stressed, so only handle it when absolutely necessary.

Just an FYI - Contrary to popular belief, many times shedding problems result from a lack of internal hydration and not necessarily a due to a lack of humidity (although drinking water naturally evaporates faster if the air is too dry). When a reptile sheds its skin, there's a brief period where the old skin has to separate from the new layer below. When this separation occurs, there is a small layer of fluid between the two layers, which helps facilitate the shedding process. If the gecko is slightly dehydrated its body can't produce enough of this fluid.

And don't worry - Gargoyle geckos are extremely hardy critters and can bounce back from just about everything.

Hope this helps!