Difficulty shedding

[Lemonpie]

Kratos almost finished shedding about 3 days ago but the last 3 inches of his tail won't shed & I don't want any issues with tail rot. I have been bathing him and the humidity is normally around 40-50% in his enclosure. Is there any lotion or something I can use to help his tail shed? Its starting to look darker & I want the skin off! Would gently rubbing sand paper on it be a bad idea?

 

[gilliesexotics]

Hi, can you post picture of this? Generally the area about to shed is dull and typically a transparent off white color. Im wondering if the dark area you are seeing is just normal tail coloring. Some tails will have a section towards the tip that is a shade darker than the rest of the tail.

If the rest of his body shed and this is an area that still has to shed. I would not do anything more than what you normally do. I wouldnt worry about raising humidity. Your baths a couple times a week and proper husbandry will allow for him to do this naturally.

Retained shed takes quite a long time before it starts to cut circulation off where it is "stuck". What i mean by long time, it generally takes multiple sheds after this shed. However it does depend on how fast the dragon grows between sheds. As the dragon is getting arger the retained skin is staying the size the dragon was previously.

I know "You" want it off but please be patient. Let him release "His" skin naturally

IF this is retained shed and you must have it off. Typically a long soak of about 15 - 30 minutes does the trick. Another way, You can apply mineral oil on the area. Shed skin is basically dehydrated skin. The attempt here is to apply a moist agent to sort of rehydrate the skin consistently over a period of time.

 

[Lemonpie]

I'll post a pic when he is awake. His whole tail turned white then shed up until the last 3 inches which is now slightly darker than the rest and you can see where it stopped. What kind of mineral oil would work?

 

[Germ]

Please post pics, but my initial reaction is that you are unnecessarily concerned from what you have posted so far ...

 

[Lemonpie]

I am probably over concerned. I just don't want anything to happen to his beautiful tail! I gave him another bath today. Here are some pics of where the old shed ended and the darker area begins.

 

[gilliesexotics]

Hi, the area looks opaque to me and if i had to give you my best judgement i would say this area is going to shed soon. Again i wouldnt do anything out of the ordinary just yet. For what ever reason they sometimes will shed a particular spot or area either faster or slower than the rest.

 

[Germ]

I also do not see cause for concern

 

[Lemonpie]

Thanks for your input! I'm a lot less worried now!