General Care Discussion

Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2006 8:59 pm **shell hedding???**

Hi everyone,
I have a question. I have 2 turtles which are about 4 months old. One of the looks like his shedding on the shell. He's losing little pieces of his shell is that normal?

Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2006 9:06 pm

Shedding of the scutes is normal with good growth. The shell underneath should look fresh and should be as hard as the shell was before the shedding started.

Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 7:15 pm

Is this happening only in one place or all over the shell?

Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 8:55 pm

it happens all over the shell

Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2006 12:48 am

That's normal and means your turts are healthy and growing. And like missibsu posted - the new shell should be hard and look fresh.

Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2006 5:51 pm

If it happens all over the shell, is it abnormal for it to shed only one scute? Because that's what's happening with my turtle. Only one scute is peeling. Is this natural?

Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2006 6:03 pm

Okay, I meant shedding scutes will eventually happen all over, but they usually shed 1 or 2 at the same time! Not to worry! :wink:

Posted: Sat Aug 26, 2006 9:22 am

iris wrote:If it happens all over the shell, is it abnormal for it to shed only one scute? Because that's what's happening with my turtle. Only one scute is peeling. Is this natural?

Wow mine is doing the same thing. Its been going on for about 4 days and I thought by now it would be farther along. Heres a pic...

EDIT: It is hard to see it with the pic being blurry and all so I will point it out...

Posted: Sat Aug 26, 2006 1:12 pm

Sorry, the pics are really small, and I don't really see anything being pointed out.

I don't think you can say normal shedding is usually this or that. I've had turtles that have shed amazingly quickly (I could pick the scutes off some of my painteds this summer) and some turtles that seemed to take forever to shed (my RES finally shed some scutes that I thought he was going to shed months ago). For me, younger turtles have shed more quickly than larger ones (they're growing more quickly), and when one does shed there always seems to be a few more that follow. Do any other scutes look like they're lifting at the edges?

Posted: Sat Aug 26, 2006 4:28 pm

Yeah, my turtle has one scute that started peeling a week ago, and it's still hasn't peeled off yet. Nothing really happened so far.

Posted: Sat Aug 26, 2006 7:29 pm

Our turtle is now 9 inches and has never shed a whole scute. She just sheds little flakes all over.

Posted: Sat Aug 26, 2006 10:17 pm

Lol click on the pics and when they come up click on them again to make them bigger. And as for the shedding no that is the only scute that is lifting.

Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2006 7:41 pm

I did click on them and in the second pic, I don't really see much in the area that arrow is pointing. You need to take close-up of the area.

Spookster, when all the flakes are shed, it the scute completely off?

General Care Discussion :: shell hedding???

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