And Aloha Sherron ~
Thanks for these details. Please try the humidity chamber near a lamp
for a few hours. Use a wet washcloth that has been wrung out and
place it in the vented, plastic container. Watch the water droplets
form. After only a few hours I imagine her skin might be loose enough
to start a split.
Another idea! Have something like a twig, small branch, or a section
of choya wood --- something rough that she could snuggle up against to
assist in the shed.
I hope the skin shed helps her right leg work more efficiently!
Keep us posted!
Wish I lived near the beach in a place warm enough where geckos roamed
freely ;-]
Elizabeth
Aloha, Elizabeth
She is about 3/4" from nose to vent -- she is the smallest day
gecko hatchling we have ever seen, although some of our mourning
gecko hatchlings are even tinier.
This sounds like it might work! If it would just soften enough to
pull off her or get a split started, I think we could get the neck
skin off. We have been misting her little cage and putting a
heating pad next to it, but that only helps a little and wasn't
keeping the humidity up high enough.
She has never seemed to be able to fully control her right leg,
and her right foot is smaller than her left and the toes kind of
clumped together. She often tends to move the joint and leg
together as a unit, so there may be something wrong with the
joint, too. Although in watching her with the skin problem, some
of that may just be the skin being so tight it restricts her movement.
Usually when we find the hatchlings, most of that first skin has
already been shed, but she was fully covered with it and it has
only recently started splitting. We do think it hinders her use of
her limbs -- her arms are only about the size of thin pencil lead,
and the skin seems to fully coat those.
She has been doing okay up until the last couple of days, though,
when the skin (I hope that it isn't something else, too) started
really becoming a problem. She now gets around by lurching her
body back and forth because her little arms & legs are still
encased in the skin, although it has come off some of the back.
And she is green underneath, not gray!
We haven't ever actually kept any of the geckos before, as they
run all around our house, lanai and garden (Phelsuma laticauda,
house - Hemidactylus frenatus, & Mourning - Lepidodactylus
lugubris). But we had to make an exception in her case, since she
couldn't fend for herself. Usually we just take the hatchlings
outside so they have a better chance of survival -- we have lots
of big geckos running around inside and they don't last long if we
don't get to them first. :(
Mahalo, Sherron
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Hello Sherron ~
Try the humidity chamber trick. I can't view your photos at home
because my laptop is really memory-challenged, so I don't know
how big this gecko is! However, my mourning geckos are 1" 3/8"
at hatching. Try placing your gecko in a *vented* plastic
container with a damp washcloth inside. Place this near a light.
Almost immediately you will notice beads of water accumulate on
the sides/top of the container. After a few hours or so perhaps
you can remove the rings of old skin around her neck gently with
a tweezers or small scissors.
What is the problem with her right leg? Might you have a new pet
here?
Elizabeth
Subj:*[gecko]Question on hatchling Gold Dust Day Gecko having
trouble shedding "egg skin"*
Date:6/1/08 4:16:39 PM Pacific Daylight Time
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Sherron)
Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Reply-to: gecko@lists.gekkota.com <mailto:gecko@lists.gekkota.com>
To: gecko@lists.gekkota.com
We found a tiny hatchling on May 13 that was a little
underdeveloped and was still in that grayish skin they have when
they first come out of the shell. She was dehydrated and has a
problem with her right leg, but is spunky.
We haven't been able to release her outside like we do the rest
of the hatchings we find, as her bad leg has kept her from being
very mobile, but she has been doing pretty well eating tiny bugs
& aphids I collect for her. She has also shown a real interest in
the fruit flies around her papaya, but I don't think she has
managed to catch any yet.
But she started having trouble yesterday and was real cold &
clammy, so we put a heating pad near her cage to help warm her
up. It seems to have started her molting her "egg skin", but she
has a bunch of it around her neck that she can't get off.
Is there anything we can do to help her? She is so tiny we don't
see how we could try to cut it off! The rest of the skin except
for around her neck should slough off okay, but the stuff around
her neck is several layers and is a ring, so it may be another
matter. :(
Any help would be greatly appreciated as she is really a spunky
little girl.
Mahalo, Sherron
-----Original Message-----
From: Gecko <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: gecko@lists.gekkota.com
Sent: Mon, 2 Jun 2008 11:21 am
Subject: Re: [gecko]Question on hatchling Gold Dust Day Gecko having
trouble shedding ...
Aloha, Elizabeth
She is about 3/4" from nose to vent -- she is the smallest day gecko
hatchling we have ever seen, although some of our mourning gecko
hatchlings are even tinier.
