Climbing Glass

[CrestedLens]

Hi, my crested gecko seems to climb fine, and stick well.

However,i know someone with a crested who when climbs glass...she sort of slides down, she only sticks if she runs quickly up the glass. If she tries walking the glass she slides down even if moving her legs rather quick.

Is this normal?
has she got problems with her pads?

Thanks!

[Jaybee]

Might be that the glass has some dust or other debris on it, or the gecko could have some little shed remaining on its lamellae.

[CrestedLens]

Might be that the glass has some dust or other debris on it, or the gecko could have some little shed remaining on its lamellae.

I see, as far as we know the glass is clean of dust and such. And the geckos pads are clean of shed, her nails have abit of shed attatched, but thats it.

Shes a Harlequin Pinstrip crested gecko, and she is 4 years old...she has always been kept in a plastic enclosure, which she had no problems with. When she grown to big for it, she was moved into a glass vivarium, which now she slowly slides down when climbing the sides.

Any other ideas?

[Jaybee]

If there's stuck shed around the nails, there could be stuck shed on the lamellae that you just can't see. Also, misting some kinds of water in a glass enclosure can leave a residue on the glass that can be invisible to the eye.

She could be coming up on a shed soon. Sometimes geckos lose the ability to stick for a few days prior to a shed. Or she could have walked in something.

Unless you're seeing other problems in the gecko's health and it can stick to nothing (including cage furniture, not just the glass), I would not be overly concerned.

[CrestedLens]

She has no other health issues, and she does stick to other things such as the cage furniture, its just the glass she has a problem with.

She climbs trailing plants that are in her enclosure including a live Pothos.
She climbs a huge branch she has in there too, and she also has a few other things in her cage and she grips and climbs them wonderful! jumping from thing to thing.

Just the glass, is this something to be worried about?

[Jaybee]

Inability to stick to anything could be a potential sign of early MBD. Since you said that is not the case, I reiterate:


Unless you're seeing other problems in the gecko's health and it can stick to nothing (including cage furniture, not just the glass), I would not be overly concerned.

[CrestedLens]

oh right, thanks!

[aschnell]

Our lab does nothing but look at how geckos stick to stuff, and believe me there are plenty of times when they just don't stick for some reason or another. Technically the only surface that geckos can't stick to is Teflon, but that's specifically designed to resist Van Der Waals forces, which are what allow geckos to stick to things. There are things that geckos stick to better than others though thats for sure. Glass is usually great for geckos to stick to (when it's clean). If the glass hasn't been cleaned throughly in a while there are probably micro particles built up on the glass which make it difficult for the spatulae (the smallest of the hairs on the bottom of a gecko foot) to penetrate and bond with the surface at a molecular level.

In short, clean the glass. If that doesn't work don't worry too much, my cresteds are constantly changing in terms of their ability to stick to things. There might be microscopic pieces of skin stuck to the lamellae that you can't see, and having said that, putting the gecko in the sauna every couple of days for about a week seems to help a bunch in terms of their ability to stick to stuff.

Good luck!

[CrestedLens]

Our lab does nothing but look at how geckos stick to stuff, and believe me there are plenty of times when they just don't stick for some reason or another. Technically the only surface that geckos can't stick to is Teflon, but that's specifically designed to resist Van Der Waals forces, which are what allow geckos to stick to things. There are things that geckos stick to better than others though thats for sure. Glass is usually great for geckos to stick to (when it's clean). If the glass hasn't been cleaned throughly in a while there are probably micro particles built up on the glass which make it difficult for the spatulae (the smallest of the hairs on the bottom of a gecko foot) to penetrate and bond with the surface at a molecular level.

In short, clean the glass. If that doesn't work don't worry too much, my cresteds are constantly changing in terms of their ability to stick to things. There might be microscopic pieces of skin stuck to the lamellae that you can't see, and having said that, putting the gecko in the sauna every couple of days for about a week seems to help a bunch in terms of their ability to stick to stuff.

Good luck!

How does this "Sauna" work?

My crested gecko has some shedding stuck to his claws and the tips of his toes - mind you doesn't stop him sticking \\:D/ i love watching him climb the glass.

[Jaybee]

"Sauna":

*Take a Tupperware cup large enough for the gecko to sit in
*Put a paper towel at the bottom
*Put lukewarm (never hot so you do not scald, not quite cold) water into the bottom of the container about 2-3 mm deep
*Put gecko in, mist him a little more with lukewarm water
*Close lid, set gecko on shelf next to you where you can keep an eye on him for 15 minutes
*Open lid, see if shed is starting to loosen - help along with Q-Tips if you need to
*Repeat if necessary

[CrestedLens]

oh ok thanks

[aschnell]

"Sauna":

*Take a Tupperware cup large enough for the gecko to sit in
*Put a paper towel at the bottom
*Put lukewarm (never hot so you do not scald, not quite cold) water into the bottom of the container about 2-3 mm deep
*Put gecko in, mist him a little more with lukewarm water
*Close lid, set gecko on shelf next to you where you can keep an eye on him for 15 minutes
*Open lid, see if shed is starting to loosen - help along with Q-Tips if you need to
*Repeat if necessary

Well said

[CrestedLens]

Well, i done that for my gecko, and the unshed skin over his nails and tip of the toes has come off nicely, no damage was done.