New geckos - shedding help? Pictures!

[ChickenWisperer]

Brought home my new leo's on 11/11/11. I know that was awhile ago, but I wanted to give them some time to settle in before I stressed them with handling They are the first reptiles I've owned (well, I had turtles for like a week but that doesn't count because they weren't by choice - they were rescues!) and I absolutely love them. They're gaining some weight now that I have them on gut loaded mealworms/waxworms. I know most people recommend crickets but I don't prefer them. They've both had a shed since they've been home - that was cool to watch!

The female, Kalani ("heavenly girl" in Hawaiian) is either a regular or a mack snow - she's super sweet. I love getting her out and letting her hang out while warming up on me. She's just so mellow, such a great girl. She does have residual skin leftover on her toes from previous sheds, the previous owners didn't have a moist hide/place for her. I don't know how to get this off of her (if I can) before it cuts off the circulation and they fall off. She's already missing a few toes. Anyone know what to do? The picture is very over saturated - in normal lighting she's got a lavender and very pale yellow color, really pretty.

The jungle pattern boy doesn't have a name yet - still working on it. He's a good boy, but is definitely a suicide jumper. I'm trying to socialize him more to try to help with that

Just gently picking him up, letting him walk though my hands in the cage, then letting him down. If he stands still I'll pet him, don't chase him when he walks away. Today was the first day I had the courage to take him out!

 

[redhen]

Very pretty!!!

 

[9Catsz]

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Mealworms and waxworms are a perfectly fine diet for your leos. Many, many of the major breeders of leos feed only mealworms. They're easily kept, don't smell and live 1000X longer than a cricket. For a treat, you could give them 6 or 8 crickets once a week or so.

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Did you know that the first Mack snows that were produced sold for around $20,000? .... each!

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Put some really moist dirt, moss or paper towel, etc. in a container with a lid (so she cannot get out) and put her in the container over night. You can put the container back in her tank so she doesn't get chilled. The shed skin should be loose enough that in the morning you can easily peel the skin from her toes. If the skin doesn't come off easily, put her back in the moist container until you can easily remove the skin.

 

[TucsonAZ]

I bred reptiles as my only source of income for 3 years, I almost miss it! You think chickens are a waiting game, haaa! I loved the Leos, such beautiful animals, I fed mine meal worms as well, I tended to buy 1,000 and breed them, I did the same with crickets, I could get away with skipping an order or two at a time by doing it that way.

For snakes I always put them in a pillow case in a shallow pan of warm water for a couple hours. For the gecko 9Catsz has the idea, just get em walking around in something moist like sand, paper towel, an actual towel, if you have some outdoor grass that would work well as it is textured.

Good luck!

 

[ChickenWisperer]

I'd read that most large scale breeders do and that in the studies of longevity, those eating mealworms were the ones that lived longer.

Wow! No I did not. But I got to looking at some of the morphs, and got particularly interested in the black pearl. (Why I'm not sure as I can't even tell all the common morphs apart just yet). Sheesh, talk about expensive geckos!

Should I be worried about her suffocating in the bowl?

TusconAZ, how'd you breed the mealworms? Can you breed the waxworms too?

 

[9Catsz]

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I use the standard containers you buy/sell reptiles in, they have air holes. If you don't have those, you can simply punch air holes in any cheap plastic container and use that.

 

[9Catsz]

Quote:
I'm not TusconAZ, but you can go to this thread and learn all about mealworm farming: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=492636

 

[ChickenWisperer]

Yeah, I was the idiot sitting here saying "gee, I think she'd like some fresh air..."

Thanks for the link!