Dear Dr. Baum —
Dr. B, my gecko lady is shedding skin, has broken limbs! Last night, and this morning when I woke up, I saw that there was skin wrapped tightly around both of her back legs. When I peeled the skin off and observed the gecko she was walking with only her front legs and dragging her back legs and tail.
Camryn, Owings Mills, Maryland.
Dear Camryn:
There are two possibilities, both related to the shedding. In one case, if the skin wrapped around the hind legs and caused a constriction of the blood vessels — in the way that a tourniquet does — the part of the limb distal to the obstruction would die off due to lack of circulation. The affected part would be cold and limp.
In scenario two, in an attempt to complete the shedding process, she might have injured herself. Whether the writhing movements were so forceful to damage the bones or whether the bones themselves were weak due to metabolic bone disease (calcium deficiencies) would need to be determined.
Dr. B