General Care Discussion :: My turtles' shell issue

[Karl]

I have two RES, they're 4 and a half years old and they are having some shell problems. The problem is mainly excess shedding and that is with the bigger (female) one. The smaller (male) one doesn't shed that much. I keep the water temperature at 25 degrees Celsius and the basking temp is about 33 degrees and they have a UVB and a heat lamp. I feed them pellets mostly, have also tried to give some veggies but they don't like them. They also have a cuttlebone in their tank but they don't care much for that either. They also have some guppies swimming around in their tank. I'm really worried, mostly about the big one because she's like shedding all the time and that can't be normal. Also I discovered quite a big piece that came off from her shell yesterday. There's also something strange about the skin on her head/neck - it has white stains and some small "holes" in it. The smaller turtle one doesn't shed much but he has some brown spots on his yellow part of the shell (carapace?) that I'm worried about. I took some photos also with my amateur cam: http://s563.photobucket.com/albums/ss80 ... l/turtles/ - I believe you can distinguish between the smaller and the bigger one.
I would be glad if you could tell me what's wrong, what have I been doing wrong and what should I do about it.. Thank you!

[theartbook35]

My understanding has always been that the growth rate between males and females is a bit different. No two turtles shed the exact same all the time. Typically females shed more often. (At least, this is what my turtles do). My turtles live in the same tank and get the same amount of food. The female is almost always growing, and the male sheds less often.

I would hazard a guess that your turtle is probably shedding normally. It's good that you are using pellets as a staple. You might want to keep offering them more veggies, as they are old enough that they'll take to it eventually. Turtles are picky, but don't let that stop you from giving them a proper diet. They have a recipe in the feeding and nutrition forum for turtle jello.

The shells are kind of a cloudy color, and if you push on the back scutes you should feel water or air pockets come out. If you do, then your turtle is shedding the scutes properly.

I would gently scrub both your turtles' shells with a toothbrush, they'll hate the feeling but they'll get over it. It may help loosen things up and make them more comfortable in the long run.

As far as the skin is concerned, having the holes, I haven't a clue what that is. I know that under water peeling skin looks sort of fuzzy and sometimes even waxy. You could very well just be looking at skin pores. If their skin turns red at all, then you need to see a vet.

[marisa]

When you say the female is shedding scutes all the time, do you mean she completely sheds and then starts again? Or do you mean she's shedding pieces of her scutes constantly? To me it looks like the latter, since the scutes do not look like they're coming completely off. I don't see the holes in the skin that you mentioned. If the skin were shedding, it would look wispy, like thin wet tissue under water.

Pics 4 and 5 are of the male's plastron? What is that reddish brown area in the middle of the seam?

An observation from your pics---is it a reflection, or is a fair amount of the basking area under water? From the pic, it looks like it's not big enough to let both turtles bask next to each other and let their shells dry out thoroughly, which also could affect shedding. What kind of UVB light are you using and how old is it? What's the basking area temp?

[Karl]

I mean that the female is shedding pieces of her scutes constantly. Sorry for the pictures being so blurry.. anyway, here's what I meant:
It doesn't seem too bad and it can only be seen when dry but I'd still like to know what is it. There are brown areas all over the male's plastron and i don't know what they are
The basking area is not a very permanent thing and it might have been a little bit too deep under water when the pic was taken but now they definitely have enough space to dry off there. I have been using a repti glo 5.0 for 4-5 months.
Did you also notice the missing piece of plastron I was talking about? I'm pretty sure it came off the female's plastron's front corner. I really don't know how this could have happened. I don't think she could have hit it against something, also the bottom of the tank is quite soft sand. Anyway here's the pic:

[Karl]

here you can have a better look at the female's head


here you can see that there is another layer shedding under an already shedding layer!

[theartbook35]

I think the holes you are referring to are just areas where the skin has either already shed, or hasn't separated from the skin below it yet to shed.

The shell appears fairly dry n the photos. It looks like normal shedding to me, but are the edges of the peeling scutes moist at all? Are there any unusual smells? If not, hurray, if so, then that could be a problem with the shell.

The brown spots are just the natural coloring of your turtle's shell.

[SpotsMama]

I see some retained scutes and some shedding though the shedding isn't even and the pieces aren't coming off easily. It looks like for a long time the shell wasn't shedding scutes like it was supposed to, and now the pieces are starting to peel off and it's going to take some time since they were so piled up. That's a good thing since all those layers need to come off.

Try adding some vitamin e containing foods to the diet. About once a week, give them a small serving of steamed sweet potato, blueberries, turnip greens (very good), tomato or apple peel. This will help with the shedding.

Make sure they also have cuttlebone in the tank at all times.

Make sure they are basking regularly under good UVB. Cannot overstress the importance of good UVB and regular basking. Can you answer the questions about lighting from Marisa's post above?

The skin on the top of the female's head does also look like it's having trouble shedding. Do you ever test water quality?

[Karl]

Thanks for the reply!
Alright, I'll try to give them the stuff you meant. They have a cuttlebone in the tank all the time but they don't like it and it's lying in the bottom most of the time. They are basking pretty much and as i said they have a repti glo 5.0 that has been in use for 4-5 months, should change it soon. To be honest, I haven't done any water tests. But the water looks clean though.

Still, what do you think of the yellow piece that came apart the female's plastron? Is it a result of shedding or something else?

[SpotsMama]

That yellowish piece that came off the shell was old stuff that needed to be shed. When Spot was recovering from badly retained scutes plus a shell infection, pieces like that came off of him. The shell underneath was healthy. Stuff that looks like that comes off from along the edges - the marginal scutes.

Regarding the dark patches on the plastron, they are probably just normal color - it's a little hard to say. As long as they aren't soft or squishy or smelly or rough, just keep an eye on them. If the areas start go "bad" (soft, damp, smelly, rough, eating into the shell), then they will need to be treated. By the way, the plastron is where serious shell infections usually get started. They start there when the plastron doesn't completely dry off during basking. The bacteria and fungus that attacks a shell thrives in moisture.

[Karl]

Well that's relieving to hear. Thanks for the info and I'll keep that in mind and keep you posted.