General Care Discussion :: Shedding

[julie373]

So, my turtle started shedding skin last week, and I looked around on the forums, and it seems this is normal? But now he/she is shedding a lot. There's just skin hanging off everywhere. What causes this? Is it normal, or should I be worried?

[marisa]

Overfeeding and temps that are too high are two common causes of excessive shedding.

For starters, what is the temp of the water and basking area?
What do you feed your turtle, how much and how often?

Also, how often do you change the water and clean the tank. A high ammonia level can also contribute to shedding.

[julie373]

The temp for the water is a consistent 79
The basking area is 90
I feed my turtle Zoo Med Aquatic Turtle Food, 3 pellets a day
I change my filter bag, and most of my water about once a month.
I have a water testing kit, but I'm not sure what the appropriate level of ammonia is.

[marisa]

You want the ammonia level at 0.

You say the shedding started last week. When my turtles shed, wispy pieces come off their limbs occasionally, but the whole process can take more than a week. The only time my RES ever really shed a lot was when he was younger and the temps were too high. If your RES is a hatchling, you could try dropping the water temp a degree or two and do the same for the basking area temp. See if there's no improvement in the next few days.

I looked at some of your older posts and there were some comments about the water level as well as the length of time between filter cleanings...You said you had 20-25 gallons in the tank. How big is the tank?

[julie373]

The tank is 37 gallons. They are like whispy pieces coming off of the limbs. Last week it was mostly the head, and arms. Now that seems to have stopped and it seems to be mostly the back legs now.

[julie373]

So, I just tested my water (and I just did a water change yesterday) and this is what I got
Nitrite 5.0
pH 7.2-7.6
Ammonia 0-0.25

Why are they off if I did a water change yesterday? And how do I correct them?

[marisa]

The pH is how acidic/basic the water is. Just for reference, a pH of 7 is neutral. The reading you got wouldn't really worry me.

Your ammonia level is low. The nitrite level is perhaps a bit high, I don't know why.

Does the filter you're using have biomedia in it? Benefical bacteria colonize on the biomedia and convert ammonia to nitrite and then nitrate, which can be neutralized with partial water changes.

The way you've described the shedding in your last post doesn't sound like it's that excessive to me. If the shedding on the arms and neck has stopped and now the back legs are shedding, that doesn't sound abnormal to me.