Stuck Shed

[Bucko]

Alright so I am taking care of a gecko for my High School over this summer. For a little backgroun information on the leopard gecko, it has had a history of stuck sheds, it has even lost a leg due to this shedding problem (was not in my care when this happened). I looked in his cage today and I noticed that there was some stuck shed on all of his toes. I was wondering what can I do to get this shed off of his toes.

[mlededee]

first make him a humid hide. you can use a small tupperware container or something similar. place some moist paper towels in the container and put a hole in the lid for the gecko to enter and exit the hide. place the hide on the warm side of the enclosure and re-moisten the paper towels and/or replace them as needed. you can leave this hide in place at all times.

you may want to soak him a bit to loosen the skin that is on his toes. put some lukewarm water (not too deep) in a shallow dish and let the gecko stand in it. i also use moistened q-tips to rub shed free. this works especially well for shed that is stuck on toes. you might do this in conjunction with the soak, i.e. soak and then rub the skin off with a wet q-tip.

[Pork Chops N' Corn Bread]

I had stuck shed problems with my leos when I first got them. Like mentioned, a humid hide is great and they seem to drink lots of moisture from the sides of it. I have been using bed a beast in my humid hide for my adult female and ir also doubles as her laying box. I would recomend paper towels like said earlier as they sometimes like to try and eat the bedding. If the shed won't come off with a warm humid hide, a dab of mineral OIL on her feet should help too.

[Bucko]

OK guys I have done everything you said. I become worried after about a week of soaking and nothing happening, so i callled the high school and they told me to keep soaking and to not worry about it. Today i was assisting the skin off on the geckos toes, and a little bleeding acoured(spelling?). Same thing happened with the next toe I assisted off. I am thinking that it lost the tip of its toe from loss of circulation. Now my question is how do I get the last pieces of the shed off from 2 of his toes, without damaging anything?

[mlededee]

if bleeding and/or rawness is occurring do not continue to remove the shed. soak the gecko in betadine instead of water and put some neosporin or triple antibiotic ointment on the toes that bled and on the toes that still have shed on them. (if you don't have betadine immediately available go ahead and use the neosporin now and try to get some betadine asap.) make sure that the paper towels in the humid hide are moist at all times.

what are the temperatures in the gecko's enclosure and how are you heating it?

[Bucko]

Thank you very much Mlededee.
I actually had someone from the reptile shop it was boughht from come out to my house last night. She removed all of the skin for me, and applied ointment all all of that good stuff. I did have a few minor husbandry issues, but now they are fixed. Thanks for all of the replies guys.

[mlededee]

awesome, glad to hear you got it taken care of.