Shedding problems in female standingi

[Jmeyer]

Hey everyone, so ill keep this as short as possible. I have 1.1 phelsuma standingi male is 4 years old and female is about 7. They are both together in a large glass tank with bamboo and snake plant. They have a 75 watt and 5.0 uv light shining above them all day. Temps are in the high 80s with a 100 degree basking spot. the humidity stays in the 40s and 50s i mist them only once daily. I figured this was okay because i know standingi like it much drier then other phlesuma. For whatever reason my female had a really bad shed!! She doesnt seem interested in trying to get it off either. I have misting more to help get the humidity up to help her shed but what else do i do? She is very skiddish so no option of pulling her out and pulling it off myself. She is hefty too. loves to eat. Lemme hear what my options are. Thanks guys

 

[daggekko]

hey, i dont know what causes that to happen but i have had it happen in the past with juvenile nocturnal geckos. from what i noticed once they were having problems shedding spraying them with water directly never helped the situation. it made the dead skin seem to harden up, making it more difficult to get off. has she gotten the shed of yet?

you monitor the humidity? do you have one of those round analog (with a needle) gauges? i have seen more than my fair share of those go bad...if you can move the gauge move it to other areas you know the humidity should be higher and lower and check to make sure the gauge actually works.

 

[Jmeyer]

thank you for the reply, i do not have one of the electric gauges i am going to pick one up today. No she hasnt gotten it all off. Been trying to help her with tweezers. But she wont let me get all of it lol

 

[daggekko]

i personally wont ever use the analog gauges for that reason...lowes or home depot have a nice digital one in the garden section that also does humidity. you'd have to put the whole meter in the cage to get the humidity though, but they are nice because they have a temperature probe with an indoor/oudoor reading so you can get temperatures from 2 different places. be careful with the tweezers that you dont hurt the underside of the toes..but if she is still eating/basking and is still able to climb around i wouldnt be too worried about it. just determine your humidity at different points during the day to see if you might be going to high or low at times.

 

[PrestonG]

If it doesn't get better soon you might put her in a larger Tupperware (with air holes) and damp sphagnum moss. I do this and put half of the tupperware on a heat pad which makes it into a small sauna they love it! just test it out before putting her in there. You don't want a steamed gecko :?

 

[Jmeyer]

Alright i might have to try the tupperware idea because now she is hiding wuite a bit :/ she is still eating and drinking but hiding in the snake plant quite a bit. I hope she is ok

 

[LLDG]

Sometimes nutritional problems or parasites can be a cause of shedding problems. Consider this if both are not having the same problem. Usually both have the same shed problem but sometimes a breeding female will be more prone to nutritional problems.

Holding her with a moist wash cloth is often the best handling method.

 

[Jmeyer]

Thank you for the advice. As far as i know she hasnt bred but i will try to get her better nutrition.

 

[daggekko]

has her condition improved?

 

[Jmeyer]

she never finished her shed so i took her out and tried to get it off but that didnt really work. So i figured the shed is only on her back not on any digits or her tail so it should come off the next time she sheds. Otherwise she has been shy and really active. Not that she was really active before. I'm not sure whats wrong with her. I had a similar situation with a female comorensis that had just laid eggs and i think needed extra calcium and uv. So i put her outside for a few days and she put on alot of extra weight and in now completely normal. I might put my female standingi outside for a few days