General Care Discussion :: Shedding

[matt2615]

I have a question can excessive shedding be caused by excessive basking or
does it have to be in the water to shed. And does anyone know what the syptoms of overfeeding are, and how can you tell the difference from shedding skin and fungus.

[missibsu]

Excessive shedding can be caused by excessive basking (maybe because the water temp is too low?), or can be cause by haveing the temps (water and basking) too high. What does the shell and/or skin look like?

The most distinguishable part of overfeeding is pyramiding. There are several links in older posts that show pictures of what this looks like and you can do a general search on pyramiding to find them. Overall it puts stress on the internal organs and is unhealthy for your turtle. Another sign of eating too much in any one sitting is the runs. This is especially true when feeding veggies.

How much are you feeding, and what are your basking and water temps?

[matt2615]

His skin looks like it has a little white layer of skin on his arms and mostly on his head around his mouth, and his shell looks like it is shedding because ther e is two scute that pull up whenever he's basking, and when he goes back into the water they go down again they have been like that for about two weeks. Im feeding him five pellets everyday and I put lettuce in there but he won't eat it ive tried giving him carrots, sweet potatoes, watermelon but I dont give him that too much. I put a fresh piece of lettuce in there everyday and it is with some other stuff that i dont know what is because I cant tell the green stuff apart. And I give him crickets once a week I give him 4 of those.
And lately he has not been eating the only thing he has eaten in the last 4 days was 3 crickets and a couple of pellets. The temperature in his basking area is 90F for a while he wouldnt stay in the water but at night when I didnt have a heater he would just bask all day long. And his water temp is 77F. For a while he did not have a heater in his tank because the old one was really bad it was touchy and then after a while it wouldnt shut off so i replaced that one with one I had and the suction cups werent strong enough and it floated to the top and a minute later I realized it and went to push it back down and it popped luckily the turtle was basking, and now the one i have is working fine.

I just went to feed him some pellets and he looked at them like he was going to eat them he went after them but then just looked away.

[missibsu]

Sometimes tough love is needed to get a turtle to eat his veggies. It may mean not giving him his pellets or anything else until he learns to eat the lettuce. Sometimes turts just aren't in the mood for their normal food. I would definitely focus more on the veggies than the pellets or the crickets. A diet too high in protein isn't good.

The shedding on the other hand, sounds normal. Is the first time you have noticed your turt shedding? If you can, take a picture of the shell dry and post it. But I don't think anything is out of the ordinary.

[marisa]

What size tank you do have, how much water do you have in it? What's the temp of the water and basking area? What is your turtle's diet like, how much and how often do you feed him?

[JenY]

I was reading the posted conversation regarding the shedding.
My turtle has been shedding since i got him the end of May. At one time it was quite heavy but the skin was transparent and there was no discoloration or anything. Now it it seems light but continious. He has two scutes that have not fallen off either.

He has a 10 gallon tank he is just about 21/2 inches, water is 76-78 during the day and 74-75 at night. Basking area hovers around 90.
I feed him pellets, I was feeding him 4 but I went to 3, one in the morning 2 at night. Got some cuttlebone for him as well the occasional bloodworms, carrot pieces and sweet potate.

I usually turn his light on @ 7am and then off around 8 pm.

Can i be doing anything else, should i be concerned about the shedding, I mean it's been about a month and a half.

I thought I was over feeding him, so I have just cut back the food for about a week.

Any suggestions?

[marisa]

How often is the tank cleaned and water changed?

[JenY]

Let's see, I got him May 28th, brought him home, new wtaer.

Changed the water again a few days later, as I made large changes to the aquarium set up.
Cleaned and changed the water 2 weeks later.

So right now on average it has been every two weeks. This time I was going to try to wait at least 3 weeks to a month as long as the water did not get too gross.

Frequent changes may be a possible reason?

[missibsu]

For larger tanks, a partial water change once a week and complete cleaning once a month. For smaller tanks, a good cleaning once a week is recommended. This does of course vary on the type of filtration. I don't think that frequent cleaning has anything to do with it.

[marisa]

I really don't think it's written in stone that a partial change is to be done weekly (how much?) and a complete cleaning once a month...Other factors also come into play (and not just the type of filtration).

JenY, I was more concerned about a lack of water changes. A 10-gallon tank is small and needs more frequent changes/water cleanings than larger tanks. The water temp also can increase quickly on hot days (I'm experiencing this at the moment with a quarantine tank). Infrequent water changes (I'm not saying that's what you're doing) can lead to a high ammonia level, which also can encourage shedding. Just another possibility to think about.

[missibsu]

I usually say a weekly partial change because I know it isn't going to get done that often...however if I keep that in mind, then it doesn't get so far behind. In reality, a partial cleaning happens every week and half to two weeks. I have a 75 gallon tank with two turts and an xp3 filter. That is what was recommended for me, and it's what has worked for me, so it's what I recommend as well. In my opinion, it is better than suggesting to do a partial water change every three weeks and then having done every four to five in reality.

Pick what works for you, but just remember a dirty tank is necessarily what you see!