General Care Discussion :: What do you think of his shell?

[erinemcgreevy]

Hi, I just wanted to get opinions on Murphy's shell. I know that he is shedding scutes (which apparently is a slow process), but I don't really know if it looks healthy. I got him 6.5 months ago and he is about 3 inches long. Thanks for the help. Just wanted to add that it was hard holding down like that, he has gotten STRONG!

[Nettle]

He looks like he was fed a lot of protein early on. His scutes are showing some signs of pyramiding.

The marginals at his tail end look sharp! Were they damaged by something?

Other than that, it looks nice and shiny.

[TheComputerGremlin]

Yeah, looks like some pyramiding, but he's still young and has many more sheds to go, so now that you have him, you can remedy his diet and hopefully undo *most* of the damage.

[erinemcgreevy]

The first two weeks I had him he only ate shrimp but since then he's been eating reptomin and veggies. The marginal scutes aren't sharp it's just the only ones not falling off.

[mikee]

Yes I would cut back on the high protein and think about feeding him every other day. I cut back on mine at about 3 to 4 inches. You will have to research that a little. Good Luck!!

[erinemcgreevy]

He's only about 7 months old would feeding him every other day be safe?

[megcornell]

It'd be fine to feed him proteins every other day. Feel free to give him daily veggies, it'd actually be preferable to give daily veggies.

[erinemcgreevy]

I've tried very hard to give him a healthy and balanced diet. I don't know how this happened.

[Nettle]

It was probably the result of whoever had him before you. How big was he when you first got him?

[SpotsMama]

He's a very pretty turtle. Once he sheds some of those scutes his shell will be beautiful.

I have to ask - he looks very shiny in the photo. Is it just the light, or is his shell naturally shiny? Or have you used a product like vitashell to make his shell shinier?

[erinemcgreevy]

I got him as a hatchling about the size of a half dollar. So any damage done is my fault, I do think that he will look better once those darn scutes fall off (they take forever). The shiny shell is just the flash from my camera, I can't imagine using turtle wax!

[SpotsMama]

Whew! You are right - turtle wax is for cars! That stuff they sell for turtle shells is bad news. It clogs up the pores in the shell and does a lot of damage over time.