Charley Is Shedding--Truly Grateful Series

Charley, my son's pet lizard, is shedding again. Leopard gecko lizards shed their skins every two to five weeks, depending on their rate of growth. They then eat the discarded skin. (Ewww!)

The first four photos here were taken yesterday. The rest were taken today.




You can see he has gotten some large pieces of the skin off, but still there remains some on his head, tail, and feet.

He keeps crawling through his drinking water bowl to moisten himself because that makes the skin come off easier. You can see where he has splashed the water out into the sand. He left a piece of the skin hanging on to the edge of his water bowl, I see. (Ewww!)

At this point, he looks a bit like he is wearing a hood over his head and gloves or mittens or socks on his little feet.

While I was taking these pictures, he kept rubbing his head against the side of the glass aquarium and against the upside-down flower pot/cave that he likes to sleep under in an attempt to rub some more of the skin off of him.

I would think it must be quite itchy for him, but I do not know.

These last two photos were taken tonight. As you can see he now has almost all of the old white skin off of him. His skin underneath looks fresh and new and brightly colored. He has already eaten almost all of the old skin too. (Although I see he still has one piece hanging off the side of his water dish. Ewww!)

Lord, for the fact that I am not a lizard, and that I do not have to eat a diet that consists entirely of crickets, dead skin, and water, (Ewww!) let me be truly grateful.