Reptile & Amphibian Forums

One of my gravid girls has a bit of a shedding problem. She's the only one with which that happened, and it's the very first time it happened too. Humidity is good, she has a nice moist hide, and plenty of things to rub against, but a nice piece of skin staying glued on the top of her tail.

I've been soaking her in warm water and trying to gently peel it off, with no success. She shedded twice since then, and now the skin on half of her tail feels soft and leathery, as if every scale and bumps had been taken off. I can't even manage to unstuck a little piece to peel it. She definatly doesn't like me playing with her tail, but I don't want her to loose half of it

Any suggestions on what might've caused this? I noticed that when I first managed to peel a tiny piece off, the skin under was pinkish and sticky, as if the dead skin wasn't supposed to come off.

She's pretty fat and healthy, but if I can't get it off, how much time will it take before the tail falls off?

She's housed alone, no cagemates. I monitored the mating with the male, and he didn't inflict any type of wound on her.

I am not sure what could have caused this, but what you could try is get a Q-tip and rub the skin gently with warm water(on the Q-tip). If this doesn't work, take her to a reptile-experienced vet(I hate the vet that lives here, he'll take anything to make a buck!). They should be able to diagnose this. I wish you the best!!
Alyssa

For vets in your area go to www.anapsid.org (It's where I found mine) Good Luck!!!!

n/p

Alyssa

I have a 6mo old rainwater male that he had a flap of skin on his nose that would not come off . I took him to the only vet around here and he had no Idea what caused it or what to do about it . So I started reading and I tryed one tatic that worked , I put him in a rubbermaid container with wet paper towles and kep him at about 88-89 degrees and after 2 days it came off when I pulled it . But he didnt shed agin before I was able to get it off . As far has how long before her tail falls of I have no Idea , the way you described the skin underneith , I would question if its now permant . It may be a flaw and she never lose her tail . If you havent tried it already , I hope it works for you

Best of luck Brian

Damp paper towls , not soaked and cheack on her often

Ok, thanks, I'll try this after she lays her eggs ^_^

I have no idea what could be causing this, though. I did take her to a herp vet, and she said it looked like a wound that healed, but I would've noticed a wound that size. Unless she peeled off skin that wasn't ready to be shed. The affected area is really smooth, and not whitish-grey like old dry skin. it's the normal color, except maybe a wee bit darker.

If this doesn't work, then I'll leave her alone and monitor her shedding and such. She's really active and healthy otherwise, and free of parasites.

Anyway, thanks again

I had this happen a few months back to one of my females but I got it off witht he net shed. You should either soak her for awile or put her in a moist hide that she can't get out of(w/airholes of course). Leave her in there for awile then take a moist q-tip and try to rub a little off. I personally used twezzers(if you are comfortable useing them) once there was a little peice sticking up and gently peeled it downward.
You could also put some neoporin on the tip it seemed to help the stuck shed come of. Olso if yo get it of be sure to keep it clean and put the meoporin on it.
My females tail turned out fine and lookd normal agian, but there is a posability she could lose the tip.
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Sarah H

Yeah, I tried neosporin when it first happened, without success the skin seemed glued there. I managed to take off a couple of small pieces that was looking like normal dried skin and sticking up, with a moist Q-tip, but the rest seems to have firmly glued itself to her tail. It doesn't even look or feel like dry skin, just leathery soft, without the normal bumps and scales of a gecko tail, with no piece sticking out.

I'll try the moist hide thing, though, leave her there for a couple of hours. I have a medium sized critter keeper box, and I'll place it on the undertank heat tape with moist paper towels in the bottom.

Thanks for the help, though ^_^