She went pale and greyish about four days ago, hid almost the whole time, and would not look at food. This morning the colour is back and she is out and about, so I assume she has shed, although I cannot find the skin anywhere in the tank.
Do I feed her today or give her another day? And is the missing skin something I should be worried about, because I have looked everywhere for it.
Feed her today. Most geckos are hungry again within a day or two of finishing, and the pale phase you watched is exactly why she went off food in the first place. Shedding costs energy and they are not interested until it is done.
The missing skin is the easy half. She ate it. Almost all of them do, and the usual explanations are recovering the nutrients and not leaving a trail behind. It is not a meal, so it does not change your answer, but it is not a mystery either.
That is a relief and slightly revolting. Anything I should check before I put food in?
Her toes, every single time. Stuck shed round a toe tightens as it dries and cuts the blood off, and you can lose the toe. Check the tail tip and round the eyes too. Takes fifteen seconds and it is the one thing in this hobby I am actually dogmatic about.
If she refuses today, just offer again on the next feeding day. One refusal after a shed is nothing.
Come back to the thread if the pattern repeats, because repeat stuck sheds are a husbandry signal rather than bad luck. Usually humidity, sometimes a warm side that has drifted cool.
The other thing to watch for is her still refusing food well after the shed is finished, especially alongside weight coming off or a tail that is thinning. That is not shed behaviour any more. A humid hide, a proper gradient and a weekly weight in grams prevents most of this, and the weight is what tells you which problem you have.
@weigh_it_sunday · 4w ago
If you do find anything stuck, raise the humidity in the humid hide first with damp moss or damp paper towel and give it a day. A short shallow lukewarm soak, a few minutes, water no higher than her shoulders, is the next step, then a gentle rub with a damp cotton bud.
Do not pull at it. If a piece will not come away, or a toe looks swollen or dark, that is a vet rather than another soak.
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