redearslider.com

You know the place in between the scutes? Do they shed that too? Because I was wondering if Serra finally shed her scutes would tat casing also find out?

I outlined the place in white.


and here's the original

I think that smaller scute that looks like it's going to shed soon is one of the original scutes when Serra was much smaller. The space that you outlined looks like the larger new scute that has grown underneath and is taking its place. So when the smaller scute falls off, there will only be that new larger one left.

That's wht it looks like to me as well. One of my turtle's has a similar thing going on. If I were able to get pics like you, I would show you.

But if the scute falls off wouldn't there be a baby scute shaped indent where it used to be?

It can happen with retained scutes. My turtle has a number of pits leftover where the original baby scutes were. It took her years to get that first good shed, so there was some damage to the new scutes. A few more shed should help a great deal.

Mikey looks exactly the same!! Good to see it's okay

how can you promote a good Scutes sheding?

Have the right temperatures, both in the water and on the basking dock. And have the right light available, UVA and UVB. Plus a healthy diet. And a good sized enclosure.

untsmurf wrote:Have the right temperatures, both in the water and on the basking dock. And have the right light available, UVA and UVB. Plus a healthy diet. And a good sized enclosure.

i live in the caribbean so the water temp is all the time the same (80-82), the basking dock 90. i have both uvb and uva lights. i was mainly wondering cuz they are almost a year old. bubba is 4.6" and forrest 4" and they havent shed their baby scutes yet.

There are also indications that vitamin e in the diet helps with shedding. Goo quality turtle pellets like Reptomin should contain vitamin e. Some foods containing vitamin e are green leafy vegetables, especially turnip greens, mustard greens, collard greens and swiss chard, blueberries, tomatoes, eggs, sweet potatoes, the skin of an apple, mango.