General Care Discussion :: General Question

Taking care of your turtle's overall health.

Post Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2017 10:45 pm   General Question

I noticed a couple days ago that my 1 1/2 yr old male turtle was missing a nail on the one side and now has a shorter one. Wondering if they shed their nails and if this looks healthy?
Also, I noticed some copper type coloring on his shell when the lights hit it. I've been using a water conditioner to help with algae but I have also been gently scrubbing his shell with a toddler's toothbrush and don't know if I've brightened his shell by doing this. I have pics for both questions but it won't let me attach them (too big).
wroblewski05
 
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Post Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2017 11:55 pm   Re: General Question

Animals don't shed their nails. Your turtle probably broke it at some point and now it's growing back.

The brighter colour on the shell might be a sign that your turtle is ready to shed, you can't lighten it by scrubbing.

On a lot of hosting websites, you can choose to resize your image (http://tinypic.com/)
Or you can just host it and copy/paste the url without attaching it
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PokePony
 
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Post Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2017 7:57 am   Re: General Question

The nail will grow back. Sounds like early signs of shedding. It will happen ok on its own , your part is to offer good maintenance so no kind of fungus sets in on shell or under the keratin layer for an easier natural shed. Turtles will also have skin shedding at this time too , will see that better when he's in the water. It does not happen over night some take there sweet time shedding , having patience on our part helps.

Posting photo's : you can also do it yourself and have full control of any pictures by // go to properties for a picture click edit , click resize to about 800x800 then save , will fit any email and or this forum.
litefoot
 
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Post Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2017 10:42 pm   Re: General Question

Great! Thank you both for the feedback and that's what I thought happened to his nail and I figured his shell was shedding, I just haven't noticed that coloring before.
wroblewski05
 
Posts: 12
Joined: Jan 6, 2017
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