Tiny crestie question

[Jeanne]

My baby is going well, eating well and SHEDDING often. Last night I noticed he/she was shedding again.... I watched the little booger do it, which was kinda cool, even got to see him/her trying to "chew" the skin off his/her little feet. This morning I noticed though, that it seems as if baby still has a bit of shed stuck on his/her toes on one foot (hanging onto the "suction" cup thingies on the front foot) and some around its "arm pits" so to speak. My humidity is 65%, do I need it higher maybe? I mist 2 x's daily, and sometimes even more. The moss I am using is really making the difference in both crestie cages as far as maintaining humidity. I know I have got to get this stuck shed off baby, but heres the thing, baby is still kinda skittish, and when I picked him/her up to help with this issue, he/she got really upset and was wiggling all over the place, making this very hard and making me VERY nervous because I dont want to inadvertantly hurt my baby or freak baby out to the point he/she loses his/her tail. I realize it is said in the wild that usually they are found without tails and I have seen lots in captivity without, including my adult male who does perfectly fine, am I just being to paranoid about that tail? What do all you with tiny ones in this situation? Is there a way to help get this shedding skin off baby easier and do you guys/gals worry obsessively about them dropping thier tails like I feel like I do?

[ladywhipple02]

Lol, Jeanne, it's not just you. I obsessed about it, too, until my adult female lost hers (my cat managed to make it's way to the top of the tank and totally freaked the poor little thing out). I've found, however, that, unless they think they're in dire straits, they won't drop them. I've had to be pretty quick with my little ones at times, even have inadvertantly grabbed their tails at certain points, when they skittered too quickly, but not one of them has dropped because of this. In fact, the female is the only one who has.

That said, I know there's a couple things you could try: putting him in a little tub on water for a bit, just up to his knees---they don't swim so well. But it sounds like your humidity's fine. He'll probably get the rest of the shed off himself at some point soon (it's really funny to see them picking at their toes). Just takes them a bit longer with their feet.

If it hasn't come off in a few days, another thing you could try: have him walk across a piece of scotch tape wrapped around your finger. This should take off any excess.

Hope this helps!

[Jeanne]

Lol, Jeanne, it's not just you. I obsessed about it, too, until my adult female lost hers (my cat managed to make it's way to the top of the tank and totally freaked the poor little thing out). I've found, however, that, unless they think they're in dire straits, they won't drop them. I've had to be pretty quick with my little ones at times, even have inadvertantly grabbed their tails at certain points, when they skittered too quickly, but not one of them has dropped because of this. In fact, the female is the only one who has.

Well thats good to know, I guess with some of the stuff I read I was under the impression that they drop thier tails VERY easily, without little provocation.

That said, I know there's a couple things you could try: putting him in a little tub on water for a bit, just up to his knees---they don't swim so well. But it sounds like your humidity's fine. He'll probably get the rest of the shed off himself at some point soon (it's really funny to see them picking at their toes). Just takes them a bit longer with their feet.

If it hasn't come off in a few days, another thing you could try: have him walk across a piece of scotch tape wrapped around your finger. This should take off any excess.

Hope this helps!

Ohh did not think of scotch tape.... may try that too, what about the skin around his/her arm pits, if I do not get it off, is it a HUGE problem?

[ladywhipple02]

If the loose skin isn't wrapped around a limb, I wouldn't worry too much about it. It'll come off at some point with the movement of the gecko.

The only reason toes are tricky is because the skin can stay wrapped around them and cut off circulation. Same with the end of the tail.

[Jeanne]

Cool, thanks so much Lynn!

[mlededee]

a moistened q-tip will also do very well getting loose shed off of toes and other places. don't worry too much about the tail--there has to be quite a bit of trauma involved for them to actually drop them. and even if it does happen, it really isn't that big of a deal, it is traumatizing for you the first time it happens but after that you see that it isn't so bad.