Leo Problems...

[Kesslers Kreatures]

Alright guys, I recently acquired a leopard gecko. it was actually a rescue that was given to me from another member of this site. he rescued it the same day i picked it up from his house. SO he didn't have time to treat it..

But anyways...

He had some retained shed on his toes, so we decided to make a humid hide and see if it came off. Well it didn't work, last night he shed and he still retained some shed on his toes. I took him out and took a closer look and realized it was shed from like the past 4 or 5 sheds and it needed to come off.

I decided to take matters into my own hand and help him out. I wet my fingers and helped him get it off, once i took it off i realized his toes had not been growing, Everything under the shed had been not growing, it almost looked like the circulation had been cut off on his poor little toes.


Now my question is will his lil toes start to grow now that he doesnt have the shed hindering his lil toesies? Has anyone ever had problems with the toes not coming off?


I feel bad for this little guy. Im glad he got rescued when he did...

[nwheat]

It is really important to get stuck shed off of their toes asap. As the shed skin dries up it constricts, cutting off blood flow.

Sounds like you got the shed off, but here is what I do if I find some retained shed: I let them soak their feet for 10 min or so (never leave a soaking gecko unattended). Then I use a wet Q-tip to roll the skin off. Sometimes you need to use fine tweezers to pick at badly stuck shed.

I find it much easier to do this if the gecko is allowed to sit on my knee rather than restraining it - they hate being restrained. Some patience is required, but the process is less stressful if you can get the job done without much restraint.

Usually, they will be fine once the skin is off. If the toes appear to be black, they will probably fall off. If some appear to be shorter than the others, he has probably already lost parts of those toes. They will not grow back, but he'll be ok without them.

Now that he has a moist hide in his cage, future shedding should go ok. I would still watch carefully to be sure that he doesn't retain any on his toes or tail tip.

Enjoy your new addition! He's lucky to have ended up with you!

[Kesslers Kreatures]

Phew, you dont know how much of a relieve that is. He looked better this morning... i think he was a bit shook up when i was getting the shed off his toes.

[mlededee]

He may or may not lose his toe tips, depending on how long the circulation to them was cut off and how badly. Make sure he has access to a humid hide at all times so that the chance of stuck shed is minimalized but if it happens in the future do remove it as soon as possible as noted in the above post. Take care not to force the skin off if it is really stuck as you can remove good skin along with causing more harm than good. If the skin is too stuck to remove easily with a wet qtip after soaking, coat the toes with a thin layer of triple antibiotic ointment with no painkillers in it. This will help to soften the stuck shed and it should come off easily after 24-48 hours.

[Kesslers Kreatures]

You guys are so helpful, It came off pretty easy once i got my hand a little moist and let him soak for a couple min. he seems to be better today. I'll try to get pics of his toes tonight.

They almost look like they didnt grow at all under his shed. I feel bad for the little guy, I just hope he gets better

[West Coast Jungle]

Glad to see he is getting the attention he deserves.

Good work Lewie

[Kesslers Kreatures]

Glad to see he is getting the attention he deserves.

Good work Lewie

Thanks! I'm just glad you took him when you did