So, I decided to "help" a few of the top scutes come off as well. I was VERY GENTLE. The scutes were already starting to lift, so I just took the underside of my finger nail, while holding him, and pried a few of the scutes off. They came off easily, no excess force or anything.
He was okay with me removing like three of them, then he seemed to get very fussy while I was doing the next two, so I decided to leave him alone and put him back in his tank.
My question is, do you think he was fussy because I was holding him for too long? Or could me trying to "help" remove his shedding scutes have caused him pain? Usually, he will pretty much hide in his shell when I'm holding him. Mostly when I'm taking him out of his tank, so I can clean it. I never really held him that long before.
I will NEVER remove any of his scutes again. After I did it, I came to the forum and did a search and saw that it's not really a good idea to pick at his shedding scutes. I've attached a few pics, so you can see what his shell looked like after I removed his shedding pieces. I didn't take any pics of the removed scutes, but they were like small thin fingernail clippings, like that same consistency.
This was him, maybe like 2 weeks before I helped to remove the shedding. You can see the little raised sections that were ready to come off.
I got Tinky in June 2012, as a baby. So, he's not even a year old yet. He does have UVB & Heat lights. He will bask a few times a day. Sometimes for short periods, sometimes up to like an hour. (That I know of, he probably basks longer when I'm not around.) His water temp is kept at about 78 - 80 degrees. He eats well, 8 pellets a day (down from the 10 - 12 I was giving him - he was looking a little chunky - I probably need to cut back more.) I even give him cuddle bone pieces and veggies. He appears to be healthy and happy, so I wasn't too concerned with him shedding, but it just seemed like the pieces were not going to come off on their own.
