Leo Sheds Weirdly

[Pissykrissy3]

Name: Hummus
Husbandry: 10g tank tank, paper towel substrate, humid hide , uth, uv tube bulb, ceramic heat bulb if necessary on cold days
Food: Crickets and occasionally mealworms daily, calcium for water twice a week.
Age: About 1 year old
Sex: Female

I don't get it. My gecko won't look like she's going to shed, or she'll only be partially ready, like only her arms and belly are pale, and she'll start shedding. Why does she do this? I have such a hard time with her because she hardly ever gets the skin off her toes by herself so I try to find time to spend an hour or so trying to give her a soak and use qtips to get it off. Also, when she starts shedding early , other parts of her body will be ready to shed a day later a nd she won't do anything about it, making me worried she'll have a scale issue.
Why does she do this? Is there any way of getting her to shed normally again? It's annoying having to suddenly drop whatever you're doing tp humidify the cage as much as possible because surprise! She's shedding.
Please help. It's been going on for months. I work 30-35 hours a week and am in high school, so I hardly have time to deal with this when it happens.

 

[majahawt]

Name: Hummus
Husbandry: 10g tank tank, paper towel substrate, humid hide , uth, uv tube bulb, ceramic heat bulb if necessary on cold days
Food: Crickets and occasionally mealworms daily, calcium for water twice a week.
Age: About 1 year old
Sex: Female

I don't get it. My gecko won't look like she's going to shed, or she'll only be partially ready, like only her arms and belly are pale, and she'll start shedding. Why does she do this? I have such a hard time with her because she hardly ever gets the skin off her toes by herself so I try to find time to spend an hour or so trying to give her a soak and use qtips to get it off. Also, when she starts shedding early , other parts of her body will be ready to shed a day later a nd she won't do anything about it, making me worried she'll have a scale issue.
Why does she do this? Is there any way of getting her to shed normally again? It's annoying having to suddenly drop whatever you're doing tp humidify the cage as much as possible because surprise! She's shedding.
Please help. It's been going on for months. I work 30-35 hours a week and am in high school, so I hardly have time to deal with this when it happens.

Do you have a moist hide on the warm side of the tank?

 

[Pissykrissy3]

Yes

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Not all warm moist hides are alike. The warm moist hide should actually be kept moist as close to 24/7 as possible. Leos use their moist hides for hydration as well as for shedding. Can you post a picture of yours or tell us more about it?

Your leo needs 3 hides: warm moist, warm dry, and cool dry.

It is important to have sources of both vitamin A acetate and vitamin D3 in your leo's diet. Vitamin A promotes healthy skin and eyes. Vitamin D3 is necessary for the metabolism of calcium.

One way to get these is via Zoo Med's plain (no D3) multivitamin + ZM's Repti Calcium with vitamin D3.

I would discontinue the UV tube, because a 10 gallon vivarium is too short to safely use a UV tube.

What do you feed the crickets? Perhaps there is some D3 in their diet?

Plain tap water is best. Using a powdered supplement works fine.

 

[hmarie186]

UV bulbs in that small of a tank are not recommended.

 

[Pissykrissy3]

Not all warm moist hides are alike. The warm moist hide should actually be kept moist as close to 24/7 as possible. Leos use their moist hides for hydration as well as for shedding. Can you post a picture of yours or tell us more about it?

Your leo needs 3 hides: warm moist, warm dry, and cool dry.

It is important to have sources of both vitamin A acetate and vitamin D3 in your leo's diet. Vitamin A promotes healthy skin and eyes. Vitamin D3 is necessary for the metabolism of calcium.

One way to get these is via Zoo Med's plain (no D3) multivitamin + ZM's Repti Calcium with vitamin D3.

I would discontinue the UV tube, because a 10 gallon vivarium is too short to safely use a UV tube.

What do you feed the crickets? Perhaps there is some D3 in their diet?

Plain tap water is best. Using a powdered supplement works fine.

Funny, every time I'm on this site, people say different things. When I used d3, I was lectured on both this site and by the vet that she can overdose so easily and the vet, knowng that it is a ten gallon, told me to get a uv light. Sorry, I spent too much money on this thng after being told byvthe professional to just get rid of it.

The moist hide is humid as much as possible, and uses a wash cloth. I don't have the money to spend on a bigger tank and new heating equipment just to fit a second warm hide in there.

The crickets eat Fluckers gut load at the pet store and I feed them to her immediately so that I don't waste money on them killing themselves one way or another in a cricket keeper. Let me guess, someone is going to point out how this is wrong somehow, too.

Even though I never read that leos need vit A ever before, I'll go out and buy some multivitamin for her.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Thank you for your reply. Every member can't read every post. That would be total overload. Hang in there with us.

When you joined a year ago there was a GU member who strongly advocated UV for leos. She may have been the person to whom you refer. If it was cricket4u, she only recommends UV for leos in tanks 4 feet long or greater. She keeps her 3 leos separately in 4.5 length enclosures. For details on her setups, please see post #84 following my leo caresheet. cricket4u spared no expense for her leopard geckos. She has not posted since July 2014.

Some of the advice you get on GU may not be "up to snuff". There is a huge range of experience levels amongst GU's members. Most try to share the advice they know. Poor advice on the internet caring for leopard geckos is rampant.

Please get:
Zoo Med's plain (no D3) Reptivite multivitamins +
Zoo Med's Repti Calcium with D3

It's important to get those /\ brands even if you need to order them online. They are proven to help.

GU's administrator Hilde (longterm leo breeder) has shared advice re calcium and vitamins on posts #22, 48, 85, and 96. Some of those clearly explain the benefits of vitamin A. Those are must-reads. I offered that same advice in September 2014.

Depending upon where you live, Albers All Purpose Poultry Feed or Purina Layena Sunfresh Crumbles is a much better cricket diet than Fluker's High Calcium Cricket Food. It is cheaper too! (I used to use that Flukers.)

:idea: Best to feed the crickets for say 2 days prior to feeding them to your leo. That way you can feed the crickets a better diet than the Flukers they get at the pet store. We are what we eat.

Click for helpful tips: http://www.geckosunlimited.com/comm...-feeding-issues/68574-cricket-guidelines.html

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Feb 2014 thread: http://www.geckosunlimited.com/comm...-leopard-geckos-poop-abnormal.html#post417133

Sept 2014 thread: http://www.geckosunlimited.com/comm...ard-gecko-eye-issues-bad-shed.html#post432900