Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I got a m/f pair of juvi cresties (4-5" STL) yesterday (my first), which are housed together in a screen cage. The male seems to be adjusting fine - very active, found the water and food (CG Diet). The female seems much more timid and doesn't want to move around. I've convinced myself to separate them, which I plan to do tomorrow. My issue is this - the female started a shed sometime last night, but basically only got the skin off her head and hasn't bothered with the rest. It appears that she's too stressed right now to finish shedding. They have a large, damp hide box, and I've done plenty of misting, but she just stays in one spot and won't do much of anything. Should I move her to her own enclosure, or should I keep my hands off her for fear of stressing her worse? How long before the incomplete shed "sticks" and causes a serious health problem? Advice from you experienced folks would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Jason

1.1 Crested Gex
1.0 Leopard Gex
0.0.1 Corn Snake
1.0 Ball Python
1.0 Red Eyed Tree Frog

This sort of worries me, because I had a cat gecko who was pretty sick and had similar sheds. I ended up having to take the skin off with tweezers, which is very delicate and no fun for anyone. This was after waiting several days to a week for him to get it off himself. (I did this 4 or 5 times). The skin won't 'stick' if the gecko is at a very high humidity but I don't know how how high is TOO high for cresteds. Watch very carefully for any signs of illness... swelling, runny nose, stuff like that. Hope I'm not scaring you, I'm just getting flashbacks. If you're not sure she's eating, I'd be dropping the food on her nose with an eyedropper or syringe.
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Peter: It's OK, I'll handle it. I read a book about something like this.
Brian: Are you sure it was a book? Are you sure it wasn't NOTHING?

Hi, Im new to crested's specifically but Ive worked with numerous species of lizards so take this as you will.

As far as the timidness and not eating, if you just got her yesterday she may just need time to adjust. I would keep her in the cage to reduce the stress of having to adjust to another enclosure. Just keep setting out food and she'll come around eventually.

As far as the shed goes, it seems like arboreal geckos tend to shed very quickly. Keep the humidity up. In drier climates, screen cages tend not to be good for humid loving reptiles. They just dont hold moisture no matter how much you mist. You might want to buy a hygrometer (humidity gauge) and stick in there. If you aren't getting 50% humidity or higher, you may want to stick garbage bags to the sides and back, at least during shedding time. I tried that with great results to keep my roommate's chamaeleon shedding easy durin our really dry winters.

Hope it helps and good luck! Have fun with those new cresties, I know I have with mine.

Luis

Though I don't have alot of experience yet with crested geckos, it could be stress from the move and/or having the male in the same cage. I would remove the male from the cage and give him his own for now. This would stress the female alot less as she doesn't have to get used to a new cage. If she shed finds in a few days then you know it was a stress issue. If she doesn't a vet check may be in order.

Thanks to all who posted advice. Right or wrong, here's what I did:

I risked the extra stress and removed the female from the cage and soaked her (on extremely wet paper towels) in order to get the "stuck" shed off her. She pulled most of it off by herself crawling around on the wet paper towels, I just assisted a little with careful tweezers. While soaking, she drank a lot, and I got her to eat some CG Diet off a spoon for me. After getting the shed off, and knowing she was fed and well hydrated, I put her in a seperate enclosure, where she seems to be acclimating well.

The lesson is: seperate housing for young cresteds is probably a good idea, if for no other reason than to monitor food intake and health, and to eliminate stress caused by cagemates.

Jay