Stuck shed on toes and hiding? (P. Pasteuri)

[pono]

Hi. I just had a quick question about my female pasteuri. Basically, she was housed in a 30x30x45cm viv and was absolutely fine. I tried to introduce the pair in a 45x45x60cm viv, but they didn't seem to get along, so i removed the male and left the female on her own in the big viv. She was fine, but started to become very shy. Then she started to become almost obsessed with one bromiliad where she would spend all her time. I kept her like this for a while, but she became quite thin so I made her viv far more simple, but she still hid on the bromiliad and the sansveria a lot. I tried removing the plants, but she was very shy and just hid in bamboo. Now, she is in a simplistic set up with just bamboo, some plastic tubes, and her favourite bromiliad. She still eats fine from tweezers (so is fattening up), but still sticks to the bromiliad and hides alot. Could you suggest why this is? I am slightly worrying she won't get enough uv etc if she hides so much.

Also, i have noticed she is having a little trouble shedding the skin on her toes. I mist quite heavily once a day. How should i remove this shed from her toes as i don't want layers to build up? Should i put her in a moist tub for a day or something?

Thanks very much for your help in advance.

Ed

 

[Graham_s]

It might be worth seeing if you can give her a soak in a tub with moist paper towel, and if she won't get too stressed, you could try carefully using some tweezers (the proper ones that go to a sharp point) and cotton buds to get the shed off. However, if the shed isn't restricting the toes then it might be worth leaving it until her next shed and just misting her heavily until then, as it may cause too much stress to manually remove it.

Regarding her getting skinnier: could she have got any parasites from the male? How long was the male quarantined for?
I don't know much about Phelsuma spp or what they are like in terms of the space they require, but could it be that the viv was a little too small for a pair, so it stressed her out?

 

[pono]

It might be worth seeing if you can give her a soak in a tub with moist paper towel, and if she won't get too stressed, you could try carefully using some tweezers (the proper ones that go to a sharp point) and cotton buds to get the shed off. However, if the shed isn't restricting the toes then it might be worth leaving it until her next shed and just misting her heavily until then, as it may cause too much stress to manually remove it.

Regarding her getting skinnier: could she have got any parasites from the male? How long was the male quarantined for?
I don't know much about Phelsuma spp or what they are like in terms of the space they require, but could it be that the viv was a little too small for a pair, so it stressed her out?

Sorry for the late reply, and thank you very much for your help. I will try put her in a tub with moist paper towels and see if she sheds the skin. I don't have any propper needle nosed tweezers, but i should maybe look into that as they would be better than my plastic ones for hand feeding.

I think it is extremely unlikely that she got parasites from the male as he is cb by someone i know well and i can say for definate that his geckos are kept in perfect condition, so i dont think that is an option (plus the male is doing great). She is fattening up a bit as i have been power hand feeding her dusted crickets and cgd mixed with babyfood. I think it may be that with her shy, hiding attitude she was failing to eat many crickets which could have caused the loss in weight (or at least that's what i hope it is).

In my oppinion a 45x45x60cm viv is plenty enough for a pair of this species as they are only about 4-4.5" long. I have heard of people keeping this species and similar species in far smaller vivs. I don't think the viv being too small would be causing the stress. Cheers,

Ed ;-)

 

[hexentanz]

I have to agree that the size of the tank for a pair is a little on the small side. Once you figure in substrate there is maybe 50 - 55cm in height for them? I know for klemmeri for example (which is only a bit smaller than your guys), a height of 60cm is the recommended minimum. Once substrate is added, you are looking at a tank at least 70cm in height for them.

Most breeders, at least over here keep juvenile Phelsuma in enclosures around 60cm in height.

And I do not agree with the comment about keeping a gecko or geckos in a tank which is smaller than the minimum recommend not causing any stress to the animal or animals. I imagine if a human were locked in too small of a space they too would be stressed over time.

 

[colinmelsom]

Hi Ed
I would suspect that your female is hiding more as she has more hiding spaces.Check if their are faeces on the glass,bamboo and other surfaces.If there are she is simply dashing away when you approach.I have some geckos that I rarely see but they must venture out as I see their droppings.
I fatten my geckos up with either waxworms or a mixture of mashed banana and honey.Most geckos love these and soon put weight on when fed these but be careful not to overfeed.
If you dont fancy catching her spray the vivarium more to increase humidity this should help shedding.One last thought she doesn`t have direct access to a bulb or heat source does she?She could have burnt her feet.

 

[pono]

Hi Ed
I would suspect that your female is hiding more as she has more hiding spaces.Check if their are faeces on the glass,bamboo and other surfaces.If there are she is simply dashing away when you approach.I have some geckos that I rarely see but they must venture out as I see their droppings.
I fatten my geckos up with either waxworms or a mixture of mashed banana and honey.Most geckos love these and soon put weight on when fed these but be careful not to overfeed.
If you dont fancy catching her spray the vivarium more to increase humidity this should help shedding.One last thought she doesn`t have direct access to a bulb or heat source does she?She could have burnt her feet.

Ok thanks. I will have a look for evidence she has been around. I will order some wax worms to fatten her up a bit. I think i will try catch her and put her in a plastic container lined with moist kitchen roll over night. I will also mist the viv more. I dont think she could have burnt her feet unless she walked upside down across the top mesh and came into contact with the mesh under the bulb. I dont think she would have done that.

Ed ;-)

 

[AppleNick]

Do you have a hygrometer in the cage?

 

[pono]

I have tried putting her in a tub on moist paper towels over night, but it does not seem as though she has got much, if any of the skin off. I think i may have to order some needle nosed tweezers to remove the skin when she has been in a moist tub over night on another occaision. It is not much skin that is stuck, just a little bit on the tops of some toes. I mist heavily once a day, sometimes twice.

Ed ;-)

 

[pono]

I have ordered proper stainless steel tweezers which will hopefully make it easy to remove the shed from her toes once it is moistened.

She has put on alot of weight thankfully and seems normal other than the stuck shed and being quite shy.

Here she is (for some weird reason, in the pics it doesn't look like she has much stuck shed :shock:

The moist box:

Her viv:

Ed