This sounds like it might work! If it would just soften enough to
pull off her or get a split started, I think we could get the neck
skin off. We have been misting her little cage and putting a heating
pad next to it, but that only helps a little and wasn't keeping the
humidity up high enough.
She has never seemed to be able to fully control her right leg, and
her right foot is smaller than her left and the toes kind of clumped
together. She often tends to move the joint and leg together as a
unit, so there may be something wrong with the joint, too. Although in
watching her with the skin problem, some of that may just be the skin
being so tight it restricts her movement.
Usually when we find the hatchlings, most of that first skin has
already been shed, but she was fully covered with it and it has only
recently started splitting. We do think it hinders her use of her
limbs -- her arms are only about the size of thin pencil lead, and the
skin seems to fully coat those.
She has been doing okay up until the last couple of days, though, when
the skin (I hope that it isn't something else, too) started really
becoming a problem. She now gets around by lurching her body back and
forth because her little arms & legs are still encased in the skin,
although it has come off some of the back. And she is green
underneath, not gray!
We haven't ever actually kept any of the geckos before, as they run
all around our house, lanai and garden (Phelsuma laticauda, house -
Hemidactylus frenatus, & Mourning - Lepidodactylus lugubris). But we
had to make an exception in her case, since she couldn't fend for
herself. Usually we just take the hatchlings outside so they have a
better chance of survival -- we have lots of big geckos running around
inside and they don't last long if we don't get to them first. :(
Mahalo, Sherron
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Hello Sherron ~
Try the humidity chamber trick. I can't view your photos at home
because my laptop is really memory-challenged, so I don't know how
big this gecko is! However, my mourning geckos are 1" 3/8" at
hatching. Try placing your gecko in a *vented* plastic container
with a damp washcloth inside. Place this near a light. Almost
immediately you will notice beads of water accumulate on the
sides/top of the container. After a few hours or so perhaps you can
remove the rings of old skin around her neck gently with a tweezers
or small scissors.
What is the problem with her right leg? Might you have a new pet here?
Elizabeth
Subj:*[gecko]Question on hatchling Gold Dust Day Gecko having
trouble shedding "egg skin"*
Date:6/1/08 4:16:39 PM Pacific Daylight Time
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Sherron)
Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Reply-to: gecko@lists.gekkota.com <mailto:gecko@lists.gekkota.com>
To: gecko@lists.gekkota.com
We found a tiny hatchling on May 13 that was a little underdeveloped
and was still in that grayish skin they have when they first come out
of the shell. She was dehydrated and has a problem with her right
leg, but is spunky.
We haven't been able to release her outside like we do the rest of
the hatchings we find, as her bad leg has kept her from being very
mobile, but she has been doing pretty well eating tiny bugs & aphids
I collect for her. She has also shown a real interest in the fruit
flies around her papaya, but I don't think she has managed to catch
any yet.
But she started having trouble yesterday and was real cold & clammy,
so we put a heating pad near her cage to help warm her up. It seems
to have started her molting her "egg skin", but she has a bunch of it
around her neck that she can't get off.
Is there anything we can do to help her? She is so tiny we don't see
how we could try to cut it off! The rest of the skin except for
around her neck should slough off okay, but the stuff around her neck
is several layers and is a ring, so it may be another matter. :(
Any help would be greatly appreciated as she is really a spunky
little girl.
Mahalo, Sherron
*
~~~geckos make my heart sing (and dance)~~~
*
l l l
^^ /..\ ^^ /..\ ^^ ^^ /..\ ^^
l l ^^ llll \\\
l l llll ///
l l llll \\\
l l ~~ llll ///
~~ ( ~~ ) ~~ ~~ ( ~~
) ( )
( ) (
) ( )
lappert(a) robert(a) hubert(a)
17.50 yo r.i.p.
r.i.p.
(All */Lepidodactylus lugubris/*!)
**************
Get trade secrets for amazing burgers. Watch "Cooking with Tyler
Florence" on AOL Food.
(http://food.aol.com/tyler-florence?video=4&?NCID=aolfod00030000000002)
--
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gecko aka Sherron, Kailua Kona, Hawaii (on the Big Island of Hawaii)
Homepage: http://hale-pohaku.com/sherron - mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
See our rats: http://hale-pohaku.com/dennis/ratgallery.html
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stay informed, get connected and more with AOL on your phone
<http://mobile.aol.com/productOverview.jsp?productOverview=aol-mobile-overview&?&ncid=aolmbd00030000000139>.
