General Care Discussion :: shedding shell

[matt2615]

My turtle looks like he is shedding his shell it has been this way for about a month and this week two of his scutes fell off and what im worried about is what it looks like underneath it is kinda of white with a little bit of black. When the turtle sheds his scutes are there supposed to be new scutes as soon as he sheds them or are they supposed to grow in?

If you wanna see a picture i can post one but it wont be a very good qualilty.

[missibsu]

A picture of the shell when it is dry would really help. We'll determine quality later

[marisa]

When the scutes fall off, the new ones are already underneath (The scutes wouldn't come off if they weren't, unless something was wrong, such as an injury, etc.). The new ones normally look like the old ones, but somewhat more vibrant.

Is the surface that's now exposed where the scutes have shed soft at all? Can you gently clean the area with a soft , clean cloth? If you do, does the white and black come off? Sometimes, when a scute takes a while to come off, there will be a film and a little gunk (for lack of a better word) on the new scute because of the water that's been trapped underneath. (Shell rot is possible if scutes don't shed and bacteria gets trapped.)

Does your turtle bask under proper lighting (UVB rays either directly from the sun or a UVB light)?