Hasn't finished shedding

[Fortunate]

Hi guys,

I have looked for similar posts but to no avail, so if anyone can help that would be greatly appriciated!
I have a 3 year old male who is healthy and in brumation at the moment!

Anyway at christmas time he started to shed so I bathed him twice a week and after a while he seemed to be taking to long to shed - I brought easy shed and sprayed and massaged him, then I took him for boarded as I was going away, I left the ppl there strict instruction on helping him shed and went on my way (they very responsible and have been breeding beardies for years)

When I got my boy back he had shed a little more but not much, then 2 days later went into brumation (his usual time - mid jan to end april) I never see him except for the once weekly weigh in and bath.

Anyway my question is - He has completed his shed and I am worried there maybe something up - i had a good look at him today and saw the skin is no longer loose around the edges not is it a lighter colour but some of the old skin is still there - is this a problem? what can I do to help him shed? once he is out of brumattion or before then.
just being a paranoid mother

any advice or questions will be appriciated - anything to help my baby.

 

[gulfbrzdawn]

You are not a paranoid mother, but just a concerned one. :wink:
If he does indeed have some shed that still needs to come off and it is starting to look different, I would suggest trying to get it off before allowing him to brumate any further. He may have some retained shed and if left alone it could get worse. Where exactly is the shed that needs to come off?
If it is retained shed and it is not removed it can constrict the blood flow to the area in which it is.
Along with the bathing... have you tried a soft bristled toothbrush? This can help to loosen some of the tough skin.
You can also try 100% aloe vera on the areas. Do not allow your beardie to bask while he has the aloe vera on his skin.
Could you possibly post a pic of the areas you are concerned about?
I'm sure others will chime in with ideas they have used for a stubborn shed.

 

[Fortunate]

I will try the tootbrush and aloe - thanks!

The left over shed is on his back and tail - i am very concerned that the blood flow is being restricted! I will upload a pic of him later (althought hee won't be happy about the wake up call )

I am working at the moment (its 8:30am here) so on my way home i will pick up some supplies and then will take a pic after the aloe cream.

It has been pretty cold here recently (very unusual for this time of year) so I have a feeling he will try brumate for longer - how can i make sure he doesnt go back into brumation mode? Or is it ok if he brumates with the old skin on?

Thanks for your response!

 

[gulfbrzdawn]

Yes, a picture would be great.
If a beardie wants to brumate it is almost impossible to make them stop. The only thing you can do is to treat the retained shed areas daily. He may not like it, but it is necessary. A retained shed can be a very serious problem. A retained shed, like I mentioned, will constrict blood flow. This can lead to the area which is constricted becoming necrotic and dying. Beardies can lose tails, toes, etc.. from a retained shed. This is why it is so important to get the unshed area off.
Do you know what the humidity is in your beardie's enclosure?
If you can post a pic of the areas.. we can see how serious it is.

 

[Fortunate]

You are a genius! when i put a very grumpy beardie in the bath and massaged him with the soft toothbrush little bits of skin started to loosen almost immediatly! Dylan seems to enjoy the brushing so I dont think I will have a grumpy beardie to often - espessially seeing as bath time are not his best times of the week!

I could not fins 100% aloe but I could find Aloe with vitamin E in it. would that work? or should i break a leaf off an aloe plant?

here are the pictures - as you can see the retained shed is orange (residual dye from when there was sand in his viv.) The sand has been replaced by carpets for a while - in the pic the orange looks really bright but in real life it is more dull.
It is quite a big area left and as you can see on his head he is still shedding.

photobucket is not working!
will try again later with the photos! sorry about that!

 

[Fortunate]

here are the pics (finally)

the humidity is usually 50% in the day and 60% at night - we have had tons of rain so its kinda messing with humidity a bit.

 

[gulfbrzdawn]

So you're saying the orange spots are the areas that are in shed? Is all the orange areas stained from the sand? It does look rather bright in the photos.
How long has he had those hard to shed areas?
I'm glad to hear the toothbrush is working to loosen the skin some. That is good!
If the aloe vera has only the vitamin E in it, then it is fine. If it has other ingredients, don't use it. Fresh aloe from a plant would work well though.
I also remembered you can use 100% cocoa butter, which is supposed to work even better than the aloe.
Just keep giving frequent baths(daily) and try the cocoa butter.

 

[Fortunate]

He has been "orange" his whole life. but honestly it is not that bright!

the hard to shed areas have been there since january, but they are loose and feel like his skin, it has just taken a few sheds to get the orange out - i think thats why it looks so scary.
Will see if i can find the cocoa butter - i remember seeing in a few shops.

I now feel like such a bad mommy!

 

[Fortunate]

Cannot for the life of me find 100% aloe or cocoa anywhere! The closest I have found is 97% with vit E.
the other ingredients are - Carbomer, natural fragrances, triethanolamine, imidazolidinyl urea (0,32%), methyl hydroxybenzoate (0,2%) and chloromethylisothiazolone (0,06%)

Is there anything else that can be used?
Sorry to be such a pain in the butt!