Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My little Burton is having trouble climbing the glass of its enclosure. Burton manages to climb to the top of the enclosure and hang on the vines, but kind of slips a little when trying to climb up my arm. There are water spots on the glass, so I'm wondering if that may be a problem, and if anyone has any suggestions to get rid of them. Burton is otherwise in good health, I know we're eating because I've seen us catch crickets and we're pooping. I've had Burton since January 29th, and I believe we've shed already. I'm just wondering if there might be something wrong or not.

Water spots on the glass are not a problem climbing-wise; geckos can stick to literally anything, including teflon. If, however, you'd like to avoid water spots for appearance purposes, just use filtered water rather than tap water for misting the enclosure. I usually just buy it by the gallon at the grocery store. No minerals in the water = no spots.

As far as climbing problems go, they sometimes have that if they have shedding problems. I'd check toes for stuck shed, and if you find any, make sure the humidity is right in the enclosure; you may have to very gently, with a wet Q-tip, assist removal of any stuck shed. Don't force it; it might not all come off in one go, and you don't want to hurt the little guy. Maintaining proper humidity should prevent any problems going forward; as long as they're getting misted enough, shedding is usually not a problem.

BTW, I wouldn't be surprised if a juvenile has shed twice already in the time you've had him/her - they shed pretty frequently while they're young and growing.
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0.1 Albino Leopard Gecko - Tigger
0.1 Crested Gecko - Pooh-Bear

I totally agree with everything Olstyn just said, but wanted to add two things:

If it is stuck shed, and sticky feet can be such a problem with the qtip method, there are products on the market for conditioning the skin and also for helping loosen stuck shed. Our little girl had shed stuck on her feet once and we pickup up a product called Biomist (which lists geckos on the bottle) there is also the old school product called ShedEz. The Biomist you can just mist his feet (or your arm and let him sit there.)

Another completely unrelated idea to shed is skin oils, natural and artificial. If you use lotion on your hands and/or arms or you are handling him often or for extended times he can pick up a lot of you skin oil and some keepers have reported here that can affect their ability to stick to glass until they can "walk it off". Here you just want to put the lotion on afterwards or limit your handling. I haven't seen this myself, but as I said, some keepers have reported similar difficulties and it was oils. I think you've got everything you need.

Good Luck!
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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

That may be it. Burton is shedding fine and the humidity is absolutely fine. I never would have thought of skin oils as the problem. On a side note, any ideas on how to get the existing water spots of the glass? They just don't look nice.
Thanks for your help!

If you are going to do a full clean out of the enclosure and can rinse the glass, a bit of white vinegar is all you'd need to get rid of the water spots. (Put some on a towel and wipe everything down, rinse, rinse, rinse... do not use with other chemicals like bleach.)
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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

Thanks!

For a quick fix, using just the blade from a utility knife will get them off in no time and, if your are gentle, not damage the glass.