General Care Discussion :: Cruddy Skute Shed

[Gracie Turts]

maybe this is a layover from all the vet visits. and.. with proper lighting and basking spot there's really not much you can do. If its warm outside, Sun-basking a couple times a week might loosen the scutes.

[cutepanda86]

I realize that you're not supposed to peel them off yourself but how does she swim around without getting them stuck? Or when she gets wet do they not sick up?

[penelope]

@ Cutepanda Oh! want to peel them off so bad!
@Gracie-guy - yes, I definitely believe they are a result of all the vet visits - namely after-effect of calcium deficiency.
They stick up a lot when she is basking and I can see sand under them when she is dry.
She loves to bask (thank goodness)
I have been giving her about a tablespoon of sweet potato (real high in keratin) and a super light toothbrush scrub once a week. I try to get the bristles under the raised skute without putting enough pressure to forcefully 'peel' them.
It seems to work. They are slowly, but surely coming off. Many have come off in shards, but they have come off nonetheless.
All totaled, I say she has finally lost about 2/3 of skutes. Only 1/3 to go!

[cutepanda86]

Oh I can imagine. lol

Wow that's great. How do you feed her the sweet potato? Sheldon hasn't started that yet, I'm just glad we got rid of the fungus.

[slider_keeper]

A turtle basking habits is a good indication of the lighting setup. We are now finding out that sliders might beable to sense UVB. We know a turtle can see in the UVA spectrum. But as far as the D3 photosynthesis, I'm finding out that depending on the size of the turtle and the type of bulb, even if your turtle is basking religiously, it might not be getting a appropriate amount of UVB so they will sit under the lights all day long. From what I've been researching a slider will bask in the mid morning sun then again in the mid afternoon sun. I have witnessed this with Toku. He will get up on the basking zone around 9 and then off around 11 ish but then he gets back on at 2ish and off around 5 sometimes later. When he stays on in the afternoon session and bask till the lights go off I checked the UVB output of the bulb and found extremely low levels! He basically told me hey I have to stay up here longer! Amazing really, they will tell what they need if we give them our attention. I don't think its a calcium issue per say as much as it is a Vitamin D3 defiecency. Calcium is a byproduct to Vitamin D3, that is what we are looking for and I believe the turtle's know how much vitamin D3 they need. I have put post about this issue on the the forums before but they get filtered out by other post. So I feel not enough people see them to understand the whole concept of what we are trying to accomplish. A well varied diet will provide the vitamins and a well designed and thought thru lighting will do the photosynthesis needed. I agree with you Penelope, one wrong piece of the process and it will roll downhill and lead to other issues. I'm speaking as a devil's advocate here becuase I feel my lighting is insufficent! And I want nothing more than to make it right but that requires more money than I don't have to give. I have mentioned numerous times the MVB is the answer, unfortunately I'm learning otherwise. I could keep going but I don't want to hijack your post. I just wanted to add my two cents to the "calcium defiecency" problems. It's so good to hear Penelope is doing much better and progressing nicely to a full recovery:) I will make a post of what I'm exactly talking about in this post;)

[cutepanda86]

I use an MVB. Sheldon enjoys the heat and it gives him both UVB/UVB. What would be better than that as far as lighting?

[slider_keeper]

Read my new post about single bulb lighting;) That will explain it better.