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Hi there. Lately my RES has been shedding. At first I thought it looked pretty normal, but now it just seems like too much. How long are they suppose to shed? I know it has been over a week. Also, from the pictures I posted, does it look like normal shedding?

When I take him out of the water you can not see any sign of shedding.


Then, when I put him in water this is what I see...


Does it look normal, or should I be concerned?

What are your water temps? Sometimes high temps can lead to excessive skin shedding.
I would however be concerned about how their shells are growing. It definitely looks like both are starting to pyramid. What is their diet like?

That does look like more than normal shedding. Like megcornell said, one cause of excessive shedding is high temps. Another is too much rich food.

Really cute turtles by the way.

When I adopted the turtles the man at Pet Smart told me to feed them shrimp along with the pellets. After reading the info this web site provides, I learned the dangers of doing that. I've only had them for a little over a month, and only realized that I was feeding them way too much protein within the last two weeks ago. That is part of the reason I'm concerned. Their diet is better now, even though they are constantly begging when I walk by. I feed them pellets every other day, and shrimp is limited now to twice a week. I give them some kind of veggie every day. The only vegetable I've seen them like is Roman lettuce, but I keep putting other stuff in their, as well, in hopes that they will start to like it and it eat it. I feel like I'm starving them now though because of the way they beg for food now. What should I do at this point?

I would limit the shrimp to once a week or once every 2 weeks because it is extremely high in protein.

Don't worry about turtles begging for food. They always beg for food constantly because they honestly don't know when to stop eating. I have seen a turtle eat so much food it threw up, then it continued to eat even after it threw up (it ate the vomited food!).

Ok. I will go to giving them shrimp once every two weeks. Thank you!

I am wondering how long this shedding normally takes to go back to normal? One of my three hatchlings was overfed by my fiance during when I was at work. I have since explained to her she can't feed them 3 times a day but I'm just worried about the little guy. Water temps are at 78 and basking area isn't overly hot.

So Blake, how high are your water temps? that looks like a lot of shedding.

This is a really old thread so I'm going to lock it. If some of you have current concerns with skin shedding, I'd suggest starting your own thread - you'll get better responses that way.

By the way, skin shedding as heavy as in this photo is likely a sign of a skin infection.