General Care Discussion :: Turtle Biting Himself

[bubbleandearl]

Hi Everyone,

my turtle is shedding and eventually when he sits on the basking area he bits his shell. The first couple times I heard this loud clicking sounds and thought that sound he made with his throat. But than I saw he's biting himself. He doesn't have any marks on his shell, even that it looks like he's biting hard. What can I do?

Courtney

[marisa]

He's shedding his scutes? Is he biting at a scute that's shedding? If so, does the scute look like it's ready to come off?

[Cramer]

That's facinating. Firstly that it can turn enough to bite it's shell...but mostly if it was actually trying to groom itself.

[mikee]

Cram -- I don't think he is grooming himself. It is like you or I getting rid of a hang nail. There necks are long and the scute is probably irritating him. I have seen them try and rub their scutes off. Before I knew better, I thought they were scratching their back.

[bubbleandearl]

That scute does look like it's ready. he used to do it a lot more, than he does now. He used to do it every time he was basking, like 10 times a day. Now he doesn't even do it everyday at least not that I know of.