General Care Discussion :: Shedding -Hows he look?

[starscollided]

OK i know someone else has Posted this but i want to just kindof ask my question in my own way and i have some pictures of my turtle.

Squirt started shedding pretty much on all of his skin - Once the excess skin came off his legs and arms some remained around his head and neck and i tried to help him out a bit and get some of it off. However the shedding around his head and neck has been constant. You cant really see it when he is dry (he is also very shy and wont stick his head out so you can see his neck when i am around.) I have read alot of different things, that shedding is normal and some skin takes longer to come off, i have read that the shedding can be caused by overfeeding, or that it could be a bacterial infection. I was oging to try putting him in a Sulfa Dip but i was warned against that because he is so young (somewhere about or over a year).
The "shedding" consists of lots of little whispys all over his neck and on top of his head.

Water Temp: 75

Basking area: about 80-85

Water Condition: Good ( i change it about every 2 weeks ) and ammonia
levels are OK

Tank: 10 Gal w/floating dock - - - The picture shows gravel but i got rid of it so now there are just larger rocks that he cant eat.

Feeding: 4-5 ReptoMin-Baby pellets (they are small) a day and occasionally he eats a guppie. He always eats all of it immediately.

Overall does he look OK?
To put the pictures in prespective - i have pretty small hands my palm is only about 3-4in big

[hdaisog]

In regards to the shedding it looks normal to me. Mine usually shed a few times a year.

The shell looks kind of odd to me though. Either it needs to shed some scutes or it starting to pyramid.

[Bascomb]

He looks ok to me also. Don't take him out of the tank too much. They cool off very quickley. b.

[marisa]

He's kept his baby scutes (the small, rough-looking ones) and at some point should shed them.

You said the shedding was constant---how long has it been going on? A week? Two weeks? A month? Longer?

The skin on the neck in the pics looks OK to me. I see the shedding on a limb, but no that much of the limb is showing in the pic.

What is he being fed? How much at a feeding and how often? How fast would you say he's been growing (it looks like he's been growing a bit too fast)? How much has he grown in the past few months or so, for example?

[SpotsMama]

His skin looks normal to me.

His shell does seem to be overdue for a good shed. In that first photo I think I see lifting around the edges of several scutes - which is a good thing. Lots of good basking where he gets to completely dry out - top and bottom - under good UVB light (or natural sun) are the best remedies for retained scutes. Also, vitamin E helps with shell shedding. Here are some foods containing vitamin E that your turtle should like:

Tomato
Sweet potato
Turnip greens
Blueberries
Apple skin

He needs variety in his diet. Have you read up on the nuitrition section here? He can have lots of red and green leaf lettuce, and several servings a week of items on the list above or carrot peel, bell pepper, water plants like anacharis and other things listed in the nuitrition section.

To me, his eyes look swollen. Are they, or is it just the camera angles? If they seem a little swollen, get some Turtle Eye Drops (made by Zoo Med) from the pet store and administer them according to directions.

Squirt is a cute little guy, by the way!

[starscollided]

His Eyes are a bit swollen - i had to take him to a vet and i have been putting this goo on them twice a day (they are MUCH better then they were) He didn't come from a great home before me and was in pretty bad shape. I will have to look for the drops online or something because no local pet stores have them.

To give an idea as to how fast he is growing pretty much all the space in between the old scutes is new growth within 5 maybe 6 months.

You cant really pick up the shedding with the camera because they are such small whispy things - They have been coming and going for about a month now.

[1981camaroz28]

Here is a great place to buy supplies for your turtle and the people there are great maybe you can find what you need here or they can direct you to the correct site.

http://www.thatpetplace.com/

[marisa]

If you got the "goo" for the eyes from the vet and it appears to be working, I'd just stick with that for a while and see if they continue to improve. By chance was it Terramycin (think that's the spelling)?

[starscollided]

The brand name is Vetropolycin
the generic is bacitracin-neomycin-polymyxin