Help! Possible premature shed

[JonnyDoum]

I feel awful, as I think I may have done a terrible thing. My beardie has had rough time shedding in the past month and a half. I give him a bath every other day and many of the problem areas have begun to come up. One spot that needed attention was the spikes on his cheek. They looked ready to shed a month ago and have been loosening up. Today, after I soaked him, I started to help him shed gently. The spikes started to come off to reveal new ones underneath. After I put him back in his enclosure, I noticed that they were kind of soft. It looks like they weren't ready after all, but it had been over a month and I guess I acted hastily. They didn't come off with difficulty. I put some reptiaid on them to prevent infection. Is there anything else I should do? He seems fine otherwise

 

[Venom508]

as you have probly read on this site its genrally not a good idea to "help" beardies shed no matter how long it takes them,
as you can damage the delicate skin underneath. just make sure you give him nice long soaks in the tub plus its better to help him this way.

also Ryuu is taking longer than normal to shed so i bath him in water up to his shoulders for 20 mins each day
and i put shed ease solution in the water 2 tea spoons to 8 ounces of water.

 

[Ethelia]

Hello there,

How old is your dragon?

It is possible that you encoraged the skin to come off a little early. Its horrid to see them sooooo itchy and not be able to help. I often have to catch myself before I 'help' my monsters. Any kind of picking or peeling is usually going to lead to premature shedding, and should definatly be avoided, but one small patch should not cause him too much upset or discomfort.

In terms of attempting to help your dragons shed there are a couple of tricks that we ARE allowed to do ^_^
First and formost are baths. Baths baths baths! Twice a day if you like.
The warm water really helps to ease the process and moving around in the water often causes the shed to naturally peel away.

My oldest Ruben has two missing legs and has little nubs where they should be. Its a nightmare when he sheds these because the skin is so thick and waxy and takes forever too come off.
In order to help these come away I use a little vitamin E oil massaged into his trouble areas when he is showing signs of shedding (but not during the actual coming-away-from-the-leg bit). Since Ive started using vitamin E Ive seen an improvement in the amount of time it takes him to shed these tough areas.
I use vitamin E gel tablets and just pierce one when I need it.
You must be sure not to put them back under the light until its all rubbed off or dried in though or you can give him nasty sunburn.

Many other members also use baby toothbrushes with very soft bristles during shedding. They gentley massage in circles around the skin, and some members find that their dragons push themselves against it to try to rub the shed off themselves.
Not all dragons enjoy this though. My eldest goes ballistic if he sees the toothbrush, he'll thrash around and soak me head to foot. So be warned!


Holly

 

[Venom508]

is there anything i can do for roo or anything i can give him that may help him shed a bit faster?

any thing i can put on his skin that might help cuz the shed ease isnt doing a whole lot

 

[JonnyDoum]

My beardie is about 3 and a half. He seems to be doing fine, but the spikes are still kind of soft and look wet. I've certainly learned my lesson, it had just seemed like an abnormally long time for him to shed. I had also be told in the past to assist with shedding if it was taking an extremely long amount of time. He does seem ok now though.

 

[Elora]

ahh I know how you feel. Stompy shed his head today and around his eye was coming off and part of his old skin was curled up and sticking into his eye. This caused him to try and get it off himself with his hind foot. I peeled it off for him because I didnt want him to get a sharp claw in his eye! Then I got carried away and peeled off the part around his ear! woops! the skin looks okay and ready under there but i know i shouldnt do that! I had to put him away before i peeled off anymore!

boy is he a little brat when shedding his head! such a grump!