General Care Discussion :: Turtle missing his nails?

[rebekah_clancy]

I've had my RES for a little over three months now. A few days ago I noticed he didn't have as long of claws on his fron feet anymore and when I was cleaning his tank I found several of them of the bottom under his floating rock he basks on. He is still eating and acting normally and I can't see any damage to the nail beds. My biggest worry is why they fell off and will they grow back? Up until I got him he didn't have the healthiest living environment so I don't know if it is possibly a nutrition problem or anything like that. Has anyone else had anything similar happen?

General Information

Male RES about 1 and a half years old
6.5 inches long
Water temp 77
Basking temp 82

[steve]

It's very unusual for them to fall off. Could it have gotten stuck on something?

A RES that is 6.5" long at 18 months is quite large, almost twice the size than what I would expect. It's also probably a female, which would have shorter nails.

[penelope]

Penelope had a few claws fall out, but that was when she was suffering from a major case of calcium deficiency.
They did grow back, eventually.
I would triple check to make sure they actually fell out versus breaking off at the root.
So, yeah - nutrition could be a factor