Reptile & Amphibian Forums

One of my hatchling geckos is about to lose his tail because of an unshed skin. What kinds of things should I be worried about and what should I do to make sure he survives. Ive learned from this mistake and started misting all of the hatchlings more. I will inspect them more closely on a regular basis. Id appreciate any advice.

your hatchling is in for a very tough time right now. tail loss is going to be extremely stressful on its' young system. to be completely honest, if your hatchling is very young, there is a realistic chance that something like this may prove fatal.

1)seperate the gecko into its own enclosure. you want to be able to monitor this one easily and you don't want it being stressed by other geckos.

2) use a papertowel substrate while the gecko is healing. this will help keep the wound clean while it heals.

3) give it *plenty* of hide spaces. you want to make life as stress-free as possible for it.

i don't know how humid it is where you live, but you really need to mist at least once daily. you can use a coco fiber substrate, to help retain some humidity.

good luck.

well, i've had several less than one month old hatchlings lose their tails due to cage mates, and have never had one die. honestly, a restrictive tail loss ( by blood restriction similar to what you're talking about) rather than an attack tail loss is probably less stressful, and a cleaner ' cut' than an attack. i would say as long as the animal is healthy, and eating/drinking well ( and given a low stress environment as stated in the previous post) it should be perfectly fine. when the tail does drop you may consider putting a small amount of antibacterial ointment on the stub if you want, that may help keep it clean.