Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've had a Day gecko for about 2 weeks now and she's been shedding for about a week. Most of it is off, there's just a few patches on her back and belly. I have the temps at around 85 and try to keep the humidity between 50-70 percent, although it does drop to around 47 on the days when I'm gone for 10 hours or so. Is this just a humidity problem? should I be worried? Does anyone have a good/inexpensive humidifier that they would recommend? By the way, she's about a year old.
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1 bearded dragon, Langdon
1 Madagascar Day Gecko, Gulliver
2 White's Tree Frogs, Lilliput and Laputa
1 Russian dwarf hamster, Calvin
1 tabby cat, Nina
1 Lab mix, Shunka Sapa

A week is a long time for them to finish shedding. It usually only takes a couple hours at most. Could be a humidity problem. Try putting a small bowl with some water and moss near the heat on the days you're not going to be around when shedding is evident. That will help a bit with humidity.

What type of gecko is it? P. standingi likes it dryer, like the % humidity that you say is in your cage; however, P.m. grandis likes it more humid. Just spray a lot more water in the cage than you are spraying. When I notice mine are getting ready to shed, I spray them with alot of extra water to keep the humidity higher. Also, potted plants will help keep humidity up as well.

I have found in the past when I've purchased from a store, they always have a rough first shed, but they get better and better.

Hope this helps.
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Lisa

1.0.0 P.m. grandis (Linus)
4.3.0 P. standingi (Toby & Kona and their 5 babies)

Thanks for your help! I think she's a P.grandis, at least that's what I was told, but she's only about 7.5 inches and she's almost a year old. I do have a Pothos plant in the tank and I'm using sphagnum moss as a substrate. I got her from a classmate that's been breeding them, but he didn't keep them with any kind of full spectrum lights or anything, so I'm wondering if that was a problem for her.
Someone told me I should put her in a small container with wet towels for an hour to really humidify her. Do you think that might be too stressful?
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1 bearded dragon, Langdon
1 Madagascar Day Gecko, Gulliver
2 White's Tree Frogs, Lilliput and Laputa
1 Russian dwarf hamster, Calvin
1 tabby cat, Nina
1 Lab mix, Shunka Sapa

If he didn't provide full spectrum lighting then he couldv'e given her supplements which is just as good. Largre day geckos species usually take 14-16 months to become totally mature and may still grow a few more inches after that. As long as you are giving her the right lighting and supplements she should grow more.

I don't see how adding wet towels in a bowl would be stressfull. If you constantly have to change out the towels more than once per day then you may want to do something else to increase the humidity. If you have the cash the best way to achieve success is by following this guide on how to build a reliable misting system;
Mister Guide

Sorry I don't think I explained it right. I meant I was told to catch her in a little container, with a lid, that has wet paper towels in it. And then leave her in there for an hour (with the lid on). I just thought it might be stressful sinc eyou can't really touch them and I'm going to be chasing her aroud the tank trying to trap her in a container.
Thanks for the mister guide! I'm definitely going to look into that.
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1 bearded dragon, Langdon
1 Madagascar Day Gecko, Gulliver
2 White's Tree Frogs, Lilliput and Laputa
1 Russian dwarf hamster, Calvin
1 tabby cat, Nina
1 Lab mix, Shunka Sapa

Catching them with the container and then sliding the lid under the gecko to trap it isn't very stressful to the gecko. Just as long as they don't do a lot of running before you cover them with the container.

I wouldn't advise using the wet towel method unless the towels can stay warm for hours. To quickly help her shed lay a wide deep body of water near the basking spot. Soak everything in the tank when you spray and use hot water. Partially cover the screen lid of the tank with cellophane but make sure that the UVB bulbs are under the covering. Leave gaps at both ends of the tank. Your humidity should stay high all day. Buying a room humidifier to increase the humidity level in the room can help a lot too.

well if any animal is having shedding problems, its usually cause its not humid enough. before you worry about the environment problem, you should take the skin off of her, a little suck between the eyes is no problem, but on their feet and fingers can be a problem if left alone. the best way to do it is to get a container and put some water in it and get her wet and let her soak. some say to use one part hydrogen peroxide to 4 parts water to soak them in. with day geckos i dont use peroxide cuz one time i left a baby mad mad in for too long and he swelled up like five times his size and died. but if you soak her for a couple minutes and use some fine forceps to pull the skin off she should be fine. the most stressful thing to a day gecko is having layers of unshed skin stuck to their pads.