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I got my gecko to eat a huge number of mealies today (she seems a bit plumper) but anyways just after I finished the last mealie (i rip open the buts and put it on their mouth to get them interested, it gets it to eat) anyways now it's doing this dance where it's rubbing the bottom of it's chin on the bottom of the cage and it'll rub it's belly and rub it's face against the ground (or coconut) and ocattionally it licks it's face. Is it trying to shed? If so why isn't it going on the moist hide?

I have no idea. Does your leo look like its going into shed?

I can tell with mine, she loses her color (cause the skin's coming off) and you can clearly tell she's about to shed. So she rubs her face on the tank wall and starts walking around and eventually it peels off her face so then she'll rub her belly on the ground. She eventually turns her head and bites the peeling skin and chews it up and eats it (only if i'm not there in time to take it from her mouth).

Hope this helps.

Or it could be your leo was just too happy from all that food.

Yeah, it sounds like she's shedding... Is her skin lighter than normal?

And you rip open the mealworms' butts??? I didn't even know that possible... *And here I was about to eat breakfast.... eew*

~~Dusty Windom
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So Many Alleles, So Little Time...!
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~~The Gecko Barn~~

oops, sorry i ruined your breakfast

yah she's sitting in the humid hide and she's never realyl cared to go in there before so I think the verdict is shedding. Should i still spray the humid hide if she's in there?

yeah i have to rip the butts off because the gecko isn't very interested unless i do, it's a great way to get them to eat, just rip it,spread it on the face and it'l taste it and get hungry and excited and eat it

Why would you not let her eat her own shed? Its actually full of vitamins and calcium that they can utilize easier than any other source of necessary calcium that we can provide. Why do you think they eat it? Because it does have those nutrients in it. Many species of lizard that do eat their shed will also eat the sheds of other lizards that they find for the vitamins and minerals they contain.
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Lucien

1.1 Columbian Redtail Boa (BCI)(Sutekh and Isis)
3.5.3 Leopard geckos (2.0 Blizzards (Caine and Goliath), 0.1 Tangerine Albino (Tequila Sunrise ...Tiki for short), 1.0 Rainwater Albino (Mycah), 0.4 Poss. Het. Albino (Annika, Lace, Rain and Aris) and 2.1 dbl. het blizzard x tang albino (Malice, Malfeas, and Mystic))
0.1 Savannah Monitor (Kiros)
13 rats
2 Dogs (Loki and Storm)
3 cats (Ashe, Sahara and Hercules)
6 Fish (4 Red Danios, 1 Cardinal Fish, and 1 Tiger Barb)
8 Ramshorn snails
"And a Partridge in a Pear Tree!"

my baby is free to eat whatever it wants including it's own skin. how mong does the shedding process last? she's in the shed/humid container but i see no flaking of it's skin

It takes a gecko about 3 hrs more or less to shed.
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Katie
Peach State Geckos
My Email

would want to prevent his geckos from eating their shed as he posted.
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Lucien

1.1 Columbian Redtail Boa (BCI)(Sutekh and Isis)
3.5.3 Leopard geckos (2.0 Blizzards (Caine and Goliath), 0.1 Tangerine Albino (Tequila Sunrise ...Tiki for short), 1.0 Rainwater Albino (Mycah), 0.4 Poss. Het. Albino (Annika, Lace, Rain and Aris) and 2.1 dbl. het blizzard x tang albino (Malice, Malfeas, and Mystic))
0.1 Savannah Monitor (Kiros)
13 rats
2 Dogs (Loki and Storm)
3 cats (Ashe, Sahara and Hercules)
6 Fish (4 Red Danios, 1 Cardinal Fish, and 1 Tiger Barb)
8 Ramshorn snails
"And a Partridge in a Pear Tree!"

two possibilities....

1. it is trying wipe something off its mouth (think along the lines of you eating a powdered donut and wiping off the powder afterwards) you mention you wiped mealie worm "stuff" on its mouth..

2. shedding and trying to loosen the old skin

You may have given her too many for her to digest and she's just trying to get the last ones all the way down. Be careful you don't over feed her. She may just have indigestion but you can also give her so many that you cause her to become ompacted. Hopefully she can digest all those mealworm casings or throw them up.

My 4 year old female did that once, right after i put her back from picking her up
it was like "ew get this stench of human off of me" I was throughly insulted

I had a male leo that did the other way round, everytime I pick him up, he smudges his whole body on my palm, especially its tail region trying to leave some of its scent on my hand, lol. Can I read that as he LIKES me?

You're lucky then, my girl is just a snob! a "big boned" snob