Question
Bark
My son has a crested gecko, Bark, that he has taken care of for about 5-6 months now. We noted that he was acting lethargic and not moving very well and determined that he had a calcium deficiency. We started feeding him CGD and crickets powdered with calcium. He stopped being lethargic and is eating regularly. We mist his cage twice a day, make sure he has two bowl of water in the cage, and cover the top of the cage with a wet towel to help with humidity. While lethargic he started to shed and we had to help him remove it from his legs, feet, and head. Since developing the calcium deficiency he has lost the "stickiness" in his feet and still has not regained it. We started the new diet about 4-5 weeks ago. Will he regain his sticky feet eventually?
AnswerBoth low humidity and lack of calcium can cause this. The 'sticky' in your gecko's toes is due to the little ridges called lamellae, which are lined with thousands of tiny hairs called setae. These hairs split at the tip, and they're so incredibly fine that they actually interact with surfaces on a molecular level, creating an attraction called van der Waals force. It's probably the most sophisticated way any animal uses to stick to surfaces. Some insects and arachnids use this method as well.
A bad shed, or anything else which may affect the minute hairs, will interfere with the stickiness of the toes, but the hairs will grow back so long as the lamellae aren't badly damaged. If the shed was the problem, he may get them back with his next good shed.
If the issue is the calcium, then it's due to his reduced coordination--he can't place or lift his toes properly to engage the hairs. That problem, too, will go away as his health improves.
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