General Care Discussion :: Retaining Scutes

[BullDog]

Goose's recent post got me thinking a bit more about Frankie's shell. When I first got her, I inspected it for shell rot, soft spots, pits, etc.
Besides some scratches along the top of her vertebrals, and a small pit or two that looked like it was healed shell rot (no smell, and same colour as the rest of her shell), her shell looked to be in pretty good shape.

It wasn't until the other day I got thinking about retained scutes. I noticed before that some of them were lifting at the edges, but I figured she was just getting to shed.
Upon closer inspection of her dried shell, it does indeed look like she is retaining scutes. In some places, I can actually see 2 or 3 layers!

Here's pics:
The white spots are places that she must have been scraped before I got her.



In this one, you can see that some scutes are lifting at the edges, but they are firmly attached everywhere else.


Close up of some scutes:






What can I do for her to help her shed those scutes?
She has a 5.0 exo-terra UVB bulb, a 60 watt light for heat (keeps the temp at about 91-95), and all the cuttlebone she can gobble.
She has the standard menu as well: reptomin every second day (head size), and various veggies on non-pellet nights (Lettuce, cilantro, sweet potato, squashes and once every two weeks, a fruit of some sort).

The other thing I noticed is that the scutes over her tail have a green spot on it. It looks like algae, but I'd like a second opinion. You can see it in that last pic, and in this one:


Frankie is pretty mellow, so she doesn't mind me poking and prodding her while she's basking, but she was giving me the evil eye

PS - Look at the size of her nails! She looks like a panther with those things!

[SpotsMama]

Frankie sure is a beautiful turtle.

Yes, she seems to be on the verge of shedding some overdue scutes. They are clearly lifting.

Make sure she basks a lot under her UVB light bulb and that it is up-to-date. That's the best thing in the long run for shell health.

Vitamin e is supposed to help with shell shedding. Here are some foods containing vitamin e that your turtle will like:

Tomato
Sweet potato
Turnip greens
Blueberries
Apple skin

The green is just a little algae. As long as she goes ahead and sheds it shouldn't be a problem.

[BullDog]

She's pretty good at basking, usually she basks for most of the afternoon. But some days she just doesn't bask at all.

I assume the UVB is still good, since I got it when I brought her home, about 3 months ago.

She doesn't seem too keen on sweet potato, but I'll keep trying with that, and I'll try some tomato and apple skin. Turnip greens seem near-impossible to find, since turnips here come with all the green chopped off, and the lettuce mixes I've seen don't have them in it.

Thanks for the advise!
I'll keep an eye on it, of course, and I'll update if I start to see any scutes coming off

[grey goose]

Those white marks look like she's been rubbing on things in the tank, just like Gomie. It must be like a "teething" thing and they get all itchy just before they shed. I've been told by a Vet not to try to force or pick at the loose scutes, let them come off by themselves.

[Take-One]

Frankie has long claws for being female. feed her alot of blueberrys

[industrial_girl_2000]

Try gently lifting one of the scutes with your finger. It may just pop off fairly easily. Gomie's shell looks just like Sheba's before Sheba's sheds but I always have to help her out with removing the scutes because unfortunately they don't just "fall off" once the edges start lifting.

[BullDog]

I tried gently lifting a few of the scutes, but all of them are very firmly on there. All that happened was a small piece sort of chipped off one of the overhanging pieces.
She didn't too much care for that though! But it could be that I just woke her up from a nap and she was grumpy

What sort of things would be good to rub on? She just has a few smaller river rocks right now, and one tank ornament that is just a bit smaller than her. I think I've seen her swim under her ramp and sort of run her shell along it. Maybe that feels good too.

[SpotsMama]

There's a little bridge in Spot's tank that's supposed to be a basking platform in shallow water but it's way underwater in his tank. Its surface is pretty hard and rough and he loves to get under the bridge and do a "rumba", scraping his shell against the underside of the bridge.

[marisa]

I have to say my fingers are twitching for the chance to check out some of those scutes. Some of them look so loose...

Two of my Eastern Painteds are shedding, one if them is the runt. It's been a long time since he's shed, but he's growing very slowly. When he was on the basking area two days ago, some of the scutes on the carapace were curling up at the edges. I lifted three of them and they just came off...

All of the tanks have some driftwood in them that they can rub against. I know they rest on the pieces, but have never seen them rubbing themselves on them.

Since Frankie doesn't mind being handled, I'd be tempted to take her out and give the shell a gentle rubbing now and then. It would get rid of that algae, too.

[steve]

Since there are thick layers, I'd check to see if there are any with air pockets underneath. That would be a good indicator of which ones might be ready to be helped off. To check, take her out of the tank, wipe her down so she's dry. Then softly push down on her scutes and look for water being forced out by the seams. It might be hard to spot, so check carefully.

Those white spots look to be where her "baby" scutes are -- before she started growing. If you check for loose ones, do be particularly careful around that area because that will likely be last area that lifts up.

[BullDog]

Did an air bubble check.
Boy, did she not like being taken out of the tank!
Those panther claws not only look wicked, they're sharp! And she's a lot stronger than Ralph!

Anyhow, once I got her to calm down a bit on the floor, I wiped her off. I tried pushing down on all the scutes, but no water came out at all. There was no movement at all. Feels like solid turtle all the way.
I could, however, see what looked like a small air bubble on the top of one, but it's still very small, About the size of a dull pencil point.
You can actually see it in one of the first images I posted:


I also gave her a gentle scrub with the "turtle toothbrush", which she tolerated.

I don't know, they seem like they're on there pretty solid, and I don't want to force anything off that shouldn't be coming off. I'll keep looking at them, seeing if any are ready to lift though. I think it could be a while still.
Is it better to test them when she's dry or wet?

[mikee]

Bdog -- I sure looks like she is missing in the metabolism dept. If you are not sure about the uvb I would suggest that you replace it. I replace my fluorescent bulbs every 6 months. They slowly loose their uvb rays over a period of time. You may want to try that with a little extra food until they come off.

[marisa]

What's summer like where you are? Having my turtles bask outside in the sun in the summer has always worked wonders for their shells (and helped with shedding as well).

[BullDog]

We have really nice summers here. Sunny and warm.
Unfortunately, it won't be outside turtle weather for a while.
It probably gets warm enough at midday here, up to 15 C, but the ground is still cold because it goes to -8 overnight.

I've gotten away from taking Ralph outside, because he doesn't much like it. He hides in his shell for the first 10 minutes or so, then when he's feeling brave enough, he makes a b-line for the nearest bush.
But Frankie's pretty brave, so I will have to give it a shot with her this year.

I looked at the scutes again yesterday, and they seem to have lifted a little bit more even since I posted the pics, so hopefully they'll come slowly but surely.

[marisa]

Can you make an outdoor set up (stock tank) for them this summer? Even my most timid painted is drawn out of the water to bask on a nice sunny day (but will scoot into the water at the slightest movement). Have plenty of cover (plants) as well.

I would get a nice soft towel and periodically wipe the shell down (it should help to loosen some of those scutes).