Shedding

Tegus don’t shed in one piece like snakes. They shed one part of their body at a time, which can make it difficult to pinpoint shedding issues.

Scales that are ready to shed are paler than the rest. If this isn’t coming off, resist the temptation to start picking it off yourself. This can be irritating and even painful to the tegu, and can even damage the developing scales beneath. Instead, raise the humidity and provide extra baths. If anything comes loose, you may *gently* pry it off. But stop when you meet resistance!

Consistent trouble with shedding may indicate a chronic humidity or dietary problem. Arcadia makes a cool supplement called EarthPro Shed-Support which can help correct dietary problems. However, if you’re feeding the correct diet, you shouldn’t have problems to begin with. ?

An exception is Argentine red tegus, Salvator rufescens. They are known to need extra help with shedding.

If humidity is the problem, providing a larger water dish and/or mixing water evenly into the substrate can be very effective.

Tegu shedding information (Gold Tegu)

Porkchop” by liz west is licensed under CC BY 2.0


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