Leopard gecko - sudden colour change

Question
QUESTION: Our otherwise apparently healthy leopard gecko (which is 2-3 months old has now twice gone a very odd grey color overnight. Is it ill or is this a natural process

ANSWER: Hello Steve, when he turns color does he ever shed after? Is the heat maintained over night? He is eating great and everything? Darker colors or dull colors usually mean that he is stressed. Which in most cases is caused by not enough heat. So you need an ifrared bulb. Stress could be caused by numerous things, maybe he is sick, not enough heat, not eating correctly, handled too much, and many other things. Check his temperatures at night, make sure he is eating and defecating regularly and dont handle him that much. If his tail starts to lose weight (appears thin) then you need to take him to the vet and something is wrong. So let me know how your heat is and everything, and we can go from there on whats causing it. Good luck and I hope its nothing serious.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi,
Thanks very much for your very quick reply. Since I posted the question I noticed he was shedding skin but when I checked 90 mins or so later there was no sign of it. Can they shed that quickly? He seems to be eating fine. He appears to be growing and his tail is getting fatter. We keep his vivarium at about the mid to high 80's during the day(with a bulb and a heat mat)dropping to around 70 or just below at night. Is that OK? We were advised to handle him briefly daily so he gets used to us and we clean out the viv a couple of times a week other than that we just change his water and moisten some sphagnum moss we keep in there to maintain the humidity.

I'd be grateful for any further advice.

Thanks again.

Answer
Hello, I am glad I could help. They will eat their shedded skin and yes they can shed that fast. You might want to get his heat up a little bit at night. It needs to be just as warm as it is during the day or high 70s to low 80s. That can be done by using a infrared heat bulb. Kept on all night.
I don't knwo about daily handling, that could be stressful however if you just pet him like stroke his head and back with your finger it will get him used to you also and it is less stressful however you can still pick him up often but he needs time in his cage too.
So it does sound like it was from shedding and keep an eye on him to make sure that if it happens again that he is shedding. Your setup other then the night temperature sounds good and let me know how everything else goes. Good luck.