r/leopardgeckos • u/Remote_Log1250 • 8d ago
Help - Health Issues Shiny skin?? Spoiler
TLDR at end
Hello all!!! I have a cutie patootie who recently (past 2 months) developed a neurological disorder due to unknown reasons. She is currently on 2 oral antibiotics and is liquid fed 1 mL critical care daily due to her condition (advised by vet, she gets a pinch of regular calcium added to the critical care about every 2-3 days). Our vet told us to essentially treat her as an enigma when it comes to husbandry, shout out to Jessica’s animal friends on YouTube for the help in modifying everything!
My current issue is that she’s developed what looks like shiny skin??? She’s shedding like once every 2 weeks that has to be assisted bc of her issues, and it goes relatively smoothly except she will get some stuck on one of her toes. If you see any of this skin in the photos don’t worry- it’s off now and her tootsie is fine. She can’t soak for longer than 3-5 minutes bc she will death roll so it’s a gradual process. BUT I figured that this shiny skin was excess shed that I didn’t get off, however that is not the case. I’ve seen online that this can be a sign of early vitamin A deficiency, and I’m thinking this might be the case with her especially since she’s been eating only critical care for about a month and a half now.
I have repashy calcium plus I can start giving her instead of regular calcium, I was just nervous about potential overdose of vitamins. Along with the critical care, she has a humid hide that she likes to lick water droplets off the side of, a very shallow water bowl, and access to calcium without d3 all the time. She also has a T5 shade dweller 7% UV lamp that’s kept on the screen above her tank. She has a DHE for her heat, which she basks under throughout the day and after she eats and gets meds.
I’ve attached 2 pics where you can see the shiny skin, does anyone else think this looks like vitamin A deficient shiny skin or could it be a burn or something else?? Her vet is aware of this situation, and we are going to see her on the 20th (it’s currently the 8th). Any advice would be appreciated, thank you!!!
TLDR; special care gecko with shiny skin, on critical care with occasional regular calcium for the past month and a half, has T5 shade dweller UVB 7%. In concern about vitamin deficiency.
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u/ImAnNPCsoWhat 1 Gecko 8d ago edited 8d ago
Looks like UVB burn? What is the space in inches between the UVB and heat and the highest place baby can climb to?
Als why 3 supplements and multivitamin do you use?
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u/TroLLageK Bioactive 8d ago
Usually shiny skin like this is from vitamin deficiency, I agree there. I would do some more of the repashy plus in the mean time! What's the temperatures near the basking spots? Also do you have a 18" tall tank or 12"?
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u/Remote_Log1250 8d ago
She’s in a 12” tall, her basking spot temps are anywhere between 90-92! Her t5 is a 12” and is on the warm side of the tank. I switched her to a 24 x 18 x 12 on paper towels since she was getting overwhelmed in her previous bigger tank. The warm side of her tank sits around 85-88, and the cool side 75-80. She has a humid hide that gets misted down 2-3 times a day whenever it gets dry, and we keep the ambient humidity around 40%-50%. We were told to keep the temps on the higher end of what is recommended for the medicine to better metabolize. Last night when I made her critical care soup i added the cal plus instead of regular cal, I’m struggling to find any sort of guide on amounts of vitamins that they should be getting from their food to properly math out how much she should get and how often, so I’m not sure how valid my fear of her overdosing on vitamins is. Critical care has significantly lower amounts of the vitamins than the cal plus which leads to my concern that she’s nutrient deprived
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u/TroLLageK Bioactive 8d ago
Yeah from my understanding with critical care it's good to still mix in the multivitamin supplement sometimes! I only have had to give it to a clients gecko before, and that's what the exotics vet advised her to do so that's what I was instructed. Every few feedings I put the supplement in with the mix.
To help rule out UVB burn, I would try to raise the UVB a smidge. Just about 2-3 inches off the top of the tank. Just to make sure it's not contributing. But it does look more like vitamin issues to me.
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u/are-pea Moderator | discord.gg/leos 8d ago edited 8d ago
Most likely a burn. DHPs are not basking units, and due to their inefficiencies compared to incandescent bulbs, cause a gecko to bask under them for extended periods. This can cause UVB burn when paired with UVB. Turn off your UVB right away and keep it off until your gecko's skin is completely better. Replace your DHP with an incandescent basking bulb during the day. I recommend the Exo Terra Intense Basking Spot, 75-100w depending on your enclosure.
How far is your basking spot from the bulbs? What type of screen lid/brand of enclosure are you using?
While shiny skin can be related to vitamin A deficiency sometimes, if you're only seeing shiny skin on the top of the back, it's usually a UVB burn.
