Tail rot and shed issue PLEASE HELP

[Midland]

My Gold Dust day gecko is healthy, active, and eating well. However, he has recently shed and a spot near the tip of his tail looks as if it did not shed comletely. The tip is no turning dark in colour and looking irritated. I am concerned about tail rot. Only about 1 cm of tail is behind the stuck shed area.

He spazzes every time I move him. Should I treat this like I would with a crested gecko and put him in a sauna with increased humidity or should I just try to saturate the humidity of his tank. It is 43 gallons but I could dump a huge amount of very damp spagnum moss and spray the tank a lot.

What do you think would be best and do you have any other ideas? No reptile vets are available until Monday.

 

[Sgvreptiles]

No need for a vet. Just keep spraying him as usual. Maybe alittle bit more. Im not sure how much you are spraying him. even if it dosnt come off. It most likely will next time he sheds. If it turns dark. Tip of tail might come off. Wont hurt him at all. he will be fine.

 

[Lordoftheswarms]

That size of tanks seems huge for such a small species. Depending on which part of Canada you are in, that size of tank could make it very hard to meet the humidity requirements because you would need to mist often and frequently, unless there is reduced ventilation.
I would suggest moving him to a tank that would be half that size, and increase the humidity.

 

[Sgvreptiles]

That size of tanks seems huge for such a small species. Depending on which part of Canada you are in, that size of tank could make it very hard to meet the humidity requirements because you would need to mist often and frequently, unless there is reduced ventilation.
I would suggest moving him to a tank that would be half that size, and increase the humidity.

I would consider that cage to be perfect for them. I dont understand why people keep small species in small tanks. The more space. The happier they will be. In the wild they dont stay within the same 1x1ft area of tree. Give them the whole tree!

 

[WingedWolfPsion]

I think a huge cage is fine, but only if you can actually keep the environment in it proper for the species that's living there. If you can't, then a smaller one with a more controllable environment would be better. It's better to have a little less space, but correct humidity.

 

[Lordoftheswarms]

I would consider that cage to be perfect for them. I dont understand why people keep small species in small tanks. The more space. The happier they will be. In the wild they dont stay within the same 1x1ft area of tree. Give them the whole tree!

Take into consideration that this person lives in Canada, and is having issues with keeping humidity up. Decreasing volume of the air that he has to keep humid is one way of meeting the humidity needs.

 

[Midland]

Thanks one and all for the help.

The dry patch is still there but the tail does not seem to be getting any worse. If anything, it looks a little better. I have increased the humidity of the tank to over 85% and given him a couple of humid hides closer to where he likes to perch. I especially appreciate the comments about their environment. I originally bought him and a female after my kids and I did considerable research using both the library and a variety of pet stores. We did not have internet at the time and I wish we did. The advice from the some of the stores was very self serving and the books were all about "what great pets they are!!!!" with inadequate warnings of some of the problems. The female ended up never really eating despite trying crickets, fruit mixtures and feeding her by hand the best we could for weeks on end. She eventually died. The store we bought her from said it was probably "tank shock" due to the size of the tank. We had never heard of this before despite mentioning the size of the tank to a wide variety of pet stores. However, the male took to the tank right away and seems very happy there. If anything he tends to over eat and we had to reduce the amount of fruit he had access to.

Thanks again for the help!

 

[Lordoftheswarms]

Most staff at pet shops don't know anything about the reptiles they are selling. Don't even bother asking for their advice. I've gone into pet stores, and volunteered at a couple, and I was always correcting the staff on bullshit they were trying convince the customers of.