General Care Discussion :: Bubbles under shell or something more?

[ljapa]

Tobi still hasn't shed, but in the last week or so, I've started seeing spots when she is in the water. Very little is visible out of the water. It's on her two middle vertebral scutes. There's what appears to be the scute lifting on either side of the vertebrae. The area feels the same as the rest of the shell out of water. There are also other, smaller spots that don't really appear at all out of the water.

Is this perhaps the beginning of shedding or something else? It does not look like the scutes are lifting, other than by the vertebrae.

EDIT: I should add that you can only see it in the water when the light catches it right, which is why I'm leaning toward air under a scute. See for example, this picture taken just days earlier than the ones below viewtopic.php?f=14&t=35484

Picture in the water:



First picture out of the water:



Second picture out of the water:



Any thoughts or insight appreciated.

[steve]

It's likely the start of a shed. With some thinner scutes, there might be a hole instead and it'll sort of flake off.

[ljapa]

It's likely the start of a shed.

Great news! When she was much younger, the shedding was more frequent and tended to sort of happen all at once.

I'm not used to seeing it start this way.

[steve]

Shedding still isn't easy to figure out. There's definitely some lifting with a couple of the vertebral scutes.