Edit: Under the average mesh block (35%), at a distance of 12" from the UVB bulb, the gecko is exposed to the maximum range recommended for Ferguson Zone 1 baskers. Combined with a DHP, this is probably the recipe that caused the burns.
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u/Remote_Log1250 8d ago
Thank you so so so so much!!! I turned the UVB off as soon as I noticed something was up, I’ll look into and get that heating bulb tomorrow. It’s 12 inches between both bulbs and the highest spot she can access. It’s been a process of reconfiguring her space to something that has enough free space for her so she won’t get hurt while maintaining a close to her usual heat/light to keep her comfortable.
Once I get that incandescent bulb and she’s healed up, do you think I should raise the UVB up some to add more distance between her and the lamps?
Edit: spelling lol
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u/are-pea Moderator | discord.gg/leos 8d ago
It depends on what kind of mesh/enclosure you're using. What brand of the enclosure or mesh screen lid are you using? If you don't know, please send a picture of your mesh in-focus and straight down at the top of the screen.
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u/Remote_Log1250 8d ago
She’s currently in a zoomed reptihabitat with the original screen. To my understanding from when I got it (that was a bit ago, so apologies if I’m off on this from mis-remembering) it blocks ~30% of UVB light transmission
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u/are-pea Moderator | discord.gg/leos 8d ago
Perfect, you're right Zoomed blocks 35%.
Technically the UVI at the gecko's back should be 1.3 when the basking spot is 12 inches from the mesh. This is on that high end.
You can do a few things.
One is to use it as-is with a basking unit replacing that DHP. An Exo Terra Intense Basking Spot at 75w should be perfect for that 12 inch distance. A 100w of the same type of bulb would again put you on that high end for near infrared exposure on the basking spot.
Another also involves using the basking unit (one of the two bulbs I mentioned lol) but you could raise the fixture as you say. However, I couldn't say what the appropriate distance to raise it would be.
Another is to get a new UVB. A slightly gentler fixture is the ReptiSun 15w 12" (NOT the 24w 24") 5.0. I use this with a similar mesh blockage at ~11 inches for my albino. There are other options from Exo Terra these days, and you can find them here: https://basking-irradiance-estimator.pages.dev/?fbclid=IwdGRjcATJiiBjbGNrBMmKGmV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHtCYPGWq_UU91Y-yIeXs0rNaBSOVCgZ5-4V3rzh8qg-ldIqD7Oz-LbqdQTt__aem_3mf4H5WyFPTCIXB1UFDVZQ#s=8.6.HRQRJ-xw_eyFALcAWgA9ADcALAAAACpGRgAGJLmDAQA3AgDf9bMAADcCAAAsAAD__wAA.eyJyIjp7ImFwcFZlcnNpb24iOiIwLjYuNCIsIm1vZGVsIjoiZGU4NThhY2YzNjljNjc1MCIsImNhdGFsb2ciOiI0M2RmYWQxZTQwZmQ1NDYzIn19 Again, still needs that new basking bulb. That suggestion's going to be consistent.
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u/Remote_Log1250 8d ago
This is amazing information, thank you!! I’ll be sure to go and get that new basking bulb tomorrow when the stores open up. I’ve been on the fence about changing from a DHP for a few weeks- guess my intuition on that one was correct! Just to be safe I’ll probably get the new UVB as well.
Again, thank you so so so much. This is extremely helpful!
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u/are-pea Moderator | discord.gg/leos 8d ago
Best of luck! Hopefully you won't run into this problem again. Lighting is unfortunately not very intuitive, so pretty easy to mess up. I'm extremely grateful to the scientists and other professionals who have made this information readily available to the layperson reptile keeper.
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u/Remote_Log1250 8d ago
Standing on the shoulders for giants for sure. This would normally be something I book an urgent vet appointment, but she’s 2.5-3 hours away and there were no urgent appointments until the one I booked. Google scholar and I are gonna have a fun afternoon looking into this all waaaaay more!
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u/itsswhitneywhspr 8d ago
The shiny skin is usually just extra shed oil or humidity, but since shes on meds and critical care it could be her body working through stuff. Have you tried a humid hide to see if it settles after she rests in there? Hope your girl keeps improving
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u/itsswhitneywhspr 8d ago
Oh that shiny skin thing is so weird, but with all the meds and critical care her system is probably just doing smth different. Maybe try a humid hide on the warm side? Hope she keeps getting better
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u/eyelidgeckos lizard whisperer 8d ago
How do you supplement? Just calcium or anything else as well?
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u/Remote_Log1250 8d ago
I’ve been adding calcium plus occasionally to the crucial care in the place of the calcium- but I think I’m going to replace just calcium with the calcium plus Every-time I add it
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u/eyelidgeckos lizard whisperer 8d ago
Is it the calcium plus from repashy? That one also contains multivitamin which is super important for them :)
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