stuck shed

[Zimmer]

Puff has some shed skin stuck on his nose :? He seems to be able to breathe just fine, he isn't mouth breathing or in any distress. I freshened his moist hide, and added a big shallow dish of water to the warm side to try to add humidity. How long do I let this go before I intervene, and how do I? I don't want to do anything to it, he really doesn't enjoy handling yet and I think it would be traumatic for both of us for me to wipe at or pick at his nose. He has had this last bit stuck for about 24 hours at this point.

 

[Russellm0704]

If he is not able to get it off on his own, you may have to intervene. I would suggest using a Q-tip. Use warm water with the Q-tip and see if it will come off. Do it very gently.

 

[amsdadtodd]

As [MENTION=35410]Russellm0704[/MENTION] said, you need to clear that. Please check carefully to see if there is any more stuck, particularly around his toes. The warm water and q-tip should do it just fine, you may need to use tweezers also, as a last resort.

Todd

 

[herpmomx7]

If the q-tip doesn't work, any time one of mine have stuck shed I give them a warm bath for 5 minutes and make sure the water soaks everywhere (like I would splash some on his nose a bit). It's always worked like a charm for me.

 

[the funky gecko]

This happens a lot for my gecko blaze so what I do is give her a lukewarm bath and gently take the shed off with tweezers. Just make sure to take the shed off in a week or else there might be some problems.

 

[cricket4u]

Puff has some shed skin stuck on his nose :? He seems to be able to breathe just fine, he isn't mouth breathing or in any distress. I freshened his moist hide, and added a big shallow dish of water to the warm side to try to add humidity. How long do I let this go before I intervene, and how do I? I don't want to do anything to it, he really doesn't enjoy handling yet and I think it would be traumatic for both of us for me to wipe at or pick at his nose. He has had this last bit stuck for about 24 hours at this point.

You can just wipe it off gently with a wet paper towel if it's not gone within a few days.

I don't want to do anything to it, he really doesn't enjoy handling yet and I think it would be traumatic for both of us for me to wipe at or pick at his nose.

Exactly.... Best to think prevention. Not all care to use humidity hides and some will go in them after the fact defeating the purpose(skin needs the moisture prior to shedding). Best to monitor humidity and maintain it between 40- 50%.

 

[Zimmer]

So. I dampened a few wads of paper towel and put some water in a shallow dish all in his favorite hide in the hopes of him soaking/bathing/walking through the water and rubbing or digging in the towels? It seems to have worked partially, most of the shed has come off except 1 small strip right above his lip. The hygrometer puts humidity at around 40% usually, that's outside the hides.

 

[Zimmer]

Soooo... Puff shed again a couple days ago, and the same thing happened again. I gave him a day to deal with it himself, and ended up wadding up moist towel in his favorite hide, it was gone the next morning.

He is using his moist hide, I see him in it a few days pre-shed typically it seems like. Temps are steady around 92 over the warm end and ~70 at the coolest part. He is always in his warm hide, which is quite long and spans half on half off the UTH so he can thermoregulate as much as possible in there.... Is this a sign of a bigger issue? Do I need more humidity in general? Should I mist or something?

 

[kholtme]

Do not mist! It will cause respiratory problems which would be bigger problems than this. How damp is your moist hide getting? Mine has condensation covering the walls and ceiling of the hide, enough to where it is dripping wet when i take the top off. Maybe add some more substrate (or a few more layers of paper towels, which ever you are using) and then spray more water in then normal every other day. I know i dampen my paper towels in the moist hide more than most people probably do, but it doesnt seem to bother Gaz.

 

[Zimmer]

Ok no misting! Glad I asked lol I know they are typically a dry climate creature, but apparently my climate is TOO dry or something so I was wondering if I need to improve the moist hide, or the whole enclosure! The moist hide is usually very drippy with condensation, at least for a couple days until it all dries out. I use paper towels but I am starting to feel like maybe they dry out too quickly? I used eco-earth initially but it was SO MESSY. Any other good options for moist hide substrate? I can just use more paper towel and mist that more frequently, I guess, but if I could get something that held the moisture just a bit longer maybe it would help.

 

[kholtme]

I use paper towels, try adding a few more layers so it can hold more moisture, will help it stay moist longer

 

[JessJohnson87]

I put some terrarium moss in mine, I take the moist hide out before I feed so no bugs go in there, and it holds moisture pretty well.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Leopard geckos find direct misting stressful.

The enclosure itself should range from 40-50% RH. Humidity inside the warm moist hide should be considerably higher for as close to 24/7 as you can get it. Placing a second water dish inside may help.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Puff has some shed skin stuck on his nose :? He seems to be able to breathe just fine, he isn't mouth breathing or in any distress. I freshened his moist hide, and added a big shallow dish of water to the warm side to try to add humidity. How long do I let this go before I intervene, and how do I? I don't want to do anything to it, he really doesn't enjoy handling yet and I think it would be traumatic for both of us for me to wipe at or pick at his nose. He has had this last bit stuck for about 24 hours at this point.

Ok no misting! Glad I asked lol I know they are typically a dry climate creature, but apparently my climate is TOO dry or something so I was wondering if I need to improve the moist hide, or the whole enclosure! The moist hide is usually very drippy with condensation, at least for a couple days until it all dries out. I use paper towels but I am starting to feel like maybe they dry out too quickly? I used eco-earth initially but it was SO MESSY. Any other good options for moist hide substrate? I can just use more paper towel and mist that more frequently, I guess, but if I could get something that held the moisture just a bit longer maybe it would help.

So you have 2 water dishes in Puff's enclosure?

How enclosed is your humid hide? Generally the Pacific Northwest has great indoor humidity! Right now the room humidity near my leo's cage is 54%. Wet/damp sphagnum moss or paper towels is what I'd recommend.

Here's my leo:



How are you doing with Puff's calcium with D3 and multivitamins?

Let us know how Puff's next shed goes.

 

[Zimmer]

Typically he has only 1 small shallow dish of water available at all times. The first time I noted he had some stuck shed, I added a larger water dish and moist paper towels into his dry warm hide as he was refusing the moist hide for some reason. The next day he had taken care of it himself, so I then removed the extra water dish and moist toweling from his dry hide, and everything was back to normal. Then, this last time, same thing happened with some stuck shed on his nose so I repeated procedure, and again he got it himself. This time, before his shed, I did see him using the moist hide the day or 2 before he shed, I didn't see that the first time. Maybe I just need to add more paper towel and be more vigilant about maintaining moisture in the moist hide? It will be condensated for 2-3 days, and then I will replace toweling. I have never misted anything, but am going to start daily or every other day misting ONLY the paper towels in his moist hide, nowhere else and possibly put the big water dish in permanently?

My humidity in my house is 40-50 at any given time with one of those petstore hygrometers. We usually have AC or heat running because we have an auto thermostat for our house.