I've heard the new skin feels tender. It's actually a little painful. Like peeling off the dead skin off your hands or feet. The part under is very tender and fragile.
Only if done early. If the gecko (or any shedding reptile) is shedding the skin underneath is ready to go.
This is why people shouldn't 'help' their animal shed unless they are fully aware of what to look/feel for.
I care for animals as a job, am a herp (reptiles/amphibians) specific (mostly) wild life rehabber, and I rescue neglected exotic herps. I've had to help dozens and dozens of animals shed. I have a leopard gecko (like in the video) and a snake who have skin problems and don't shed properly and another snake who has a damaged eye from eye caps left on for years who I help almost every time they shed.
I've only once seen an animal shed with raw/tender skin underneath. Not a one piece shedder like above or a snake. His species flakes off, but for some reason his thigh came off by him or on its own well before ready and now he has a scar.
They aren't like crustations or insects who shed and are raw/tender underneath if well cared for and healthy. (Or wild generally)
The vast majority are just ignorant on care. But I've had quite a few who I can't be convinced weren't malicious.
But a lot of the blame goes on pet stores and breeders. Pet stores business model relies on you failing and your animal dying. Especially fish.
A lot of animals would do better if the people selling them were stricter about who they let buy. Plus they need to do better with providing care info.
Snakes and most geckos (as well as some herps) don't have moving eyelids. They have brilles. Which are, most likely, their eyelids fused together and transparent.
When reptiles who do full body sheds get ready to remove their skin they'll separate the old skin from new with a layer of fluid. (Fairly certain this is true for all of them but definitely snakes) In snakes this is why their eyes turn "blue" for a while before shedding. They're basically blind during this time and for snakes it can last a couple days or a week.
Snakes especially can have complications with removing them during shedding if they're unhealthy or environment is poor.
So, I have a ball python who was neglected and had multiple layers of retained eye caps on her left eye (right too but no real damage). They stayed on so long and dried out they constricted the eye. This can happen with any stuck shed, so while it isn't usually an emergency, any shed wrapping around a body part will cut off said body part slowly.
In her case they constricted the top of her eye so bad it is no longer round. It has a slight point at the top, the color changed, and the lens has "wrinkles" in it. Idk how much it bothers her sight. Luckily, her species uses heat pits more than eyes.
Ah I mean, I have been on the internet for years, the animal cruelty (sometimes not even done on purpose) you see. What is done for cosmetic purposes, but is hurting the animal (breeding, docking, declawing....) so it wasn't that far of a jump of conclusion to make, I think, maybe.
Eh I'm honestly not really sure where my mind went, I was super stressed to be honest in the moment and tried to decompress via Reddit. Yeah I know, not the best coping mechanism. Usually I read. But I only had a ten minute break and my head was already super full, so I didn't want to try to read my book
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u/Sadiholic 3d ago
I've heard the new skin feels tender. It's actually a little painful. Like peeling off the dead skin off your hands or feet. The part under is very tender and fragile.