Bluey help please!

[ellyinflight]

Okay so at my boyfriends work they keep a bluetongue lizard in not the most sanitary conditions and no one there really has a clue how to look after it and despite me pushing, no one has taken the time to look them up. Yesterday the lizard started shedding (the owner actually asked "does she have a skin condition?" -_-), but it was very flakey and dry so my boyfriend pulled me in and I spent over an hour with her in and out of a warm water dish and getting her to crawl through a damp towel. After a lot of difficulty, most of the shed came off, but there are two problems...

1. Her head hasn't shed at all and no amount of dampening with the cloth seemed to make them want to. Now I'll admit I've only researched snake shedding and my little spotted sheds her head scales first so I've never had to deal with this, what can be done?

2. It seems like some of her fresh scales came off on her hind left leg. There is still a lot of shed on it but I can't even dampen it without her making a sniffy hissy sound in protest and then she rolls on her side so I can't get to it. I know the shed needs to come off, but she hasnt managed to do it on her own overnight. Is it vet time?

Don't worry, after that I took my boyfriend out and bought the lizard the right box, substrate and cage furniture and taught him how to care for it properly. If they do not pick up their act immediately I will call the appropriate people and get the lizard taken from them.

 

[Sock Puppet]

Blueys don't shed their whole skin straight away like a snake, it can take them days to flake off an old skin, so don't rush it. Check out bluetongueskinks.net, go to Caresheets, search Shedding, & there's some good info there. Did the lizard have furniture it could rub against to shed on it's own? Sounds like it wasn't quite ready to lose the old skin on it's leg if it took off fresh scales........good luck with it, hope it's OK