crested gecko bad shed

[fab]

hi, i decided to take care of my friends baby crestie while he is in boston. the gecko, named robin had a bad shed. robin has some stuck shed on his body and feet. robin cant climb very well. i tried to put him in a small container for 10-15 mins and then i took the shed off with a q tip. some of it came came out like under the feet and the skin also came out on the sticky part of the tail but alot of the lower body still has stuck shed. the humidity is perfect and temps seem to be fine. plz help i feel bad for this little guy and friend takes very good care of robin.

thanks,
Fab

 

[EsotericForest]

I would pretty much just keep doing what you're doing. The soak in the water, and the use of a q-tip is what I'd do as well.

 

[fab]

will the remaining skin come off on the next shed? and i will try to do the humid bath again and the qtip treatment.

 

[EsotericForest]

I would try to get all the excess skin off now. You don't want it to get infected or anything.

 

[fab]

holy crap i didnt know it can get infected.

 

[EsotericForest]

That's how with leopard geckos for example, they lose their toes. If the skin doesn't get removed, part of their toe just dies and falls off. Unfortunately that happened to my leo when she was having a lot of trouble shedding, almost every time. Thankfully now she's shedding fine, but she did lose digits because of it unfortunately. I blame myself in that one, but I didn't really know better at the time.

 

[fab]

oh ok you mean the skin constricts on the toes and the get black and fall off. oh ya i know that already. thats why i started this thread.

 

[EsotericForest]

Correct, though it also isn't good to leave any dead skin on their body, no matter where it is.

 

[Spyral]

Sometimes the stress of trying to get all the old skin off can be worse for the gecko. If it's not in a serious place - toes, tail tip or constricting the limbs or body, a piece of stuck shed is not very harmful. Just keep doing a sauna and q-tip treatment every other day, be sure that the temps & humidity levels are good and that he is eating and pooping as normal.

You can get some Repti-Shed spray for about $7 at a pet store, I've found this is good to put on after a sauna or when there is a stray piece of stuck shed.

 

[fab]

oh ok, so i'll do that then and leave him/her alone. thanks