Retained shed. How do you know?

[stinkyskinky]

We've had our skink since Christmas. He's shed once for us, about 3 weeks ago. I know all the tits came off, because there were 4 little glove sheds. I helped him with the shed on the top of the head. His tail tip took a few extra days, but I know it came off. I thought we were all good.

This morning after he ate, I was wiping his face off and the scale on the very tip of his nose started coming off. I was shocked. I gently rubbed it off with a wet paper towel.

I feel aweful that he's had this retained shed for so long. We have him out daily, and just had mo idea there was a stuck shed.

How do you know? Any advice on how to avoid this in the future is greatly appreciated!

Becca

[stinkyskinky]

Oh goodness, "tits" was supposed to be toes! Im sorry, i'm writing from my phone!

[Linnea]

As long as the shed isnt stuck on toes and tailtip, its completely okay to have a little piece retained somewhere. its not dangerous at all, and very normal. if your skink had however had lots of pieces that still were stuck, even if it wasnt on toes and tailtips id be more careful with next shed.

the nose bit can sometimes be quicker/slower to come off, ive noticed.

if your skink ever has a bad shed, say, during winter when humidity lowers so much, it will be very noticeable that some scales are dark/creamy coloured in comparison to the others.

shed on toes and tailtip usually is easiest to see when they finish shedding the first day, say, in the evening, then the little line between old and new is still very visible. can be a little hard to see sometimes though, but run your nail carefully along the scale direction of the tail and youll see if theres anything that is loose. kinda like how you look for the end of the tape roll but more carefully.

oh, and the small pieces of retained shed, if theyre really stuck, but not in a bad place, theyll come off with the next shed

[Katydid11]

A few flat stuck scales are not harmful to a skink. He likely didn't even notice the stuck scale. Problems generally arise when retained shed is in area where it is constricting growth or blood flow...toes, tail tip or shed stuck in intact "bands" around the tail, or if scales are retained and raised near the mouth, allowing for food and bacteria to collect (which generally takes months (or years) to become a problem). As long as those areas are shedding cleanly he should be fine.

Unless shed is stuck in a concerning place I find it is best to leave my skinks alone rather than pick at them too much. My skinks have several rough textured hide spots and will often remove their own retained scales by rubbing them off. Usually old scales become slightly different in color from new ones surrounding them.

[Spindown]

My first skink (a WC indo) had several stuck scales on his head when we got him, did him no harm at all. You can see that stuck scales are usually darker than the fresh skin.

[stinkyskinky]

Thanks so much! I feel a lot better.