Shedding issues

[rorisms]

Hi Y'all, I'm pretty new to this forum and have had my northern blue since she was a baby (~6mo). I've always kept her humidity rather low as I was told higher than ~20% could give her mold/nasties in her scales. Lately she's been having some trouble shedding, so i raised it to 20 /25, but she's still having issues getting shed off her toes. A few weeks ago I saw one of her back toes turning dark, so I realized what was going on and soaked her feet for a bit before taking the shed off all her back toes with some q-tips. Her toes are looking better, but she just shed again and is already having the same problem, this time with her front toes but she gets really squirmy if I try to mess with them. Should I leave her alone and just keep it humid, help her out again, or take her to the vet? I just don't want this to keep happening because I don't want her to be uncomfy or loose toes.

Some info on her just in case - she's in ~a 2' x 4' cage, a mix of aspen and now coconut to keep up the humidity, her warm side is ~95/100F with the cool around 80F. She has a big basking spot and a hide in the back that goes all the way from the warm side to the cool side(though she usually stays at the warm).

Thank you so much for any information that you can provide, I'm new to reptiles but I want her to have her best life possible.

[splashy07]

I was told the same thing when I began keeping Northerns. Had the same shedding issues, even with a large water bowl. (one if my big girls actually soaks in it when a shed is imminent!) I have since switched over to repti-bark or coco-husk, or a mixture of the two and have no more issues. I have also changed over to completely enclosed PVC type cages (no top screen). The humidity in the cages hovers between 40-60 depending on the time of year and absolutely no more issues with shedding. I think most of us keep our skinks way too dry, obviously if there is stuck-on shed, and assistance is needed. The Northern Territory is quite large, and not all of it is desert. Who knows what area our skinks originated from.

[splashy07]

Oh, and about the toes, I used to let mine stand in lukewarm water until the skin softened enough for me to get it off without too much stress.