Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have had my male leo since he was a 8 months, maybe younger. He was given to me by a close friend, I have never seen him shed, or maybe I just don't dont recal. Is it possible that he eats his shed before I even get to see it? And maybe he does this at night?

I know hes shed, because yesterday I seen his skin light(like the way a snake is when its sheding), and today his skins all shiny.

Same with my female, I have had her for about a month and havent seen her shed either.
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Normal - Male - Ninja
High Yellow - Female - Ninjete

Welcome to the world of gecko shed . They do indeed eat their shed skin. The only time I've seen the shed skin is if they don't have a humid hide. The skin tends to hang on for a day or two. You have to be careful though. If the skin sticks to tail tips or toes and stays there to long you could loose them. The skin will dry and shrink causing blood circulation to cease in these parts and they will die and fall off.

Quig
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Don't interupt me when I'm talkin' to myself

Last night I caught my gecko in the act of shedding. That was my first time seeing him shed, and I have had him for over a year! Sneaky little buggers huh? lol

Yes, this is what is happening. If you'd take the time to do some basic research on basic husbandry of the leopard gecko BEFORE obtaining them you'd uderstand this and wouldn't flood the forum with super basic husbandry issues.

well the above was a little roud wasnt it. ppl come here to ask questions if they cant find it anywhere else. so be nice

Well, considering that a roud is a freshwater carp from Europe, I don't think my post was the least bit "roud."

I don't think my post was rude either. You're right in the way that this forum is for answers to questions that cannot be found elsewhere. As I stated in my original message, the behavior in question should not be asked by anyone that understands even the most basic of gecko husbandry. More and more I see this forum being "I got a leopard gecko, I haven't taken any time to look up information for myself, spoonfeed me please." People should do at LEAST enough research to cover the BASIC husbandry/behaviors of an animal before keeping them in captivity.

Stop being an ass, and if you want to cover grammar... "at LEAST? If you are going to be rude then do it in your private life, not here.

Well, the way things are typed out make a big difference in what is meant and what is actually read. The only reason I replied to them is they were accusing me of being "rude" when I was just giving the person the correct advice, which was to go back and review basic husbandry and they'll find their answers.

If you all just want to post about simple husbandry that people *SHOULD* already know then this forum is not going to go anywhere productive... Kind of like the way it has stagnated with "I've got a new lizard, what do I do?" for quite a long while. I'm just trying to raise the bar. If everyone here wants to set low standards, then fine. But I'm still going to post and give correct advise, not sit around and give incorrect info, spoodfeed people basic husbandry that they should know before obtaining the lizard, etc.

I understand what you are saying, but people do often obtain animals without any prior knowledge of the species. So why not answer it.

Well, this particular time it was posted by someone that commonly posts advice when they obviously shouldn't be giving it. That, and if we keep doing this we just exacerbate the situation. If instead of spoonfeeding the people the information and force them to do some of their own research they are probably going to have a lot better husbandry practice and their animals will be better off for it.

To start, asking questions in this forum IS research, research from experienced Leo owners. Ok I have one of the best books on Leos, The Herptoculture of Leopard Geckos, soposely the best in Leopard Gecko care, I do read it, and alot of my knowledge is from the book. But before that I learned from this forum.

The book says things that I could do with leos that the forum say I shouldnt, like The Leopard Gecko Manuel says puting multiple females with a male is okay, I was going to do this in my 50 gal tank but this forum didnt reccomend it because of stress purposes. The manuel doesnt say anything about leos and stress. (Although I believe The H.O.L.G. does say a few things)

But the point im trying is, the book sometimes doesnt answer all my questions, only the obvious, not the wierd ones. Thats when I come to the forum for dead on questions and experience. I can ask the book something and expect a answer back.

Last time I looked in the sheding section of the Leopard Gecko manuel it didnt say anything about leos that are shy to shed in front of people. lol
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Normal - Male - Ninja
High Yellow - Female - Ninjete

Sorry, but "Does my gecko eat its skin before I see it?" doesn't exactly falls in the realm of a question with an "obvious" answer (using your own terminology).

Last time I looked in the sheding section of the Leopard Gecko manuel it didnt say anything about leos that are shy to shed in front of people. lol

Ever think that they aren't "shy" to shed in front of people and it is just a process that occurs when your aren't staring at your lizard?

lol okay you got me there, answer my next question please, its not in the book for sures!
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Normal - Male - Ninja
High Yellow - Female - Ninjete

In the herpetoculture of leopard gecks refer to: pg 73 lower picture caption, pg 117 3rd and 4th paragraphs,pg 123 first sentance last full paragraph, and pg 243 last paragraph.
In the leopard gecko manual refer tog 32 near the end of the paragraph.

I'm quite fond of the index section of books but this should get you started if you own either of these. As for the timing the simple answer is they shed when active and they are active at night(or at least what they percieve to be night from within their cage).

um that should be : then pg not a stupid face sorry

If you wanna see your gecko shed when it first startsto look cloudy "white" watch it closely for a couple days and your ound to see something I have a video of mine we got this last time because he kept comming out of his hide I havent yet seen the baby shed but the big one is in no way shy....lol...let me know if you wanna see it and I'll post a link to it.
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Mike & Wendy

2.0.0 Siberian husky, Jackrussel/schitzu
0.0.1 Ball Python
1.0.1 Leopard Gecko
1.0.0 Beardie
4.0.0 Beta's
3.1.0 Future Herper's

In addition to the skin turning cloudy, one sign that I've found to be reliable is to look for a nose that's been wetted slightly by constant licking. If you see that, you're usually within a couple hours of the time.

My guess is that they lick their noses to soften the skin even more just before the start of the shed.

They will often begin rubbing their head, neck, and jaw against the hide walls to get things started. Seems like the longest part of the shed is getting the skin back to the shoulders. Once there, the rest seems to go pretty quickly. If you see them constantly moving about and turning around in their hide then it might be this process of rubbing the initial skin off the head or neck.

Usually takes mine somewhere in the range of 45 minutes to an hour to complete. A good 2/3 of the time is spent around the head and neck. Once they get good purchase on the old skin it seems to come off the forearms, body, hindlegs, and tail relatively easily. Maintaining a good humid hide has probably helped my geckos to shed easily.

After the process is done, I'll give them a bit to rest and then try to check their toes, tail, and head for unshed skin.

I've only seen one of my six leos shed, they eat it as they're pulling it off themselves... I have a video of one of my trempers shedding on YouTube, if you want to check it out.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3orPdT5pkY