General Care Discussion :: Shedded Scutes

[Mom2RES]

What do shedded scutes look like? I have little pieces of transparent stuff floating mostly on top of my water. If I set my finger on one it will stick. When I look at it on my finger it has a green shade. If I run my finger nail over it I can split it. Are these things shedded scutes?

[eaw]

If they look anything like this:



Even the small pieces, then yes, they are scutes.

[Love of Animals]

Or they can be translucent and the consistency of thin fingernails.

[PridgNYC]

Yes, that picture is of a bunch of scutes from a turtle that was seriously retaining scutes. The ones I managed to catch, tend to collect in the bottom right corner of the tank and are like very, very thin fingernails, clear.

Kind of like fish scales, but bigger. I doubt if you would be able to split it with a fingernail.

[Mom2RES]

Based on all of this, I don't think what I was seeing was scutes. I think maybe it was/is just small pieces of lettuce floating.

So now I am concerned that she is not shedding. I've had her a little over five months now, and I don't think she's shed. Is there anything I can/should do to encourage shedding?

[steve]

How long have you had her? How old is she?

[Mom2RES]

Steve I got her at the end of July, so I've had her a little over five months. I'm not sure of her exact age. She was probably about 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 inches when I got her, and she is now about 2 1/2 inches. I got her at the beach at one of the beach stores. Even if they had told me how old she was, I probably would not believed them now knowing everything I know. For example, we were told she was a girl and were told you could tell by the markings on the bottom of the shell. LOL

[steve]

Then I wouldn't worry about her shedding just yet, maybe later this year

[ryanzlilboy]

Hey! My pet shop also told me the gender by the the marks on the plastron...

Anyway, my res also had his scute shedding
I just realized this morning while I play with him... I bought him at the end of March...


My sister always said he's growing bigger. But, I always said "No, he's still the same". LOL the fact is he really was growing bigger

[steve]

Marks on the plastron don't indicate anything. They grow up faster than you think