Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've read several sites and ebooks about the shedding process but none of them specify the amount of time it should take for a leo to shed. My leo started shedding sometime in the night and has, for the most part, shed everything. The only remaining parts are the top of his head, the bottom side of his tail and little pieces hanging off his toes. At what point should I help him out or am I trying to rush the process? I've had my leo since Christmas last year and this is the first time he's shed, so I'm extremely excited, but also worried that I'll do something wrong. Thanks for any help...

at this time you should help your lep out. Normally if provided with a humid hide reguraly, they should have no problem with shedding. But since your leo still has skin left you should help it out, especially when its got skin on its toes. Skin left on the toes can cut of circulation and their toes might fall off. When this happens to me i get an ear swab, dip it in water, then then dab their toes so the skin can get moist.
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1.1.1 High Yellow Leos_ 0.1 Albono Leo_ 2.4 Hamsters_ 1.1 Budgies

Okay! I made the skin on his head wet and I think it annoyed him because then he used his back foot to pull it off. From what I can see, I also helped get the little bits off his toes. Now, only under his tail is left and he won't let me get to that. When I try to touch the Q-tip under there, he runs, but I figure he will get that himself soon. He seems to lick his butt an awful lot anyway. It's been so long since he's eaten decently, how long should it take for him to start eating again now that he's shed?

I doubt that this is his first time shedding since x-mas.... you just probably never see it happen. I've NEVER seen my geckos shed, and I kinda want to....

Kev
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Kev
1.1.0 Tang Leopard Geckos: Marley, Mary
1.0.0 Normal Leopard Gecko: Toad
0.1.0 Colombian Rainbow Boa: Rambo
1 Beta: Malificent
0.1.0 Tri Australian Shepard: Nelly

Well there are little pieces of shedding all around his hide and they have never been there before. He's off to the side of my kitchen and you have to walk past him to get to anything in the house. I always look in on him to make sure he's alright or to see if he's doing something different than the usual. But I suppose he could have done it during the nights and I wouldn't have noticed, but he's never had any extra skin on any part of his body until now that he needed help with. I'm just hoping he starts eating now... that has me more worried than anything else.

my leos usually stop (or slow down) their eating right before and for about a day after they shed. I think they're just uncomfortable. Too uncomfortable to eat. Their skin is just too tight around their little growing bodies for them to even feel like eating. It's lke going out to dinner in clothes taht are 1 size too small. You just don't feel like doing ANYTHING. My leos always shed during the night. I'll usually wake up in the morning to a beautiful leo with what looks like new skin. I have a hard time telling when my male is getting ready to shed, because he always spends a lot of time in his humid hide, and his skin never really dries out and turns pale. So ya never know... may be the case with your leo, but I'm guessing that he or she has shed about 6 or more times since christmas... probaby more than that. Anyhow, good luck with the excess shed. Hope everyhting turns out for the best.
kev
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Kev
1.1.0 Tang Leopard Geckos: Marley, Mary
1.0.0 Normal Leopard Gecko: Toad
0.1.0 Colombian Rainbow Boa: Rambo
1 Beta: Malificent
0.1.0 Tri Australian Shepard: Nelly

Thank you! I guess I'm just concerned because he hasn't been eating very well lately. For the past 3 weeks, he won't touch crickets anymore. I gave him meal worms instead and he'll eat one of those every other day. He used to be a very hearty eater before this. He's not impacted because he's voiding regularly after eating. The temperatures in his enclosure are fine. I guess I'll give him a few more days and then take him to the vet.

Do you keep a humid hide in your tank? If not, you might encounter shedding problems again.
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Lovin' would be easy if your colors were like my dreams...

I just put one in there Friday afternoon and Friday night he started shedding, but he hasn't gotten in there. Last night when I went to bed, he was laying on his rock next to it, looking very pale and he was there when I got up this morning. When I turned on his day light, I noticed the loose skin and he started rubbing himself on his sand and went into his dry hide. He spent most of the morning circling the inside of his dry hide rubbing the skin off. Would the inability to shed, due to lack of humidity, cause his eating problems though?

It could be. Not being able to shed is supposed to be a serious problem, but I've never had to deal with anything more than leftover skin not coming off. If it's not a lack of humidity, then it could be lack of proper vitamins. Are you gutloading his food and dusting? What did you use for the humid hide? Make sure it's not too wet, and don't place it directly on the heat source. What do you use for heat anyway?
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Lovin' would be easy if your colors were like my dreams...

I've been giving him crickets for the longest time. I was giving him pin-head crickets when I got him but he was eating them 15-20 a day. So I moved him to the bigger crickets. The crickets have their own 5 1/2 gallon tank in the garage and they are fed oatmeal, dusted carrots and given Gutload cricket drink. I do dust the crickets before I put them in for him, but anymore that doesn't seem to matter because he's not eating them and the dust either falls off of them or they are rubbing it off.

For his humid hide, I used a Glad plastic container with a lid. We cut a hole in the side of it for him to get through comfortably but still have privacy although it's pretty transparent. I just put wet papertowels in there (Not sure if they are too wet). For heat, I have a UTH. During the day, he has a UV day light and at night he has a red night light. The lights hang to the front of the heated side and the humid hide is in the back of the heated side.

Well, I would try feeding him something else, like mealworms or superworms. Double check that the temps are ok. And I've tried using paper towels before, but my leos always used the peat moss humid hide more. You can get a huge bag at Home Depot for $3, and it will last you forever.
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Lovin' would be easy if your colors were like my dreams...

I've been trying to feed him superworms and for the last month, he's taken them but he's only eaten one every couple of days. Right now, he's had absolutely nothing for 3 days (I'm hoping it's because of the shed). Other times I try to give them to him, he gets all excited about them, but the minute they stop moving, he looks away. Then when I get them to move again and show him they are moving he turns his head and closes his eyes. We even tried to give him a pinkie the other day thinking that would be a special treat for him, but he just kept smelling it, licking it and just laying there watching over it like it was his baby or something. It ended up dying because he wouldn't eat it. I'll get some peat moss and try using that. I set him in the opening to the humid hide, he went in, turned around and came back out. So I'm assuming he doesn't like it...

Yeah, my leo did that when I had it too wet the first time. If he just hasn't eaten for 3 days, it could just be the shedding. As long as he's not losing any weight, I wouldn't worry.
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Lovin' would be easy if your colors were like my dreams...