Weird shedding problem

[BettaDragon]

My girl, Yukina, has a weird reoccurring shedding problem. I thought she got over it last year but it came back. What happens is her whole body gets ready to shed and starts shedding but her head looks no where near shedding. What happens if I don't assist her is she pulls the skin not ready to shed off her head and then her skin gets red and inflamed sometimes, scabby, and she's had bad eye crusting problems a couple times because of it. What I do to assist her is I catch her as she's shedding and make sure she can't pull the skin off her head. Then when that's ready to be shed I pull it off myself. She has a moisture hide and I always keep it moist. She's had this problem for a couple years and it went away for almost a year but now it's back. I caught her before she pulled off all the skin on her head but she got it up to her ears and under her chin. The new skin is shiny and red but I'm not too concerned about it as that part heals quickly. She didn't get it off her eyes which is good because when she does they can crust shut. What's concerning about this time is she has a new patch of skin that isn't ready to shed at the same time near the base of her tail. Is this normal? Am I doing the right thing by keeping her from pulling off the skin not ready to shed?

 

[thestack510]

I've never experienced this. It's new to me. I hope you get the problem solved.

 

[snowgyre]

It might be a dietary problem. I would go buy a supplement that has vitamin E. If it's a spray, I would spray it on a spoon until a drop forms, then rub the spoon against the lips of the gecko along the side of the head (not the front). Other than that, I'm not sure. There's a product out there called Jump Start (I think that's the name, if not then I'm close) that's an emergency supplement for sick/dehydrated geckos. It has fish oil in it that I think may help. I'd take that, water it down a little bit, and 'dirty' the lips of the gecko. Leopard geckos are so handy in that they don't like having dirty faces. ;-) Let us know how it turns out!

 

[BettaDragon]

I'm going to see if I can talk to one of the vets at my office that used to work with reptiles. I really don't want her eyes to crust over again. I had to gently soften the crustiness (for lack of a better term) and then ease her eyes open just so she could see to eat every night.

 

[nats]

Have you tried spraying her head a few times a week with
Shed-Away (or whatever they call it?).
It does work, and it's harmless, so you can spray it right on
your gecko.
They do still sell this stuff, dont they?
I havent used it in years.

 

[BettaDragon]

I've heard about that but I thought it was only for snakes. Gonna see if I can talk to one of the vets today at work about it. Thanks for the info.

 

[geckospots]

if your leopard gecko is shedding weird i think you should probably put him/her in water to help them shed.

 

[shawn119]

if your leopard gecko is shedding weird i think you should probably put him/her in water to help them shed.

Yeah I would give her a warm bath.

 

[BettaDragon]

I can't dunk her whole head under because she'd drown. Her head's the only problem. She gets a bit of stuck shed on her toes all the time and I soak that off. I'll need to take pics. The skin on her head just isn't ready to come off. There's a bit that came off before it was ready and she won't let me touch that part at all. It's pinkish and shiny where it wasn't ready to come off. When I was letting her sit on my lap last night every time she went to lay her head down she pulled it back up right away. I'm guessing it's painful for her to put her head down because the skin is sore.

EDIT: Pics will be up tomorrow, camera needs to get charged.

 

[lizardlove]

Hm... I sort of know what she feels like! Red and shiny skin that hurts happens ot people, too, but I've never tried to rip my own skin off. Poor baby. I like the sound of the shed-away idea, I wonder if it would work if the skin isn't ready, though? Maybe one of those plastic collar things would help until it's ready? What a sweetie. I'll look next time I'm around.

 

[BettaDragon]

The skin is starting to be ready to be shed a little bit. I noticed that the coconut fiber in her moisture hide was sticking to the underside of her chin (you'll see in picture). I'm replacing the fiber with wet paper towels for now. I cleaned off the fiber with a q-tip soaked in distilled water with a small bit of peroxide in it. I couldn't get hold of the vet that used to deal with reptiles at my office as he took off Friday. I'll probably get hold of him sometime this week. Darcie, I got it so that the skin doesn't have a big enough "handle" I guess you could call it for her to pull it off on her own so no e-collar needed though I'm sure she'd look ridiculous in one. She's sweet enough for me to actually put one on her without much of a hassle too. Pics as promised.

Head showing the shiny skin. Not as pink as it was earlier but still shiny.

This shows how everything else shed fine except for her head and it also show how ready the skin on her head is to being shed.

This shows the coconut fiber sticking under her chin and how it shed there.

 

[htadothk]

Hi Liz, have you solved this? One of my leos is having a similar problem. Thanks !