Shedding wont come off

[Ixidor]

My male keeps having shed stuck on his toes. I kno wyou can put him in warm water to get it off but it happens every time he sheds!!!!!! Is there anything I could be doing wrong or better?

[crankypunk]

hummm let me ask you do you have a humide hide ??

a lot of people telling me to put one or it can cause problems like this one ...

[Ixidor]

yeah I have a humid hide actually I have two

[Ixidor]

Does anyone have an idea?

[Slannesh]

How much time does your guy spend in the humid hide? Where is it in the cage?

I keep mine on the warm side and fairly humid (not WETwet but definately on the damp side) , they spend a good amount of time in them but do use both hides in the enclosure, never had a problem with toe shed yet.

[geckomom]

Just wondering if your house is on the dry side, and if you have a humidity gauge in your gecko's enclosure - I have one on each side of of mine (at the long ends, opposite each other, along with temp gauges).

Mine usually runs about 40-50% humidity, and apart from the humid hide I have, I really don't do any misting of the enclosure, nor do my gex have shedding problems (knock on wood! ;) ).

Maybe even with the humid hide, the overall humidity is just a bit too low? Just an idea, as I'm still learning as I go along....no expert here!:rolleyes:

BTW, I keep my humid hide on the cool side, as I read that in several posts on this site...my gex use it a lot, even when they're not shedding....am I doing this wrong? Humid hide - hot side or cool side?

[LISA127]

I've heard some ppl insist the humid hide should be on the warm side, and some insist it should be on the cool side. So you will get differing opinions. I used to keep mine on the cool side, but they were still having problems shedding. So what I have done is put a small heat pad under the humid hide to create humidity. The heat lamp is still on the other side of the enclosure though.

[dave68]

Lisa you need to put your heat sources on the same side of the tank. If you have a heat pad on one side and a heat lamp on the other then you haven't got a proper thermal gradient. You need a cool side and a hot side. You can use a hide on each side but I would suggest only one moist one on the cool side. Too much humidity in the air is not a good thing for leopard geckos. Just a side note, When you notice the stuck on shed you need to make sure you remove all the old skin or it will just keep building up on the toes until it cuts off the circulation and the toe tips will fall off. Hope this helps.

Dave

[Ixidor]

yeah I know the toes fall off, 2 fell off of my male because I was too late, I thought they had just begun to shed and that was really left over. Gecko Mom im curious how you keep your humidity so high, I'm assuming you dont have an aquarium with a screen lid?

[Matt.B]

Actualy humidity that high will cause URI The humidity should be a MAX of 20% you can have like 80% in your hide (if you can get it that high) But they need to be able to get away from the humidity.
Matt

[Ixidor]

matt, leopard geckos come from a desert like climate, (not actually dessert though for those of you sand haters) in the dessert the humidity is always 100%

[LISA127]

I do have a heat gradiant. It is a very small heat pad just under the humid hide. The whole rest of that side is cool. And on the warm side is a low wattage heat lamp. Trust me, I've been keeping leo's for years. This is the only thing that has worked. I agree, the humid hide should be on the cool side. But my leo's are still not able to shed easily that way. Maybe it is because I live in an area where the heat is on most of the year. I'm not sure. I also agree that the rest of the cage should be dry, while the humid hide has a humidity level of approximately 80%.

[LISA127]

Originally posted by Ixidor
matt, leopard geckos come from a desert like climate, (not actually dessert though for those of you sand haters) in the dessert the humidity is always 100%

humidity is 100% in the dessert?

[Matt.B]

What the he** are you talkin about? 100% humidity in the desert? Its not even 100% humidity in the amazon!

[PDDM]

humidity 100%...wow i bet ixidor feels dumb now hehe

[Slannesh]

Ixidor I think you mean closer to 0% humidity :)

100% would be like a rain forest... Or Toronto in August from what I hear ;)

That's always one of my big issues, in the winter the humidity in Edmonton plummets. Last winter it was about 10% in my house at best.

[Matt.B]

I think that an animal wouldnt even be able to survive in 100% humidity because that is water. So I dont know about yours but mine arent aquatic.
Matt

[Ixidor]

well my point was even if i was, very tired, and pretty stupid at that point, the humidity wont affect them to much you can have more than 20 % humidity in the tank its not going to hurt the geckos you could probably have it up to around 50 %

[Ixidor]

http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=31551 read EYESPY's statement, he was the leo mod for awhile

[DragnDrop]

If you read that post very carefully, you'll notice the part about it being 100% for a short time in the mornings. That's the important part. There's very little rain in a desert (less than 10 inches per year by definition of desert). The big reason there's still life there between rainfalls is the morning dew and fog. That short time before the sun rises and burns off the fog, the humidity is at or close to 100%. The rest of the 20+ hours a day it hovers around 20-40%, depending on which desert you're talking about.

