Thursday, August 02, 2018

Grandis Day Gecko shedding

For those who have not seen this miracle of nature, Mr Fatty the Day Gecko is shedding. Geckos shed their skin in more-or-less one piece. They can't just shrug it off like a snake, because they've got legs (and they know how to use them), but they let the old, dry skin split and get as much off in one piece as they can. Fatty's a bit old and sluggish nowadays and sometimes gets a bit of stuck shed we have to work on together the next day. Generally speaking though, he goes from dull green to white to bright green in a few hours like a proper lizard.

The head skin peels back first, presumably because that ensures they can breathe and see for the duration.  The rest of the skin is loose from the body but doesn't spring away like the head. It peels away more slowly, and in the case of the tail end (and sometimes the femoral pores and toes) the lizard needs to chew the last bits away.

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Yes, his substrate's brown. It's just compost tea from the organic soil in his planties. Ignore it.

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