General Care Discussion :: Retained scutes?

[kikicool]

LOL rocketright! Seems like a good idea, makes sense, right? But I can't figure out HOW!! darn digital cameras. Remember how in school teachers could never figure out the VCR? I feel like that! I can't figure out my camera! I've read the instruction manual like five times. *sigh*

[Turtle addict]

No that tortoise is most likely in severe pain. Pyramiding on them is never a good thing. But tortoise's are not supposed to shed like a water turtle. Check out sulcatastation.com, or chelonia.org and the care sheets will tell you flat out that if a TORTOISE is shedding and losing scutes then there is something severly wrong and the tortoise needs a vet as soon as possible for treatment. Also google Russ Gurley,he has written alot of books and knows his "stuff" on sulcata's and from his mouth a tortoise should NOT shed and lose scutes.

[Starchick]

LOL rocketright! Seems like a good idea, makes sense, right? But I can't figure out HOW!! darn digital cameras. Remember how in school teachers could never figure out the VCR? I feel like that! I can't figure out my camera! I've read the instruction manual like five times. *sigh*

Duct tape Or something similar...if you can't turn off the flash within your camera, you can always block it somehow. Although if your camera still thinks it's set for flash it may come out completely black... Worth a try though, get a really bright light and get in as close as you can without blurring, and see what you get.

[kikicool]

I'll try duct tape. I've used paper or my finger or something else and it comes out red. Duct tape is a great idea. So much for technology....

[rocketright]

Hehe, That's a great idea!

[marisa]

Some of what I've read here has me mystified...

Retained scutes are NOT referred to as pyramiding (and to me retained scutes can look quite different from pyramiding, depending on how bad the pyramiding is).

There is no timetable for shedding scutes, but a younger turtle who is growing more quickly will shed more frequently than an older turtle, who grows more slowly. My RES, who will be 5 this year, is shedding less frequently than my painteds (a little over 2 years old). Neither of them shed scutes "all the time," and when they do, it's noticeable, perhaps a bit more so for the painteds.

I'm not sure I understand the comment about needing more time to bask and dry out if the a number of scutes are shedding at once...The scutes are shedding in the water and therefore basking is needed for ______???

Poor husbandry does play a part in a turtle's having difficulty in shedding scutes (and therefore retaining them), but diet is thought to play a part as well. It does seem that captive turtles can have more difficulty in shedding scutes than their wild counterparts.

Overfeeding, a high protein diet/unbalanced diet are some of the factors that contribute to pyramiding. I've read lack of exercise as also being a possible contributor as well, and if this is true, it's not really unreasonable to think that tank size could have something to do with it.

Some species of tortoise do have a pyramided appearance, but if that pic of the one above comes from where I think it does, the tortoise should not look like that. The shell is severely deformed, and the poor thing likely has metabolic bone disease.

[kikicool]

Marisa, do you think pH levels are not a factor in retained scutes, then? Just curious. I retested a day after I had cleaned, and the pH was 7.5. I lowered until it was 6.5, but I did so slowly, over 24 hours.

[marisa]

I rarely check ph levels and frankly don't even remember the last time I did it...I can't say its 100% not a factor, but other than that reference to it in that one thread, I've never heard of it being one.

RES are fairly tolerant of ph levels, and if the ph is 7 or even higher (no higher than there shouldn't be a problem. There also seem to be two schools of thought on the subject. I used to read that water that is slightly acidic (below 7) is healthier. More recently, however, I've read that for some species, including RES, the opposite is true. Whenever I have tested the water, the ph has been about 7. My turtles seem to have no problems with this, so I'm not worried about making it lower.

[marisa]

Sorry, that stupid sun-glassed smiley should be an 8---I've tried several times to correct it, but it won't disappear. I've lost patience trying to change it.

[SpotsMama]

The water where I am tests around 8.6 to 8.8. Really high. Where Reptilegirl is, in Houston, it's even higher. She said over 9! It may be different for people in areas like ours than where the ph is neutral. Reptilegirl was reporting uncontrollable fungus until she lowered the ph and Spot was having fungus too, I'm pretty sure. There wasn't just one thing causing Spot's problem, though, so I'm doing a variety of things - enticing him to bask and dry out, providing good UVB, feeding him a good diet, keeping his water clean and also lowering the ph.

[kikicool]

Okay, I'm going to put all this together and see what I am doing wrong. Lily doesn't bask often, but herman does, and neither shed scutes. So it's not that....

Also I have to say, if possible, spotsmama, I just noticed that the whiteness on her shell seems to be smaller already. (around the area where the scutes look retained--hard, not smelly, disappears out of water). Is that possible one day after lowering pH?

My water is usually around 7-7.5. We'll see if this makes a difference. If not... I don't know what else to try. They get veggies, reptomin sticks, recently had a fish fiesta (first and only). They have UVB, basking lamps... very clean tank... *sigh* I guess I'll just keep on trying!!

[SpotsMama]

Good luck. Keep us posted. I think there's a certain mystery as to why some turtles have perfect, beautiful shells and shed ultra-thin translucent scutes and others don't. Maybe mystery is the wrong word - complicated may be more accurate. Also, there seem to be a number of conditions that result in white patches on the shell - fungus, retained scutes, scutes that are just about to shed, mineral deposits - and it's hard to tell them apart. I think whenever one of us is able to make an improvement that gets results, it's important to share it with everybody.

[grey goose]

My guys (9-10 mo. old) shed the marginal scutes much more than the larger ones. Maybe because they are still growing.