Leopards can't live in 100% humidity. That's rainforest conditions, possibly foggy as well, and just one step away from rain.

[geckomom]

Originally posted by Ixidor
Gecko Mom im curious how you keep your humidity so high, I'm assuming you dont have an aquarium with a screen lid?

Ixidor, I don't do anything special to keep that humidity, it's just the ambient humidity in the house, I guess. In the winter with the heat on, the humidity lowers a bit, but our weather's been so mild, I've got all the windows open as much as possible. My gex are in a 29 gal. aquarium with a full-screen top (no glass or anything to hold in humidity). I used to mist occasionally in the winter when the humidity was very low, but don't anymore.

Originally posted by Matt.B
Actualy humidity that high will cause URI The humidity should be a MAX of 20% you can have like 80% in your hide (if you can get it that high) But they need to be able to get away from the humidity.
Matt

40% - 50% humidity can cause URI????? Now I'm really worried, tho none of my gex has shown any signs of illness - but I don't want to keep them in an environment that can cause a potential URI. Matt, what the heck do I do to get the humidity lower? I'm going to be moving my geckos (today, probably) into a larger tank, so I'll be getting a bigger UTH, probably a few more hides, etc. Their current home is a 29 gal. high, do you think that might be part of the problem? The height of the tank keeping humidity in? Going to check my gauges to make sure they're reading right, but they stay pretty consistent.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated :) Thanks.

[DragnDrop]

Geckomom, don't worry about it. 50% humidity all over the enclosure all year long with no escape MIGHT cause problems, but it's not likely. Leopards start having problems if they have no choice but to live in high humidity similar to what's in a humid hidebox. As long as things aren't damp and soggy, they have a warm dry basking/hide area, you'll be okay.
For what it's worth, I don't ever measure the humidity in my leo enclsoures. Not one of them has gotten sick or dropped dead because of it. You can tell if it's too humid just by observing. Sometimes we can get carried away with technology, and the way I see it, this is one of those cases.

[Matt.B]

Like I said if they cant get away from it they will start having problems.
Matt

[geckomom]

Hilde and Matt, thank you both for the info, it's really important to me that I know all opinions and experience on anything relating to my gex.

And...I believe I might have found out what at least part of the problem is...and this is a DUHHHHH!

Over the weekend, I moved my gex from their 29 gal to a 55 gal, and set up a temp and humidity gauge on each side, just as I'd done in the 29. So...after having looked at it for a few days, watched the gex acclimate (they seem to like it :D ) - I just kept staring at those humidity gauges....I've got them stuck to the lower back wall right by the humid hides! See why I said DUH????:eek:

Even went out and bought new ones, thinking the old ones were defective :rolleyes: ...going to stick up one or two more, away from the humid hides, and see what happens. I believe they have (especially now, in the 55 gal) plenty of room to get away from the humidity, I have a good hot/cool gradient, their substrate is never wet or moist, I don't mist them because there seems to be no need....

Think (hope) this was just one of those "slap myself in the head" type bits of goofiness on my part, but thanks to those who educated me a bit more, so I can keep my critters healthier/happier! :)

[DragnDrop]

Been there, done that too :)
If you have those round humidity gauges that stick on, sold for reptiles, be careful. ( I can't recall who makes them). They work well for a few weeks and then start showing inaccurate readings. They 'stick' after a while.

[geckomom]

Originally posted by DragnDrop
Been there, done that too :)
If you have those round humidity gauges that stick on, sold for reptiles, be careful. ( I can't recall who makes them). They work well for a few weeks and then start showing inaccurate readings. They 'stick' after a while.

Glad I'm not the only one - can't figure out why it took me so long to think of the location of the gauges.

I do have the round stick-on ones - since they don't seem too reliable in the long run, any recommendations on gauges that are more dependable?

Thanks :)

[Reptile Kings]

Digital hygrometer. Measures accurately. Got one here, works great. Don't like those round stick on ones at all, very inaccurate.
-Sam

[jjnnbns]

Wal-mart, under $15 for a dual probe thermometer and hygrometer, so you can measure temps at both ends and humidity at cool ends. 3 sticky guages probably cost the same... might as well go with the quality product.

[geckomom]

Originally posted by Reptile Kings
Digital hygrometer. Measures accurately. Got one here, works great. Don't like those round stick on ones at all, very inaccurate.
-Sam

Originally posted by jjnnbns
Wal-mart, under $15 for a dual probe thermometer and hygrometer, so you can measure temps at both ends and humidity at cool ends. 3 sticky guages probably cost the same... might as well go with the quality product.

Thanks for the advice. Will pick something like this up today :)

[Gregg M]

What I do is provide 2 humid hides..... One on the cool and one on the warm...... I have a couple of leos that do not use them so when I see they are about to shed, I spray down the entire cage then change the paper towel after they shed...... Although all the advice given is great I think things can be over done..... You are looking too deep...... Watch your animals not the gauges....