Long shed?

[Sly Hat Jones]

I have a juvinile that is taking a long time to complete a shed. It is not repeated shedding, I am sure of that because the same flap of skin's been sticking up off its head for a week. I can see the toes are all clear - there's unshed but dry-looking and translucent skin on the upper sides of the limbs and back, with a peeled spot on the back and most of the head peeled, except for this goofy-looking flap up on top.

So the shed has taken at least a week, and that seems abnormal - my other juvinile I managed to notice shedding one day but was totally clean the next.

The house fluctuates between maybe 63-68 at night to maybe 75 mid-day. I mist twice a day and have been throwing in 'extra' mistings because it has been quite dry lately, and to try and assist with the shed.

Anything to worry about? Should I attempt to manually 'help' the shed in some way? If so, how would I do that without stressing or injuring the gecko?

If need be I'll try to take a picture.

One other detail - until yesterday both juviniles were housed together, but becuase this one is larger I think they've been tussling so I separated them last night. The shedding one has been doing most of the picking-on, but, I mention it in case that's a factor.

Thanks

-Sly

[Chicubswally]

Sly,
Could the skin flap maybe be skin and not shed as it sounds like they were fighting a bit.
If it is shed, you could try gently dabbing the area with a moist q-tip a few time a day until it comes off. However, don't try to force it off.

A pic might be a good idea in this case.

[genevieve]

You can also add a moist hide to the enclosure. Take a gladware, cut a geckos sized hole in the side and pack it with moist moss or coco fiber. Alternatively, you can take him out and place him in a gladware with 1/2 inch of warm water for 15 minutes once a day until the shed is complete.

I have had some individuals that never shed as well as the rest when they were younger; not sure why, they just didn't. By the time they were adults they had no problems with completing their sheds on their own.

Genevieve

[Sly Hat Jones]

I'm sure it's a shed, not damage - but I just took a couple pictures to show. The camera battery is dead, though, so I'll have to wait till tomorrow morning to upload them.

Genevieve, I'll give your suggestion a try tomorrow.

Thanks for the help guys.

-Sly

[Sly Hat Jones]

OK, so I took pictures. The first one is from last night, the second and third are from just now - about 18 hours later. This is the gecko's favorite spot to hang out, so don't worry - it definitely is moving around and eating and stuff. And the advertisement for Repashy Crested Gecko Diet is entirely accidental!

1:

2:
3:

Apologies for slight blurriness... it is hard to get good shots through the glass, in macro mode, with the flash, etc.

-Sly

[Chicubswally]

That certainly is shed. Your initial post was only a day ago but how long since you first noticed the shed?
At this point, in addition to adding the humid hide, you may wish to try the q-tip trick. The hard pard is that you don't want to handle the crested too much but should try to help teh gecko out a bit.

[Sly Hat Jones]

Thanks Chucubswally. It's been a week now since I noticed the shed starting. I'll get the humid hide set up tonight and if I can get a calm and relaxed capture/handling session we might try the cotton swab trick.

-Sly

[Sly Hat Jones]

Just as a follow up, for those who might be interested:
The gecko wasn't interested in the moist hide we made for it. Regular misting and a couple of sessions of 'bathtime' in a deli cup also didn't seem to make a huge difference. But it was eating and seemed healthy and fine. Two days ago we noticed all the shed was gone - I guess it finally decided to complete the process. So, that's nearly 4 weeks to complete a shed. Everything seems healthy and fine, though.

Thanks again for the advice, everyone. We'll see if the next shed is just a wee bit faster?!