Not shedding

[kelii]

About two weeks ago my dragon shed the skin around his lips. That's usually the first part of that sheds. I noticed he was having problems and part of it was retained and I had had to help it off with soakings. Now the rest of him over the past two weeks has been very pale looking like it's the first stages of shed, and on of his legs looks likes it's almost ready to shed, but nothing will happen. I've been soaking him every other day, and I've been encouraging him to eat greens and drink water to stay hydrated but he won't do either. He just sits around,sulking, and acting as though he's in a bad mood. He doesn't have much intrest in food unless it's his roaches. I'm guess it's because of his shed. Is there anything else I can do? What could be causing this? Half of his tail is dark too. Before this shedding problem started it was normal.

 

[destiny1998]

Hi. Completely normal. Mine are like that sometimes for a month before the skin comes off.

 

[Goonie]

As they get older, the shedding does become more of a chore for them, in that it'd take longer for the skin to actually lift from the body. As long as you're keeping up with the soaks, he should be ok.

I can't see any coloring difference in his tail. It all looks normal to me.

 

[kelii]

I got his tail wet so you could see the color difference through the hazy skin a little better.

 

[Goonie]

I zoomed in on the last photo and his tail looks normal to me. It does look like the very beginnings of a shed though.

Would he allow you to soak him every day, instead of every other day?

 

[kelii]

He would allow me, but he wouldn't be happy. Would that help a lot? I did consider that, but I was concerned about giving him a respiratory infection.

The shed on his foot hasn't changed at all. It's been almost a month and he's just in a state of hazy pre-shed limbo. Poor guy

 

[Goonie]

If the foot had been in pre-shed for a month, then yes, definitely soak him every day; twice a day if you have the time.

Don't worry about giving him a respiratory infection as long as he doesn't dunk himself under and gets to bask and dry off properly.

 

[kelii]

Thanks! He's going to hate me, but I'll try it.

 

[Goonie]

Thanks! He's going to hate me, but I'll try it.

If you give him lots of snuggles afterwards, maybe he'll forgive you :wink:

 

[kelii]

I always cuddles him in the towel while he gives me the evilest stink eye :lol:

He already had a bath first thing this morning and then a big bowl of roaches to make everything all better

 

[kelii]

I've been soaking, but the skin is still not coming off the foot or tail. Instead, it's turning a dark brown color. Is it getting worse?

 

[AHBD]

Hi there, that's a great looking beardie ! I just wanted to put your mind at ease, that like was mentioned some older [ or mature ] dragons will take a long time to shed parts of their body. There is really nothing to worry about. I have had beardies for 20 years, and never had an irregular shed that didn't come off on it's own, and that's without daily soaking . Sometimes you can just spritz a light spray [ just on the dragon, not the entire tank ] while they're in the tank and that's just to create a little bit of extra humidity for a short time which helps if your humidity is low. Be careful about holding a beardie after a soak....even if they are wrapped in a towel, they can't generate their own heat like a mammal can, so it's just as cold in a towel as anywhere else in the room. Beardies are best put back under the heat lamp to dry completely + warm up. After a while then you can snuggle. I wanted to mention, too that now is the time to cut back on the large amounts of insects. There are really a lot of overweight beardies and it can be a health issue just like being too thin. But I just wanted to reassure you that the long standing shed in an adult is almost never a real problem, it will come off.