Reptile & Amphibian Forums

to start, the first gecko that hatched is doing fabulous and looks amazing even after just one month; it's orange/yellow body looks super bright and the dark bands are fading and are very lavenderish/purple right now...
the problem is with the second hatchling... when it came out it appeared that it still had some type of umbilical mass connected (this was small, but definitely still connected to the belly... it fell off after a day or so and i made sure to keep a humid hide to help with things.... it went into the shed phase and looked very smoky, however almost none of the shed has come off... it's been 3 days or so now and it has peeled back about half way on the top of the head of the gecko, but the rest of the body's shed is mostly intact - i've also noticed that this gecko does what looks like a strange burping from time to time (opens its mouth and looks like it's gasping for air or something)--- an aside:
about 3 weeks before this gecko hatched the egg dented in, and not just a little, it was very dented, to the point where i didn't even think that the little lady would hatch. can anyone help? i can see that it is going to start having real problems if i cannot get it to eat soon as it is getting quite skinny. Please help!
brandon
sorry so long

The opening of the mouth may just be yawning, as geckos can and will do that.

Have you tried a warm soak for the shedding? If not, use a small tub, fill with warm water, not hot, just enough to touch belly, place her in it and cover with lid. Allow her to stay in ther for about 10-15 min. Make sure to keep an eye on her while she is in there you don't want her to stress. After the soak place her back in her home and she if she take it from there. You want her to do it on her own if she will, eating the shed is good for her. If not another soak may be in order. Then use a Q-Tip to help remove the shed. Take your time and DON'T use tweezers to pull the shed off. You may have to re-soak her a couple of time to get all the shed off. Be very carefull especially around the eyes and toes. Make sure it is all off the toes, if the shed dries on her toes it can constrict the blood flow and she can loose her toes.

Also she may just be one of those geckos that has a hard time shedding and will need help during every shed. If that is the case it will get easier as she gets bigger for you to do this, as you may be stressed out your selfdue to her small size, and not wanting to hurt her.

I hope this helps.
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My Leos Website

6.12 Leos
1.0 Peach Fronted Conure
0.0.2 Red Ear Sliders
1.0 Pembroke Corgi
0.2 Cats
1.0 Guinea
8 fish

thank you very much, i will try that... is it usually the case that if she hatches eventually she'll be ok? i would think that if she had major problems prior to hatching it would probably be the case that she wouldn't at all, or am i way off? i know with my corn snakes it's typical that any deformed or underdeveloped snakes never hatch at all
thanks
brandon

HURRY,GET SOME SPECIAL REPTI SHEEDING AID!!! MOUTHS OPEN PROBLY BECAUSE IT CAN'T BREATH VERY WELL,DEAD SKIN MITE BE KEEPING HIS CHEAST FROM COMING OUT!!!!!!!

OR CAREFULLY CUT OFF OR TAKE TO VET SO THEY CAN HELP!!!

I READ WHAT I ALLREADY SAID.THAT OR IT 'S MY ADVICE/OR UNCLES.