Leopard Gecko Shedding and Tail Drop or Injury

In this post, we will discuss shedding, or molting in leopard geckos, how often it happens and how to help your leopard gecko. What is more, we will discuss tail loss or injury in leopard geckos, why they do it and if their tail grows back.

It is important that you know about leopard gecko’s shedding and how to help it. You should also know about a possible tail drop, reasons, how to react and what the first aid is.

Tail drop or injury in leopard geckos and first aid

Why does a leopard gecko drop its tail?

In the wild, a leopard gecko drops its tail to survive when threatened by a predator. While the fallen tail is still moving and distracting a predator, leopard gecko has some time to escape.

Tail might be injured, or it might fall off fully – also called autotomy. Leopard geckos only drop their tail in a life or death situation, so imagine how much stress they are going through.

Your leopard gecko might drop or injure its tail due to different reasons. Some of them are:

• The common reason is grabbing leopard gecko’s tail and pulling it. This activates a defensive response from your leopard gecko. Children and inexperienced handlers are more likely to cause damage.
• Leopard gecko’s tail might also get injured if it gets stuck between terrarium’s doors or other structures.
• Young leopard geckos can get hungry and confuse a moving tail with food.
• Older leopard geckos might bully smaller ones. Separate them if its happens even once.
• Males can also become territorial and bite on each other’s tail.
• Even females can cause stress to each other and drop the tail if threatened. They can also fight – these not only males who do it.
• Illnesses and infections can cause tail drop in leopard geckos. Make sure it is always healthy.
• Improper conditions in the vivarium can stress out a leopard gecko. These can be improper temperatures (too low or too high), humidity levels and so on.

Lost tail = lost nutrients and fat reserve

When a leopard gecko drops its tail, it loses a big amount of fat and nutrient reserve. Leopard geckos use their tail to store nutrients and fat, and losing a part or full tail makes them vulnerable. They will need few months to restore this supply.

What happens when a leopard gecko’s tail is injured or it falls off?

Leopard gecko’s tail has fracture points and muscles that connect the tail with the spine. When a leopard gecko is ready to drop its tail, muscles in the tail contract and the tail falls off. After dropping the tail, a quick constriction of blood vessels happens to minimize any severe bleeding and blood loss.

When breaking, the tail will fall at the fracture point. The fracture points in the tail help save the upper portion of the tail by separating them in ‘parts’.

Do leopard geckos regrow their tail?

Yes, leopard gecko’s tail will grow back, but it won’t be the same. The new regrown tail will be made of different structure supported only by a cartilage. It will also look different – shorter, round in shape and of different color.

How long does it take for a leopard gecko’s tail to grow back?

It will take around 2-2.5 months for a leopard gecko’s regenerated tail to grow back. After 3-4 weeks of loss/injury, the wound should close and the new tail should start growing. This old 2012 picture shows a leopard gecko’s tail regeneration time lapse.

First aid for an injured or dropped tail

There can be two types of tail injury in leopard geckos – losing the part of the tail or losing it fully. In both cases, the tail will be dropped at the fracture point.

• The first thing to do if you have seen your leopard gecko drop its tail is to remove it from the tank if there are any other lizards. If there are no other lizards, just let your leopard gecko calm down for 20 minutes because it will be highly stressed.
• After your leopard gecko calmed down, take it out from the terrarium and examine the tail. Use a towel or cotton bud to disinfect the wound with Betadine antiseptic. You can also use a triple antibiotic ointment, but the without the painkiller.
• Before returning your leopard gecko back to the vivarium, clean it properly to avoid wound infection. Remove any loose substrate, or it will stick to the wound. Replace it with paper towels while the tail is healing.
• Make sure your leopard gecko is alone in the tank. Other geckos will bully the gecko without a tail and cause even more stress.
• Provide your leopard gecko with water, warmth and food. It has to replenish its fat storage. To accelerate the healing process, add some more waxworms or superworms to leopard gecko’s diet. Gut-load the insects and dust them with supplements. Feed the crickets using tongs, because they can run around and bite your leopard gecko’s wound.
• Never miss a meal – your leopard gecko doesn’t have any fat reserve and it needs even more food to bounce back and regrow the tail.
• Keep watching the wound and applying antibiotic ointments until the wound closes and starts to heal. If anything goes wrong and the wound becomes infected, take your leo to the vet.

Leopard gecko molting or skin shedding

Do leopard geckos molt and why? And how often do leopard geckos shed?

Yes, leopard geckos regularly shed and replace their old skin with new. Young leopard geckos tend to shed more often than adults because their body is growing.

Adult leopard geckos shed once in around 5 weeks or more, but it can be as often as every 1-3 weeks for hatchlings and babies.

How do leopard geckos shed? Signs of shedding in leopard geckos.

Leopard geckos shed in a few big pieces, rather than small pieces gradually. You will know your leopard gecko is shedding when its skin become white, pale and discolored. Then, you leopard gecko’s old skin will start peeling off.

Note the white skin that is about to shed

What is more, leopard geckos eat their shedding skin, which is very normal. Most of the times you will not see your leopard gecko shedding or any peeled skin in the terrarium.

It is thought that they eat the shedding skin not to attract any predators or maybe to consume the skin’s nutrients. Either way, you will not need to throw away their skin because they will eat it.

If you can see any uneaten skin in the vivarium, remove it as soon as possible.

How to help your leopard gecko with shedding?

When you start seeing your leopard gecko’s skin becoming duller, you know it will be shedding. You must provide your leopard gecko with a moist hide inside the terrarium.

It should be filled with damp vermiculite or sphagnum moss for extra humidity. Your leopard gecko will be going in that moist hide to hydrate itself. Only use wet paper towels for babies.

While you shouldn’t generally bathe your leopard gecko, you can do it once whenever your leopard gecko is shedding. You can also use shedding products, such as this shedding aid bath formula or shedding aid spray like this.

Where to place a shedding box?

Place your leopard gecko’s shedding box in the warm part of the vivarium. This is because the moist hideout located in the cold spot will be too cold inside and your leopard gecko might get sick or start brumating! Leopard geckos don’t like being cold, either.

Place the moist hideout in the middle of the terrarium. Don’t worry about the basking light evaporating the water inside the box – this will not happen quickly.

Water will condensate on the sides of the hideout and retain the humidity. You can always spray some extra water if needed. The temperature inside the shedding box should be around 83-86 degrees Fahrenheit (28.3-30 degrees Celsius). You can check it with a digital thermometer that has a probe.

Should I help leopard gecko peel its skin?

Don’t peel any skin earlier than 24 hours after the leopard gecko has pulled most of the shedding skin. If your leopard gecko started shedding and it can’t remove all the skin after 24 hours, you can help it.

Any retained skin can constrict the blood flow and cause toe/tail tip necrosis (death), so you need to help remove the skin if needed.

After 24 hours of it pulling off and eating most of the skin, check its toes, tail and head for remaining skin. If you can see any skin between the toes, eyes or around the tail, moisten and rub it slightly to remove.

Make a bath for your leopard gecko and use tweezers or your fingers to slightly peel the skin once it is wet.

Problematic shedding in leopard geckos

Notice a problematic shedding in this leopard gecko that caused eyelid swelling.

As we have discussed, leopard geckos might have trouble shedding their skin. This is not usual if you have provided it with a moist hideout which you fill with vermiculite or other humidity holding substrate.

You can also spray some water in the moist hideout to increase humidity.

If you notice your leopard gecko being lethargic, not eating or pooping properly, this can indicate health issues such as parasites. Also make sure to provide vitamins (A and E are vitamins for skin), minerals and basking lights.