General Care Discussion :: turtle NECK skin shredding?

[aon]

is this normal?

[Nettle]

Skin sheds on a normal basis, just like scutes. If you recently changed their environment from a bad one to a new, then this is also cause for shedding.

[BullDog]

Yes, it's normal.
Another thing that can cause excessive shedding is warm water temps. What's the water temp?

[aon]

do you know when my turtle will stop shredding?

my brother got this turtle from a friend.

[aon]

water temp is 85

[BullDog]

85 is much to warm, unless the turtle is sick, and even then it's on the warm side..
How big is the turtle?
For hatchlings, water temp should be 78-80 degrees, and for adults, 74-76.

[aon]

i think this turtle is an adult my brother told me his friend had this turtle for 3 years

she is about 5 inches

i try to keep the water warm cause i know this turtle has been living outside for the longest from the last owner.

will she stop shredding soon? how can i help it? i dont have a filter right now so i have to change the tank often.

[Nettle]

Shedding will stop whenever it needs to. Don't try to peel it off for them as this could cause tearing. It's just a regular process.

One of mine has been doing it now for about a week and it probably won't stop for a while.

Also there's no need to make the temp higher just to make up for what happened in the past.

At five inches she's an adult, so 75 degrees is the right temp.

[BullDog]

If she's 5", she can be considered an adult. 74-76 is the optimal temp for a RES.
First thing you can do is turn down the temp on the heater. Besides excess shedding, high temps speed up your turts metabolism, so she'll want to eat more, and also poop more, so more mess.

Keeping the water quality up of course helps. So you'll want to get a filter asap.
You'll want to get a filter rated 4-5 times the size of the tank. For a 5" turtle, she should be in minimum a 50 gallon tank. At that size, you can start looking at canister filters like the Rena XP4 or Fluval 405 (or other equivalent filters)

[SpotsMama]

Here's a thread with a good photo of a turtle shedding skin. Scroll down to see it. The shedding in this photo is very light.

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13882

Now here's a thread with photos of a turtle that's shedding very heavily - abnormally so. In this case, the turtle had just come from a tank where the water quality was very bad and the toxic water apparently had damaged his skin. When he was moved to a healthy tank he shed very heavily for a short time then the shedding slowed to normal.

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14653

[aon]

my turtle isnt shredding as bad as the second thread's pictures but way worse than the first thread pic's

this makes me mad. who knows what else the ex owner did to the turtle

[Nettle]

It only means that he was moved from a bad habitat to a better one. I don't think there's there's anything anyone can do about it.

From what you described, it sounds like your and turtles are shedding the same way. I wouldn't worry.