[A_Chicken]

I've had this rested gecko for some time, and a while back her tail started looking odd. At first it looked as though a bad shed as there seemed to be a ring of dead skin around it and the tail looked discolored... So I tried using a moist q-tip to remove it, with no luck. So I separated her from the others in a smaller enclosure to observe her along with some moistened peat moss, thinking it would help loosen the skin. It's been about 2-3 weeks and the tail hasn't really changed at all. She still seems to be able to move it, but I'm concerned is the tail going to die? Is the tip already dead? Would a warm bath or anything help? Please help!

[Hannibal]

Looks like stuck shed in that entire affected area. Give her a sauna/bath, then use a q-tip and lightly rub the area to remove the shed; ypu can try the sauna/bath about 2-3x a day...just watch her stress level. It is hard to say if her til will go back to normal or not, depends on how long the shed cut circulation off to that specific area.

[A_Chicken]

Thanks! I assume warm water, and how long should she be in the bath for at a time?

[Hannibal]

Luke warm water that is between 70-75 degrees for about 15 minutes. Afterwards, while the shed is still moist on the tail, if you feel comfortable you can use tweezers to try and try to pull a corner of the shed down...go slowly so you only get shed & not any tail skin. Doing a combination of tweezer/q-tip I find works best for stubborn shed.

[A_Chicken]

Awesome thank you!!

[Hannibal]

Did you ave any luck removing any of the stubborn shed?

[Debbie]

To me it looks like the tail is very bad. You might get a better outcome if you just cut the tail off. We have done this before. If you leave it like that she can get blood poisoning and die.
Just make sure you use a clean, sterile and sharp knife, like a box cutter or something like that. Cut the bad part of, make sure you cut in the good lesh, to be sure no necrotic tissue stays behind.
Good luck!