General Care Discussion :: Question about shell shape and shedding (pictures)

[Billy Black]

I noticed recently that the back of my turtle's shell has an odd shape to it. He usually swims towards me if I get close to the tank, so I hadn't really noticed it until now. I don't know how long it's been like this, but here's a picture:



Right at the bottom, the individual sections are pointed. They don't raise up, so I don't think it's pyramiding, or anything like that, but I have no idea what it is. Is this normal?


Also, it looks like his skin is shedding. I couldn't get a good picture, but I have this:



Right at the base of his neck there, some of that is just the picture in the background, but some is dead skin hanging off. I know that most reptiles shed, but I thought it was only the shell that would shed for turtles.

[jenaero]

RES will shed scutes (sections of their shell) as well as skin. The scutes in the back in the first pic look to be retained shed. Both of mine had that, and the scutes got pretty darn sharp before they finally shed.

[Billy Black]

That's what I was worried about. It looked sharp, so I was wondering if he could cut his tail on it. Glad to hear that the skin shedding is normal. I thought maybe he had some sort of deficiency.

I just noticed my avatar. You can see his old shell shape there. Also, he used to be a lot more green, but I've never seen an adult that color, so I assume that's normal.

[industrial_girl_2000]

Some RES's get that "razor" look to them. Nothing to worry about.

And yes, RES's do get more "brown" in color as they get older. Green color is only for the babies.

[Billy Black]

And yes, RES's do get more "brown" in color as they get older. Green color is only for the babies.

That really is a shame. The green color is so pretty. But he's my baby, so I still love him.

[SpotsMama]

A mature healthy RES's carapace color will vary from a rich caramel color to nearly black. I think they are very beautiful. When they are freshly shed their shells look like highly polished wood.

The shedding of skin and the pointed scutes around the margin prior to a scute shed are normal. What's unusual is the bottom scute at the bottom of the carapace (not counting the little ones around the margin). Most turtles have one big one there but your turtle's is divided into two. How interesting! Here's a drawing of the more typical pattern:

http://www.redearslider.com/anatomy.html

[grey goose]

Gomez has a very weird shell also, with the serrated edges that are a lot worse than that......Hopefully as she gets older it will even out.

[Billy Black]

What's unusual is the bottom scute at the bottom of the carapace (not counting the little ones around the margin). Most turtles have one big one there but your turtle's is divided into two. How interesting! Here's a drawing of the more typical pattern:

http://www.redearslider.com/anatomy.html

Huh, that's pretty interesting. I never really noticed that. And looking at older pictures of him, I guess it's always been like that. Here's the huge version of the one in my avatar:

http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/2461/dsc000422uo2.jpg

It almost looks like that part is just squeezed in and shouldn't really be there. I'm ok with him being unique, though.

[SpotsMama]

Oh yes, being unique is good!

[marisa]

I like the extra scutes on your turtle's carapace. My RES has one big extra one where the two on your turtle are.

The serrated edges on the marginal scutes are the result from scutes that haven't shed for a while---the translucent edging gets larger as the older scutes are pushed out further by the underlying ones.

He looks like he's shedding quite a bit.