Thank you for the tips! I'm happy to report the skin around the toes is gone thanks to keeping the humidity up, there is only a small ring of shed around his one eye left, if its not gone by today when i get home i will try the Tupperware suggestion ive seen a lot when it comes to shedding issues.

As for the substrate, the ecoearth was recommended by guy at petco who had been breeding them, but i can understand why the stickiness of the gecko would not mesh well with that. Would reptile carpet work? Paper towel bottom alone will not work.